GoFundMe, the crowdsourcing fundraising platform used by a variety of political persuasion and causes, has released a statement saying that they will be shutting down the Canadian Freedom Convoy page that organizers had been using to raise more than 10 million Canadian dollars for individuals and truck drivers protesting Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
According to the company, they now have “evidence” that the protest is no longer peaceful and is now an “occupation,” which violates their terms of services, although they did not specify what evidence they were referencing.
In late January, more than 50,000 truckers journeyed across Canada to the nation’s capitol in Ottawa, Ontario, to form a miles-long chain as a show against the Canadian government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which required that all drivers be vaccinated or quarantine at home upon returning from going over the U.S. border. Quickly, the truckers received donations from around the world, and the group was able to establish themselves in Ottawa, assured that they would have access to the money that would keep them there until the mandates were lifted.
But, on Friday, The Daily Wire reported that GoFundMe had frozen the Freedom Convoy’s fundraising page. In response, the group employed the use of The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a Calgary-based non-profit law firm. The Justice Centre released a statement demanding GoFundMe re-grant access to the group’s funds:
“The truck convoy is a representation of Canadians’ frustrations with extreme government overreach, and unprecedented restrictions on their fundamental rights and freedoms,” Keith Wilson, lead counsel for the Justice Centre, said in a statement.
“Contrary to positions taken by government leaders, the Convoy represents ordinary, hard working Canadians – truckers, families, small business owners, Canadians who have lost jobs, income, missed holding the hand of a dying family member, been refused service in a store, or had their children miss months of school during lockdowns. The Convoy represents Canadians who are fed up with two weeks ‘to flatten the curve’ turning into two years of restrictions, mandates and decimation of democracy,” he added.
The Daily Wire also reported that the organizers of the group also spoke out, promising to continue fighting the mandates until they’re gone:
Tamara Lich, one of the organizers of the Freedom Convoy fundraising effort, also shared a statement, saying, “We are here out of love for our families, our communities and our nation. These past two years, the covid mandates have divided us.”
“This protest began because of the federal government’s restrictions on truckers’ freedoms. Our movement has grown in Canada and across the world because common people are tired of the mandates and restrictions in their own lives that now seem to be doing more harm than good. … We are therefore calling on all levels of government in Canada to end all covid mandates and restrictions. We will continue our protest until we see a clear plan for their elimination,” she added.
On Friday evening, GoFundMe denied their request and shut down the group altogether. Now, individuals who donated money can enter their email address via a form by February 19, 2022, to request a refund. The company’s statement can be seen below:
GoFundMe supports peaceful protests and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created.
We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity.
To ensure GoFundMe remains a trusted platform, we work with local authorities to ensure we have a detailed, factual understanding of events taking place on the ground. Following a review of relevant facts and multiple discussions with local law enforcement and city officials, this fundraiser is now in violation of our Terms of Service (Term 8, which prohibits the promotion of violence and harassment) and has been removed from the platform.
Organizers provided a clear distribution plan for the initial $1M that was released earlier this week and confirmed funds would be used only for participants who traveled to Ottawa to participate in a peaceful protest.
Given how this situation has evolved, no further funds will be directly distributed to the Freedom Convoy organizers — we will work with organizers to send all remaining funds to credible and established charities verified by GoFundMe.
HD Editor’s Note: ‘The Politicians Are Afraid‘
After backlash, GoFundMe has modified its statement deciding to automatically refund all donors instead of redirecting funds to charities.
The claim by GoFundMe and others that the freedom convoy has been violent, in any way, is patently false and has been widely debunked by Canadian media companies, who do not receive Liberal government funding, such as True North, Rebel News, and others.
One example of this is an accusation, repeated by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, claiming that an RCMP officer had been attacked by the pro-freedom protesters in the Province. The RCMP themselves disputed this falsehood, saying that they were “not aware of any assault” on any of their officers.
The idea, of course, is to paint the Freedom Convoy as dangerous hate-filled terrorists in order to justify the need for a heavy-handed response.
Despite the numerous debunked claims against the protesters, Ottawa police chief, Peter Sloly, continues to use harsh language to smear the freedom convoy.
“We have increased ability to identify and target protesters and supporters of protesters who are funding and enabling unlawful and harmful activity by the protesters themselves,” he said Friday. “Investigative evidence gathering teams are collecting financial, digital, vehicle registration, driver identification, insurance status and other related evidence that will be used in prosecutions.”
“The hatred, the violence, the illegal acts that Ottawa residences and businesses have endured over the last week is unacceptable in any circumstance,” he alleged. “This remains as it was from the beginning an increasingly volatile and increasingly dangerous demonstration.”
Keith Wilson, a lawyer for the Freedom Convoy, announced that the group is moving to the Christian crowd-funding organization Give Send Go for protection.
Wilson explained that the Trudeau government has been working hard to pressure the convoy and GoFundMe from the beginning.
“It’s really incredible that it is the prime minister who’s engaged in hate speech by calling the unvaccinated truckers misogynist and racist and saying, ‘how do we deal with these people?’ and other divisive comments,” he said in an interview with True North. “The allegation from the Trudeau government as to why the funds should not be released, or somehow seized, is because the truckers are engaged in hate speech. It’s just remarkable the hypocrisy here.”
“What it says to me is that the politicians are afraid,” he asserted. “They’re feeling the power of the people, not just across this country, but around the world.”
“The spark that Tamara Lich and Chris Barber lit when they organized the freedom convoy and set up the GoFundMe is just so incredibly inspiring,” Wilson continued.
“I think politicians know that if they get a petition and it’s got a thousand signatures on it or five thousand signatures, it doesn’t mean much,” he described. “But what politicians know is how hard it is to raise money and when they look at how much money people, hard-working people, have put into GoFundMe because they believe in their heart that what these truckers are doing is right, it’s the shining light in the darkness that we’ve been suffering through, that’s why they’re scared, and they should be scared.”
“They should be scared because the people of Canada are right to say to the government that ‘you’ve overstepped your authority, you’ve gone where you shouldn’t have gone, and it’s time now to immediately respect our charter rights and get rid of all of these ridiculous mandates and restrictions.’“
