"It doesn't affect GiveSendGo because we're not subject to those Canadian orders,” founder Jacob Wells, referring to the Feb. 10 ruling from Ontario, tells AFN. “So funds are continuing to flow into those accounts on GiveSendGo.”
Canadian news outlet National Post reported Thursday that Ontario’s provincial government, determined to end the massive protest blocking its streets, had obtained a court order freezing the funds that are now at approximately $8 million U.S. dollars.
GiveSendGo, which now finds itself in the middle of the government-vs-truckers stand-off, is best known as a faith-based crowdfunding site that is popular for church projects, medical emergencies, and mission trips.
AFN reported that week that Canada’s authoritarian government, after locking down the nation for two years, is witnessing a massive anti-mandate campaign led by thousands of defiant truck drivers. Those drivers faced a mid-January deadline to get the COVID-19 jab if they wanted to continue cross-border hauling but, instead, a “Freedom Convoy” started in Vancouver and parked in downtown Ontario, the seat of power in the country.
The protest reportedly stretched 40 miles and grew to 50,000 people by the time it reached Ontario.
What began in Ontario, by a minority of unvaccinated and defiant drivers, has now inspired similar protests in the U.S., where a cross-country trek is being planned, and also in Australia, New Zealand, and in numerous European countries.
In France, a "Freedom Convoy" made up of cars and motorcycles was facing down police checkpoints on the outskirts of Paris to block off from a 200-person caravan, Reuters reported.
"We saw the Canadians and said to ourselves, 'It's awesome, what they're doing,'" an organizer of the "Convoie de Liberte" said. "In eight days, boom, something was sparked."
This week, Canada's protesting truckers moved to a key border crossing near Detroit, known as Ambassador Bridge, to put more pressure on Canada’s government to drop its mandates.
Meanwhile, the unhappy and frustrated Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, isn't backing down either. Despite two years of strict COVID restrictions, he accused the protesters of harming democracy, the economy, and citizens' "daily lives."
Doug Ford, the Ontario premier who cut off the GiveSendGo donations, announced Friday a “state of emergency” has been declared to end the stand-off. He warned truckers they could lose their commercial licenses, and now face huge fines and jail, if they failed to comply.
So far, after three weeks of protests, the defiant protesters have been shamed as racist Nazis and violent criminals; been warned their children could be taken away by authorities; witnessed police confiscate their fuel and water; been ordered to stop honking their horns or go to jail; and are now witnessing a court order that cuts off donations.
Meanwhile, supporters of the Freedom Convoy are learning they are the government’s enemy, too. A video that has gone “viral” on Twitter shows an Ontario police officer visiting an unidentified woman’s home after the woman discussed the Freedom Convoy in a Facebook post.
“It’s a proactive measure,” the police officer says of her visit, “to make sure you understand your rights about peaceful protesting.”
“I hope you aren’t going to waste your tax dollars doing this to everybody,” the woman unhappily responds, “but now we know we’re being watched.”
According to Wells, the GiveSendGo founder, funding website GoFundMe faced intimidation for being used to help the Freedom Convoy and bowed to pressure from the same government that is now threatening GiveSendGo.
“We're not going to be intimidated,” Wells insists.
Human Events editor Jack Posobiec, who supports the Freedom Convoy, told his 1.6 million Twitter followers this week Canada could end the stand-off by dropping the mandates.
"The reason they won’t," he wrote, "is because this isn’t about the mandates anymore. It’s about power."
