An Ontario court ruled to freeze funds going to trucker’s “Freedom Convoy,” but the crowdfunding platform assured its givers their ruling will not impact where the money goes.
QUICK FACTS:
- The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled to freeze more than $10 million donated to Canada’s Freedom Convoy members, according to CBC Canada
- The ruling allowed the government to freeze the donations through the online fundraising platform GiveSendGo, however, the platform disagrees.
- A spokesperson for the premier, Ivana Yelich, said the order “binds any and all parties with possession or control over these donations.”
- Following news of the order, American-based GiveSendGo’s Twitter account announced their plan to entirely ignore the Canadian court’s ruling.
WHAT GiveSendGo SAID:
- “Know this! Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo. All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns, not least of which is The Freedom Convoy campaign,” the crowdfunding platform stated.
- According to GiveSendGo’s response to the Freedom Convoy’s funding, “When it comes to freedom, we’ve got your back” going on to say that “we’re here for the long haul.”
BACKGROUND:
- Because the demonstration breaches GoFundMe’s policies on violence and harassment, the company said late last week that it will stop paying convoy organizers and reimburse donations directly.
- A Friday blog post from the company outlined details of their decision, which came just days after they froze the disbursement of funds.
- Hundreds of GoFundMe donations to the Ottawa convoy protest came from individuals outside of Canada, according to the site according to an analysis of data collected by CBC News.
