The government in Ontario, Canada, claimed it has persuaded a court to block access to millions of dollars donated to the “Freedom Convoy” using GiveSendGo on Thursday.
Doug Ford, a spokesperson for Ontario Premier, reported that Ontario’s attorney general filed a request with the Superior Court of Justice for an injunction to prevent the distribution of funds.
On their website, GiveSendGo has a “Freedom Convoy 2022” campaign, which has raised $8,533,479 US, and “Adopt-A-Trucker” that raised $691,488 CAD.
GiveSendGo started being used for the donations after the GoFundMe campaign, which had $10 million dollars, was taken down by the website.
In response to the current news, GiveSendGo has issued a statement on Twitter. “Know this! Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo,” it said.
“All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns, not least of which is The Freedom Convoy campaign,” they added.
Many Twitter users shared that they are taking their GoFundMe refunds to donate to the new GiveSendGo campaign. Some are even doubling their original donation.
Founder and CFO of GiveSendGo Jacob Wells told “Fox & Friends First,” “I believe that people have a right to stand for freedom and that is what we see happening, and largely it is a peaceful movement, and we’ve been talking with people on the ground there and that is what they are seeing”.
“They are seeing a groundswell of freedom-loving people standing for their rights, and we’re happy to see funds from people, primarily Canadian citizens, giving to this to push back against overreaching vaccine mandate laws,” he added.
The Freedom Convoy has been occupying areas in Canada for almost two weeks. Border crossings in Michigan, North Dakota and Montana have been shut down due to protesters and their vehicles.