The crowdfunding platform GoFundMe says it will stop payments to the organizers of Freedom Convoy 2022 because the protest violates its rules on violence and harassment .
The company announced its decision in a blog post Friday evening, just two days after it froze disbursements of the fund.
“GoFundMe supports peaceful protests and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created,” the company said in the post.
“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.”
The company said the protest violates a rule in its terms of service that prohibits the promotion of violence and harassment. The fundraising page for the convoy has been deleted from GoFundMe’s website.
Participants in the demonstration have displayed symbols of hate including the Confederate flag and swastikas while protesting. Truckers parked in downtown Ottawa have also made residents miserable by blaring their horns at all hours.
Organizers have said they will stay in Ottawa until the federal government lifts all pandemic restrictions. Canada Unity, the group claiming responsibility for organizing the protest, has published a document which calls for the resignation of Canada’s senators and the Governor General if its demands are not met.
WATCH | Ottawa police will send more officers to protest areas:
About 150 additional police officers will be on patrol in Ottawa as the city braces for another weekend of protest against COVID-19 mandates. Officers will be addressing ‘unlawful threatening conduct’ in the most affected neighbourhoods, says the city’s police Chief Peter Sloly 1:56
Tamara Lich, one of the organizers of the protest’s GoFundMe page, posted a video message on Friday evening directing supporters to a new online fundraiser hosted by GiveSendGo, a Christian fundraising site that was blocked by PayPal last year after it was used to raise funds for people who attended the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“Please, if you can donate and help us keep these truckers going, we plan to be here for the long haul,” she said. “As long as it takes to make sure that your rights and freedoms are restored.”
More than 120,000 donors contributed nearly $10.1 million to the fund. A CBC News analysis found that about one-third of donors were anonymous or used aliases, and that many of the donations were made from outside Canada.
The company now says it will “work with organizers to send all remaining funds to credible and established charities verified by GoFundMe.” People who donated to the fund can also ask for a refund until February 19.
GoFundMe released $1 million to the organizers earlier this week before it froze the payments. It said organizers were able to prove that money would be used for participants involved in peaceful protest.
Premier says protest has become an ‘occupation’
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson thanked GoFundMe for freezing the fund shortly after the decision was announced.
“These protesters have been holding our city hostage for a week now, and I’m hopeful that limiting their access to funding and resources will restrict their ability to remain in Ottawa,” Watson wrote.
Trucks and protesters are entering their second week of demonstations in downtown Ottawa. (Christian Milette/CBC/Radio-Canada)
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Friday that he believes the protest has become “an occupation” and urged participants to leave.
“It’s time for this to come to an end,” he said.
Other elected officials — primarily Conservative MPs — expressed their support for the protest as recently as Wednesday of this week.
Paloma Raggo, a Carleton University professor specializing in nonprofits and philanthropy, said she was surprised that GoFundMe did not block the fund sooner, since it never appeared to be a legitimate charity.
Raggo said the federal government should explore regulating crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe to prevent future misuses of its services.
“This is not the first time that this has happened. Should it be the last? Maybe. And maybe it’s time we have laws on the books for that,” she said.
WATCH | NDP MP says GoFundMe should testify at Parliament:
GoFundMe says it will not release any more funds to the ‘Freedom Convoy’
13 hours ago
Duration 2:47
B.C. New Democratic Party MP Alistair MacGregor joins Power & Politics to discuss GoFundMe’s decision and why he thinks the company should still be made to testify before a parliamentary committee. 2:47
A parliamentary committee has called on GoFundMe executives to testify about the company’s operations, including its measures to prevent the funding of extremism and hate.
Organizers facing possible class action lawsuit
Organizers of the protest were dealt another blow on Friday evening in the form of a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Ottawa residents who live near the protest.
The statement of claim accuses the organizers of the protest of causing significant harm to residents due to their use of loud truck horns for “12 to 16 hours” daily.
The lawsuit notes that people who live near Parliament Hill are accustomed to protests, “but they have never experienced anything like the constant and excruciatingly loud horns of the Defendants’ Freedom Convoy.”
It is seeking $5 million in “punitive damages” and another $4.8 million in “private nuisance” damages. The lawsuit has been filed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
“The Freedom Convoy horn protest organized by the defendants has caused significant mental distress, suffering and torment,” the document says.
WINNIPEG – The federal New Democrats have kept a longtime stronghold in the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg.
