The Ontario, Canada, government claimed it has successfully persuaded a court to block access to millions of dollars given to the “Freedom Convoy” truckers protesting COVID-19 regulations donated using GiveSendGo on Thursday.
According to a spokesperson for Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, Ontario’s attorney general filed a request with the Superior Court of Justice for an injunction prohibiting the distribution of funds received through the website’s “Freedom Convoy 2022” campaign which raised $8,533,479 US and “Adopt-a-Trucker” campaign which raised $691,488 CAD using GiveSendGo, The Globe and Mail reported.
#BREAKING: The Ontario government has successfully petitioned a court to freeze access to millions of dollars donated to the truckers convoy through GiveSendGo.https://t.co/ZMGTToxx27
— Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) February 10, 2022
The protest organizers moved to solicit donations using GiveSendGo after their GoFundMe campaign, which had reached $10 million dollars, was taken down by the website Friday. (RELATED: Who’s The ‘Fringe Minority’? Elon Musk Ridicules Trudeau For Downplaying Trucker Protests)
GiveSendGo has since responded to the news and has issued a statement on the matter.
“Know this! Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo,” a statement from their Twitter account reads. “All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns, not least of which is The Freedom Convoy campaign.”
The “Freedom Convoy” has been occupying parts of Canada in protest of COVID-19 restrictions for almost two weeks. Protesters on the Canadian side of the border have shut down three border crossings in Michigan, North Dakota and Montana, CNN reported. The blockade has forced auto plants to shut down or scale back production due to the disruption of the supply chain of auto parts that move between the two countries, according to ABC News.