Order applies to ‘Freedom Convoy 2022’ and ‘Adopt-a-Trucker’ campaign pages
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has granted the provincial government’s plea to freeze access to millions of dollars donated to the truckers’ convoy protesting COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa and at various border crossings through online fundraising site GiveSendGo.
Attorney General Doug Downey applied for the order under Section 490.8 of the Criminal Code to ban anybody from distributing donations received through the website’s “Freedom Convoy 2022” and “Adopt-a-Trucker” campaign pages, according to a statement from Premier Doug Ford’s office on Thursday.
The decree “binds any and all persons with possession or control over these donations,” according to Ivana Yelich, a spokesperson for the premier.
After contributors collected more than $10 million through the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe, convoy organisers swiftly started up a campaign on Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo.
Because the demonstration breaches GoFundMe’s policies on violence and harassment, the company said late last week that it will stop paying convoy organisers and reimburse donations directly.
According to a monitoring group, the convoy protest could revolutionise the way money is controlled.
The decision was disclosed in a blog post on Friday evening, barely two days after the fund’s disbursements were halted.
According to a CBC News investigation of data obtained, hundreds of GoFundMe donations to the Ottawa convoy protest came from contributors who indicated they were situated outside of Canada.
According to a review of more than 6,600 comments left on the GoFundMe crowdfunding website before it was shut down, 573 donations totaling more than $33,378 came from persons who claimed to be from other countries.
Hundreds of donations looked to be from outside the country for the convoy protest.
According to complaints of violence and intimidation, GoFundMe has stopped making contributions to the convoy protest.
So far, the GiveSendGo campaign has raised $8.2 million in the United States.
According to CBC News, Ontario government representatives denied a third request to join in trilateral negotiations to address ongoing vaccine mandate protests on Thursday.
The afternoon was set aside for a meeting of representatives from all three levels of government.