The NDP’s Leila Dance won a close battle over Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds, and says the community has spoken in favour of priorities such as health care and the cost of living.
Elmwood-Transcona has elected a New Democrat in every election except one since the riding was formed in 1988.
The seat became open after three-term member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to take a job with the Manitoba government.
A political analyst the NDP is likely relieved to have kept the seat in what has been one of their strongest urban areas.
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh worked hard to keep the seat in a tight race.
“He made a number of visits to Winnipeg, so if they had lost this riding it would have been disastrous for the NDP,” Adams said.
The strong Conservative showing should put wind in that party’s sails, Adams added, as their percentage of the popular vote in Elmwood-Transcona jumped sharply from the 2021 election.
“Even though the Conservatives lost this (byelection), they should walk away from it feeling pretty good.”
Dance told reporters Monday night she wants to focus on issues such as the cost of living while working in Ottawa.
“We used to be able to buy a cart of groceries for a hundred dollars and now it’s two small bags. That is something that will affect everyone in this riding,” Dance said.
Liberal candidate Ian MacIntyre placed a distant third,
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say the Liberals have “all sorts of reflections” to make after losing a second stronghold in a byelection in Montreal Monday night.
His comments come as the Liberal cabinet gathers for its first regularly scheduled meeting of the fall sitting of Parliament, which began Monday.
Trudeau’s Liberals were hopeful they could retain the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, but those hopes were dashed after the Bloc Québécois won it in an extremely tight three-way race with the NDP.
Louis-Philippe Sauvé, an administrator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics, beat Liberal candidate Laura Palestini by less than 250 votes. The NDP finished about 600 votes back of the winner.
It is the second time in three months that Trudeau’s party lost a stronghold in a byelection. In June, the Conservatives defeated the Liberals narrowly in Toronto-St. Paul’s.
The Liberals won every seat in Toronto and almost every seat on the Island of Montreal in the last election, and losing a seat in both places has laid bare just how low the party has fallen in the polls.
“Obviously, it would have been nicer to be able to win and hold (the Montreal riding), but there’s more work to do and we’re going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters ahead of this morning’s cabinet meeting.
When asked what went wrong for his party, Trudeau responded “I think there’s all sorts of reflections to take on that.”
In French, he would not say if this result puts his leadership in question, instead saying his team has lots of work to do.
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet will hold a press conference this morning, but has already said the results are significant for his party.
“The victory is historic and all of Quebec will speak with a stronger voice in Ottawa,” Blanchet wrote on X, shortly after the winner was declared.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party had hoped to ride to a win in Montreal on the popularity of their candidate, city councillor Craig Sauvé, and use it to further their goal of replacing the Liberals as the chief alternative to the Conservatives.
The NDP did hold on to a seat in Winnipeg in a tight race with the Conservatives, but the results in Elmwood-Transcona Monday were far tighter than in the last several elections. NDP candidate Leila Dance defeated Conservative Colin Reynolds by about 1,200 votes.
Singh called it a “big victory.”
“Our movement is growing — and we’re going to keep working for Canadians and building that movement to stop Conservative cuts before they start,” he said on social media.
“Big corporations have had their governments. It’s the people’s time.”
New Democrats recently pulled out of their political pact with the government in a bid to distance themselves from the Liberals, making the prospects of a snap election far more likely.
Trudeau attempted to calm his caucus at their fall retreat in Nanaimo, B.C, last week, and brought former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney on as an economic adviser in a bid to shore up some credibility with voters.
The latest byelection loss will put more pressure on him as leader, with many polls suggesting voter anger is more directed at Trudeau himself than at Liberal policies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The New Democrats have declared a federal byelection victory in their Winnipeg stronghold riding of Elmwood—Transcona.
The NDP candidate Leila Dance told supporters in a tearful speech that even though the final results weren’t in, she expected she would see them in Ottawa.
With several polls still to be counted, Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds conceded defeat and told his volunteers that they should be proud of what the Conservatives accomplished in the campaign.
Political watchers had a keen eye on the results to see if the Tories could sway traditionally NDP voters on issues related to labour and affordability.
Meanwhile in the byelection race in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Québécois remained locked in an extremely tight three-way race as the results trickled in slowly.
The Liberal stronghold riding had a record 91 names on the ballot, and the results aren’t expected until the early hours of the morning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
