Ottawa convoy - The Canadian Press

By Dori Modney with files from Canadian Press

Crowdfunding platform GoFundMe ends payments to Ottawa’s Freedom Convoy 2022

Feb 5, 2022 | 6:38 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB. — It was a situation that began early in the week, when a parliamentary committee called for “GoFundMe” representatives to testify about how it ensures that money raised on its platform isn’t used to promote hate, such as antisemitism and white supremacy.

On Thursday (Feb 3) New Democrat MP Alistair MacGregor won unanimous approval of the House of Commons public safety committee to invite representatives from the crowdfunding source to answer questions about its security measures and to ensure its funds are not used to promote extremism.

MacGregor said he brought the motion forward because he was concerned about a statement from Ottawa police that a “significant element” from the United States had been involved in funding the Canadian protest.

“We have questions about the anonymity of those donors, whether or not they live in foreign jurisdictions, and what kind of controls GoFundMe has in place to make sure that the money is not funding extremist views like antisemitism, white supremacy and other forms of hate, which we saw in a prominent display amongst some of the members of the protest in Ottawa.”

GoFundMe was used to raise more than $10 million to support anti-vaccine mandate protesters that converged on, and brought a standstill, to downtown Ottawa. The amount of money and the speed with which it was raised, also raised red flags.

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By the time the House of Commons agreed to have GoFundMe representatives answer their questions, the crowd-sourcing organization was in the process of pausing and reviewing the fundraising campaign to ensure it complied with its terms of service. Those terms stipulate “money raised can’t be used to support hate, violence, harassment and bullying, among other anti-social behaviours.”

It became clear that something was found amiss.

GoFundMe said that it “supports peaceful protests and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created.” It added: “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 this meant the fundraiser was in violation of its terms of service and that “no further funds will be directly distributed to the Freedom Convoy organizers.”

GoFundMe statement published Friday on Twitter

Ontario Premier Doug Ford told the Associated Press, “It’s not a protest anymore. It’s become an occupation. It’s time for this to come to an end.”

Canada senator Dennis Patterson added, “If you wrap yourself in, or go about waving a Nazi or Confederate flag, you are declaring yourself a person who embraces hate, bigotry, and racism.”

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