The Ontario government announced late Thursday, Feb. 10, that it had obtained a court order freezing funds set to be delivered to the trucker convoy that is presently engaged in protest against COVID mandates and regulations.
After crowdfunding platform GoFundMe chose not to pass on donations to the protest organizers, a smaller gift-processing outfit called GiveSendGo stepped in and began collecting on the group's behalf. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has managed to hold up the transfer of payments from GiveSendGo, although many donations continue through private means and cryptocurrency transactions.
The self-styled "Freedom Convoy" has blocked ports of entry into Canada and a number of city streets with trucks. Other Canadians have joined the protest with regular vehicles.
A statement from the Ontario government reads:
"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."
The statement concludes, "This afternoon, the order was issued. It binds any and all parties with possession or control over these donations."
Canadian talk show host Andrew Lawton tweeted that "It is now a criminal offence to have any 'dealing' with money from donations through this platform."
Similar protests have been reported in different countries.
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