"Freedom Convoys" "People's Convoy" Canadian & US Trucker Protests against COVID Vaccine Mandates & Other Grievances

[Phoenix520]

Besides anti-vaxx blah blah, what are they protesting? The general state of a world in which they have stressful, shit-paying jobs and you don’t?

[Greatgrey]

Funds for the protest are frozen for now.

Katie Simpson
@CBCKatie
NEW - Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Office put out this statement about the protest fundraiser GiveSendGo:

GiveSendGo responds. They’re in for a skoolin.

[Suranis]

Doug Ford is apparently a very trumpian, corrupt kinda guy. Which probably why it took him so long to get serious on this shit. Sooo... it takes a LOT to have him on the relative side of the Angels.

[RTH10260]

https:// twitter.com/AndrewLawton/status/1491947023217614861

Andrew Lawton @AndrewLawton
GiveSendGo responds to the move from the Ontario government and Ontario Superior Court.

GiveSendGo @GiveSendGo

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.

2:27 am · 11 Feb 2022·Twitter Web App

Formally correct.

While I don't know Canadian law, the government declaration may serve as basis for asking Canadian banks to disclose who transfered funds to GiveSendGo. Also possible that this applies to credit card companies operating in Canada and possible may be used for them to disclose Canadian card holders. And further down the lane possible require the credit card companies to claw back such funds. (Disclaimer: pure speculation by me)

[RTH10260]

ETA. again a non-lawyer speculating on Canadian legislation.

One could argue that when GiveSendGo accepts donations from Canadian residents they are exporting a financial product (fundraising) and therefore would need to follow Canadian rules. In that part they would be exposing themselves to Canadian sanctions. As they have no local representation the enforcement would be difficult. The Canadian justice system could send out a warrant to Interpol, which would severely limit named GiveSendGo execs travels outside of the US.

[jcolvin2]

The Canadian justice system could send out a warrant to Interpol, which would severely limit named GiveSendGo execs travels outside of the US.

GiveSendStay!

[jcolvin2]

It is possible that the Canadian financial system will not accept payments from GiveSendGo for the Freedom Convoy. The intended recipients may have to come to the US to get any money from GSG. But wait, the Freedom Convoy shut down border crossings. A bit of a Catch-22.

[Greatgrey]

And throw in GoSendGo is some xtian outfit they’re gonna claim some religious exemption from financial laws.

But you can bet evangelicals are adept at laundering arks full of money.

[Luke]

It's going to be the banks and payment processors that will give the squeeze. Here's more about that part of it.

Ontario freezes funds from GiveSendGo trucker convoy fundraiser
By Stephanie Taylor The Canadian Press
Posted February 10, 2022 6:02 pm Updated February 10, 2022 10:57 pm

The Ontario government says it has successfully petitioned a court to freeze access to millions of dollars donated through online fundraising platform GiveSendGo to the convoy protesting COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa and at several border crossings. The province obtained an order from the Superior Court of Justice that prohibits anyone from distributing donations made through the website’s “Freedom Convoy 2022” and “Adopt-a-Trucker” campaign pages, said a spokeswoman for Premier Doug Ford. Ivana Yelich said the order binding “any and all parties with possession or control over these donations” was issued Thursday afternoon. She cited a section of the Criminal Code that allows the attorney general to apply for a restraint order against any “offence-related property.”

Hundreds of semi-trucks rolled into downtown Ottawa two weeks ago to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates and health restrictions and now trucks are also blockading border crossings in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario. Donors initially raised more than $10 million through GoFundMe, which announced last Friday it was pulling the plug on the campaign and that the money would be refunded. The site said it initially believed the demonstration was going to be peaceful, but withdrew its support after police and local leaders raised concerns it had become an “occupation.”

Convoy organizers quickly set up new campaigns on Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo. As of Thursday, “Freedom Convoy 2022” had raised $US8.4 million and “Adopt-a-Trucker” had amassed more than $686,000. GiveSendGo posted a statement on Twitter Thursday night about its “Freedom Convoy” campaign. “Know this! Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo,” it said. “All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns, not least of which is The Freedom Convoy campaign.”

