North Shore residents donate over $29K to 'Freedom Convoy'

Supporters of the “Freedom Convoy” trucker protests who live on the North Shore donated over $29,000 to the cause through the GiveSendGo platform, a leaked list has revealed.

The leaked donor list showed 248 donations were made to the “Freedom Convoy” – which shut down downtown Ottawa and blocked border crossings to the U.S. in recent weeks – by people on the North Shore. Of those, 175 were from North Vancouver and 73 were from West Vancouver.

An analysis of postal codes associated with the donations showed they came from all over the North Shore – from people living in Dollarton, Edgemont Village, Lower Lonsdale, Lynn Valley, Ambleside, the British Properties and all points in between.

The two largest North Shore donations – of $1,000 each – were from two people in North Vancouver. Nine people donated amounts between $500 and $800. Twenty-seven people donated amounts between $200 and $450. The majority of North Shore donors gave amounts of $100 or less.

Many of those who made donations offered comments supporting the convoy, with some saying they were praying for the truckers, while others criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and government measures brought in to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccine passports.

“Thank you for standing up against tyranny and censorship!  Bring back the free in True North Strong and FREE!” wrote one North Shore donor who gave $750 to the campaign.

Many voiced anger at GoFundMe for shutting down its earlier campaign supporting the convoy.

“After what GFM did to the truckers, I am doubling our donation. Go TRUCKERS GO!!! We support you! Thank you from all of us for what you are doing to liberate Canadians from this communistic regime, once called Canada,” wrote a North Shore donor who gave $200.

“THANK YOU! truckers and all who are fighting these divisive, destructive, and ineffective covid mandates and government overreach,” wrote another local donor. “If you give government extraordinary powers during a crisis, they will create crises to take extraordinary power. NO MORE!

FREEDOM.”

Others left messages about being “discriminated against” for refusing to be vaccinated.

“Thank you for bringing me and my family hope after two years! I will finally one day be able to watch my boys play hockey, fly to see my parents!” wrote one North Shore donor.

Hacked information about donations to the GiveSendGo campaign was leaked to journalists last week by the Distributed Denial of Secrets group, which describes itself as a non-profit devoted to enabling the free transmission of data in the public interest.

The hack comes after an earlier GoFundMe account that raised more than $10 million for the “trucker” protests was shut down. Soon after, the convoy's organizers looked to GiveSendGo to continue raising money.

The Ontario government obtained an injunction last week attempting to freeze those funds, but the site said it was not subject to Canadian laws and continued to raise money.

The U.S.-based Christian site is known for being used by right-wing groups like the Proud Boys, designated a terrorist organization in Canada.

The data released in the GiveSendGo trucker campaign hack showed donations from Canada made up over $4 million, about half of the total, with most other donations coming from the U.S.

The largest single donation in Metro Vancouver came from an indoor gun range in Langley, which made an $18,000 donation.

The information about North Shore donors to the "Freedom Convoy" came out as a recent North Shore News poll showed 18 per cent of North and West Vancouver residents fully supported the convoy while a further 13 per cent said they didn't agree with the cause but supported the right to civil disobedience. Over two-thirds of North Shore residents – 68 per cent – opposed the convoy.

Meanwhile, police in Ottawa moved in Friday and Saturday to clear the protests that took over the downtown area near the Parliament buildings. Over 190 people were arrested. Two of the convoy organizers, Tamara Lich and Pat King, remained in custody Tuesday afternoon. A third organizer, Chris Barber, was released on bail and ordered to leave Ottawa.

- with files from Cameron Thomson, Vancouver Is Awesome