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OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Crowdfunding platform GoFundMe dropped the Freedom Convoy fundraiser on Friday after more than 10 million Canadian dollars (approximately $7,782,000 U.S.) had been raised.
The organization said: “GoFundMe supports peaceful protests, and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created… 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.”
Despite claims of violence, the Freedom Convoy has been peaceful. One Ottawa resident who spends time near Parliament said that he has seen “no violence or harassment,” and that he could “walk about freely and safely.”
Canadian lawyer Nicholas Wansbutter said that there “is no factual basis” to support the narrative that the Freedom Convoy has brought violence to Ottawa.
Before the fundraiser was dropped by the woke crowdfunding platform, the funds were frozen. Convoy spokeswoman and organizer Tamara Lich told reporters that the group had been working hard with GoFundMe to work out the “legal details” of disbursing such a massive sum of money.
Justice Centre for Charter Freedoms lawyer Keith Wilson, who has been hired by the Freedom Convoy, said at the press conference that they “welcomed” the “heightened caution” that GoFundMe was exercising given the circumstances.
Nonetheless, the Freedom Convoy fundraiser was dropped Friday.
Initially, GoFundMe stated that they would donate any money that was not reclaimed by donors to other charities but backtracked after a significant public outcry.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who supports the truckers and Canadian freedom, tweeted his intent to have GoFundMe investigated for “deceptive practices.”
It is a fraud for @gofundme to commandeer $9M in donations sent to support truckers and give it to causes of their own choosing.
I will work with @AGAshleyMoody to investigate these deceptive practices — these donors should be given a refund.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) February 5, 2022
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that he had assembled a team to investigate the “BLM-backing company” that “went woke.”
Patriotic Texans donated to Canadian truckers’ worthy cause using GoFundMe. This BLM-backing company went woke, froze the funds, & failed to deliver Texans’ money. Today I assembled a team to investigate their potential fraud & deception. Texas donors will get Justice! #GoFundMe
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) February 5, 2022
Elon Musk reacted to the news by intimating that GoFundMe were thieves.
It’s not my money pic.twitter.com/IKRxhGo8wS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2022
The left-leaning mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, tweeted that his administration and the Ottawa Police had pressured the organization into dropping the freedom-oriented fundraiser.
NEW:
I want to sincerely thank the team at @gofundme for listening to the plea made by the City and the Ottawa Police to no longer provide funds to the convoy organizers. 1/3— Jim Watson (@JimWatsonOttawa) February 4, 2022
Watson said he was “imploring similar crowdfunding platforms” to bar the Freedom Convoy from raising funds.
However, Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo seems to have ignored the mayor’s request and has picked up the freedom fundraiser.
The platform tweeted that within 48 hours on GiveSendGo, four million dollars had been raised, almost half of what was raised with GoFundMe in 2 weeks.
Even with all the glitches/attacks, $4million+ has been donated in 48 hrs on GiveSendGo. This is nothing short of a MIRACLE even with all the issues God is growing this company. We’re so excited to be on this adventure. (FYI it took over 2 weeks for the gfm to reach the $10M)
— GiveSendGo (@GiveSendGo) February 7, 2022
So much traffic was sent to the GiveSendGo site that the servers couldn’t handle it all. Video platform Rumble offered to help the company with the server issues so that the fundraiser could continue to grow at a faster pace than it did with GoFundMe.
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Even with all the glitches/attacks, $4million+ has been donated in 48 hrs on GiveSendGo. This is nothing short of a MIRACLE even with all the issues God is growing this company. We’re so excited to be on this adventure. (FYI it took over 2 weeks for the gfm to reach the $10M)
— GiveSendGo (@GiveSendGo) February 7, 2022
The woke cancelling of the fundraiser seems to have worked in favour of the truckers, as donors have expressed their motivation to donate even more money as a result
Got my refund from #gofundme, I mean #gofraudme, doubled it and donated through #GiveSendGo
— WhitM-Unacceptable fringe!🩸🇨🇦 (@M731Whit) February 7, 2022
LifeSiteNews also offers a free crowdfunding resource for causes that support faith, family, freedom and a Christian culture.
Those interested can visit https://www.lifefunder.com/about/ .
Help Canadian truckers at the border: LifeFunder.com