Organizers have also touted the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as another way to generate funds for protesters and avoid other potential fundraising shutdowns, including during a news conference that was livestreamed to supporters on Wednesday. Ontario’s move to freeze access to the donations comes the same day as an all-party House of Commons committee of MPs heard testimony from deputy directors of Canada’s financial intelligence hub about how it doesn’t cover crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe. Fintrac has a mandate to identify money linked to terrorist financing and money laundering from reports it receives each year from entities including banks, insurance companies, money service businesses and casinos. It doesn’t investigate potential crimes or stop money from flowing, but passes its intelligence onto police.

Fintrac deputy director Barry MacKillop testified that it doesn’t regulate crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe and so wouldn’t receive from it reports of suspicious transactions. The payment services that users rely on to send money to crowdfunding campaigns, like PayPal, and the banks that in turn deposit the cash do fall under is reporting requirements, the MPs heard. “The intersection with the crowdfunding platforms and our financial institutions is a must in order to disperse the money,” he said. “If the money were going through a Canadian bank, for example, and directed to the Proud Boys — they’re a listed terrorist organization. That money would be stopped by the bank.”

Annette Ryan, another deputy director at Fintrac, testified this gives them a line of sight into the crowdfunding sector. At the outset, MacKillop said Fintrac doesn’t discuss intelligence disclosures made to police. But when it comes to the protest unfolding in Ottawa, he said there hasn’t been an upswing in suspicious transactions being reported. “We have not seen a spike,” he said. Among one of the questions MPs had about the millions being generated for protesters through crowdfunding sites was the appearance funds were being sent anonymously. MacKillop says while the public may not get to see who is making donations, that doesn’t make them anonymous. He pointed out donors must use credit cards to send money and the fact that GoFundMe offered up refunds after it shut down the protesters’ campaign demonstrates it has the information it needs to identify an individual. Earlier Thursday, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor announced the committee would hear directly from representatives from GoFundMe about what measures it has in place to prevent the funding of extremism. MacGregor brought forward the motion and said they will appear March 3.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8610512/give ... globalnews

[Lani]

Windsor.png (177.22 KiB) Viewed 1250 times

[tek]

Massachusetts elected official charged in Jan. 6 insurrection reportedly organizing anti-vaccine mandate trucker convoy

A Massachusetts elected official, one of six residents of the state charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the United States Capitol, is reportedly now involved in organizing a convoy of truckers to drive to Washington, D.C. to protest vaccine mandates.

On the message board app Telegram, Suzanne Ianni, a former Natick town meeting member, claimed she had been tasked with organizing Massachusetts truckers to drive to Washington, D.C. to protest vaccine mandates, GBH reported.

https://www.masslive.com/news/2022/02/m ... onvoy.html

[dan1100]

An injunction for clearing the Windsor/Detroit bridge has been granted and takes effect at 7 pm.

Here is a unrolled live tweet of the hearing

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1492 ... 48679.html

[Volkonski]

[raison de arizona]

https://twitter.com/HGTomato/status/149 ... zfRs7Gh2bQ

This trucker convoy they’re planning is nothing but a Trump boat parade for land.

There is absolutely nothing shut down in Florida, yet the Florida convoy group on telegram is excited to fuck up traffic.

Why? Because they like to fuck shit up.

It’s like the Tea Party was back in 2010.

There are no real complaints, other than they don’t like the outcome of the election.

[dan1100]

It doesn't take much to be denied entry into Canada.

I know a guy who was denied for a 5 or so year old DWI.

[dan1100]

Someone is live tweeting the Zello meeting (yet another chat app I assume) of the Freedumbers talking about the injunction.

https://twitter.com/Princess2260/status ... 3354132481

Another thread on hearing

https://twitter.com/davidreevely/status ... 2885526530

[raison de arizona]

It doesn't take much to be denied entry into Canada.

I know a guy who was denied for a 5 or so year old DWI.

