GiveSendGo, the Christian crowdsourcing company, is pushing back against an Ontario court that issued a ruling earlier Thursday evening that effectively froze access to monetary donations to truckers and other Canadians participating in the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa, Canada, and elsewhere, through a government order.
GiveSendGo tweeted Thursday evening that Canada has “absolutely zero jurisdiction” over how they dispense their funds and that all donations on GiveSendGo.com, including the Freedom Convoy, will go to their intended charities.
On Thursday, The Daily Wire reported the Freedom Convoy, a group of more than 50,000 truckers protesting the COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions throughout the Canadian government, raised more than $8 million through the online crowd resourcing platform GiveSendGo after GoFundMe kicked the group off of its own platform last Friday.
But, it looked like that money could be in serious jeopardy until GiveSendGo fought back Thursday evening.
“Know this!” GiveSendGo tweeted. “Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo. All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns, not least of which is The Freedom Convoy campaign.”
Know this! Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo. All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns, not least of which is The Freedom Convoy campaign.
— GiveSendGo (@GiveSendGo) February 11, 2022
That money appeared to be in limbo as neither truckers nor donors can gain access to it, per an Ontario court order that “effectively [froze] all donations made to the trucker convoy through GiveSendGo,” as explained by Canadian talkshow host Andrew Lawton.
“It is now a criminal offence to have any ‘dealing’ with money from donations through this platform,” Lawton added.
BREAKING: The Ontario government says it has effectively frozen all donations made to the trucker convoy through GiveSendGo. It is now a criminal offence to have any "dealing" with money from donations through this platform. pic.twitter.com/EhWWqe1V6J
— Andrew Lawton (@AndrewLawton) February 10, 2022
As The Daily Wire noted earlier, the donations were not seized by the government, merely frozen, but seizure could be the next step.
“This is the section of the criminal code that the Ford government is using to freeze the funds,”Brian Lilley of the Toronto-Sun explained via Twitter. “Note, they have been frozen, not seized at this point, in accordance with a ruling today by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.”
This is the section of the criminal code that the Ford government is using to freeze the funds.
Note, they have been frozen, not seized at this point, in accordance with a ruling today by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. #cdnpoli #onpoli #FreedomConvoy2022 #FreedomConvoy pic.twitter.com/xWMsi9x6MW— Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) February 10, 2022
This decision by the Ontario government highlighted why attorney for the Freedom Convoy Keith Wilson recently discussed the importance of Bitcoin as another viable solution for the protesters in Canada and elsewhere, as pointed out by The Post Millennial:
“With respect to bitcoin, what we’ve witnessed… what the world has witnessed is the power of government to manipulate the flows of peoples hard-earned dollars, to advance a government’s objectives and to seek to defeat the will of individuals in their democratic process.”
“I have been following bitcoin very closely, it’s a decentralized platform for people to exchange their hard-earned value with someone else for theirs,” Wilson continued.
“It bypasses the constraints and arbitrary controls of government. This is the perfect example of why fiat currency is in trouble.“
The Daily Wire also reported Thursday that “Canadian protesters demonstrating against COVID-19 regulations have forced two of the world’s biggest carmakers, Ford and Toyota, to halt production at plants on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.”
The plants were shut down because “workers there can’t get parts that are being delayed at two U.S. border points blocked by truckers, including the most trafficked bridge in North America.” Those shutdowns are estimated to be costing $300 million a day.