Ontario court freezes access to donations for anti-mandate protest from ‘GiveSendGo’

On Thursday, Ontario’s government filed a court order to effectively prohibit demonstrators protesting against COVID-19 mandates from receiving charitable donations through the Christian crowdfunding website “GiveSendGo.”

Premier Doug Ford issued a statement on the matter, confirming the legal process.

“Today, the Attorney General brought an application in the Superior Court of Justice for an order pursuant to section 490.8 of the Criminal Code prohibiting any person from disposing of, or otherwise dealing with, in any manner whatsoever, any and all monetary donations made through the Freedom Convoy 2022 and Adopt-a-Trucker campaign pages on the GiveSendGo online fundraising platform,” Ford wrote.

“This afternoon, the order was issued. It binds any and all parties with possession or control over these donations.”

The Adopt-a-Trucker campaign, created by Chris Garrah, is described as a fundraiser to help raise money for truckers needing “housing, water, food, accommodations and shuttle services.” As of Thursday, it had raised just over $686,000.

GiveSendGo is the self-described No. 1 free Christian crowdfunding website.

“This is a Canada-wide rally determined to stop all mandates and return CANADIANS their rights and freedoms again,” the campaign’s description reads. “This is for all who want to contribute but cannot be there in person. This is a great way for you to be a part of this movement!”

Last week, the globally-recognized crowdfunding website GoFundMe removed the donations page to the “Freedom Convoy 2022.” It began offering full refunds after over $10 million was raised to help support what they describe as “violence and other unlawful activity.”

GoFundMe said on Friday that following a review of “relevant facts and multiple discussions with local law enforcement and city officials,” the specific fundraiser violated its terms of service (which prohibits the promotion of violence and harassment) and has since been removed.

The “Freedom Convoy 2022” fundraiser was the second-largest in Canada after a campaign was created following the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 that raised $15 million.

According to the CBC, hundreds of the GoFundMe donations came from donors who claimed to be located outside Canada. This included anonymous donations from different countries, including the U.S., Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Australia.

After the U.S., the location cited most often by donors was the United Kingdom.