They are definitely tight. I have had trouble for no discernible (in my mind) reason more than once. Once because the ex-wife (in the passenger seat) was on her phone. They didn't like that. It was an incident, delayed us maybe fifteen minutes. Once because we were told we wouldn't need our documents to get back in after walking across the Rainbow Bridge to the US for the day from our hotel in Canada. That one cost us a couple hours of drama with them wanting us to retrieve docs that were... in Canada. And once we drove my father-in-law's car because we didn't trust our car for the trip. He has a different last name than my wife and I. They were not pleased with the auto not being registered to us and wanted to call him, etc. That one took awhile.

Anyway, yeah, block all these idiots from crossing the border again. Especially the Americans over there creating a ruckus, let Canada keep them!

[raison de arizona]

Cernovich is a doorknob, but I like to see Trudeau talking about real consequences.

[RVInit]

[Luke]

Yup, here come the banks.





But yeah what could go wrong with this.

In a video posted on Facebook by supporters, convoy organizers discuss the strategy online for fundraising, turning to a crowdfunding website that has raised $913,000 as of Friday afternoon, in satoshis, which each represent a 100 millionth fraction of a bitcoin.

“The principle philosophy of what Bitcoin is is freedom,” one says. “For everyone who had their voice stolen by “GoFraudMe”, “GoFundMe,” you should feel solace that there are now alternatives.”

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/td-bank-to-h ... -1.5778435

[Kriselda Gray]

It doesn't take much to be denied entry into Canada.

I know a guy who was denied for a 5 or so year old DWI.

They are definitely tight. I have had trouble for no discernible (in my mind) reason more than once. Once because the ex-wife (in the passenger seat) was on her phone. They didn't like that. It was an incident, delayed us maybe fifteen minutes. Once because we were told we wouldn't need our documents to get back in after walking across the Rainbow Bridge to the US for the day from our hotel in Canada. That one cost us a couple hours of drama with them wanting us to retrieve docs that were... in Canada. And once we drove my father-in-law's car because we didn't trust our car for the trip. He has a different last name than my wife and I. They were not pleased with the auto not being registered to us and wanted to call him, etc. That one took awhile.

Anyway, yeah, block all these idiots from crossing the border again. Especially the Americans over there creating a ruckus, let Canada keep them!

My husband and his father were once delayed because my husband has long hair and was wearing a trench coat.

[RTH10260]

Once narrowly focused, the protests have mushroomed into a sprawling campaign supporting, in some case, far-right, anti-government grievances.

James and Sandra Bauder are leaders of a group calling itself Canada Unity, a main organizer of the truck convoy. According to Sky News, Mr. Bauder “is a supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory and has openly called for Mr. Trudeau to be put on trial for treason over his Covid policies.”


in https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/10 ... -in-canada

[RTH10260]

Windsor.png

Kids don't last longer than a photo op. In a few minutes they will be back on the playground. Or together with their parents tightly held as to not get lost among the protesters.

[RTH10260]

Yup, here come the banks.


https:// twitter.com/ctv_jon/status/1492286434270715909

Jon Woodward @ctv_jon
EXCLUSIVE from me: A Canadian financial institution strikes a blow to the attempts by the #freedomconvoy to collect on any of its millions in online donations:

TD Bank to hand convoy's funds to court as organizers turn to cryptocurrency |

CTV News
toronto.ctvnews.ca
TD Bank to hand convoy's funds to court as organizers turn to cryptocurrency
The Canadian financial institution has struck another blow against the attempts by the convoy group blockading Ottawa to collect on the millions of dollars it has solicited in online donations.

12:56 AM · Feb 12, 2022

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/td-bank-to-h ... -1.5778435

Organizers may use bitcoins among themselves freely. But as soon as a organizer will need to pay for a service in real CAD money they will receive a bank transfer from a cryptoexchange. The banks will recognize this and freeze the asset.

[jcolvin2]

My husband and his father were once delayed because my husband has long hair and was wearing a trench coat.

On my first crossing into Canada at the tender age of 19, I was driving a car with Texas plates. The Canadian border authorities asked me several times if I had guns in the car, and sent me to secondary inspection when I denied having any weapons. Given that I was a college student, I was surprised that they did not suspect that I might be carrying drugs. (I had neither guns nor drugs.)