Ontario court freezes access to donations for truckers protest from GiveSendGo

By Canadian Press

Published: February 11, 2022 at 1:42 AM

AM800-News-Ottawa-Protest-CTV-January-30-2022Demonstrators with the "Freedom Convoy" protest against COVID-19 mandates and public health measures returned to Parliament Hill Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, for a second day of demonstrations. (Colton Praill/CTV News Ottawa)

The order prohibits anyone from distributing donations made through the website

OTTAWA - The Ontario government says it has successfully petitioned a court to freeze access to millions of dollars donated through online fundraising platform GiveSendGo to the truckers convoy protesting COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa and at several border crossings.

A spokeswoman for Premier Doug Ford says Ontario's attorney general brought the application to the Superior Court of Justice seeking an order that would prohibit anyone from distributing donations made through the website's "Freedom Convoy 2022'' and "Adopt-a-Trucker'' campaign pages.

Spokeswoman Ivana Yelich says an order binding "any and all parties with possession or control over these donations'' was issued Thursday.

Hundreds of semi-trucks rolled into downtown Ottawa two weeks ago to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates and health restrictions and now trucks are also blockading border crossings in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.

Donors initially raised more than $10-million through GoFundMe, which announced last Friday it was pulling the plug on the campaign and that the money would be refunded.

Convoy organizers quickly set up a new campaign on Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo which had raised $8.2-million.