A fundraising effort for the trucker convoy occupying Ottawa streets and making demands of the Canadian government has hit more than US$8 million, with an analysis by CTV News showing that donations appear to be pouring in from south of the border.
Donations to the Freedom Convoy 2022 page on the Christian website GiveSendGo from those who say they are in the U.S. may actually outnumber donations from Canadians, with Americans reached by CTV News saying they are donating because they are finding common cause with the Canadian truckers.
“I really believe in what they’re doing. I think the countries have all got to start working together. Freedom is important to all of us,” said Dory Hill, reached at her farm in Michigan.
Hill, who is unvaccinated and a Republican, said she isn’t very politically active but donated US$50 after hearing about the convoy on a podcast.
“I want them to let people of every country, whether prime minister, president, whoever, know that we’re serious about wanting freedom back,” she said in an interview.
CTV News sampled some 6,500 donations over a 12-hour period coming onto GiveSendGo, together worth about $622,000.
Of those, about 35 per cent were anonymous donations, or clearly pseudonyms, such as “Justin Trudeau.”
Of the remainder, CTV News counted those who declared their location or made it clear what country they were from — about 10 per cent. Among the names listed are “Buckhorn Texans for Freedom from Government,” and “The Republican Club of Lakeland, Florida.”
In that smaller sample, Canadian donations accounted for about 36 per cent of the money gained. Small amounts came from people who said they were in the U.K., Germany, Australia and Hong Kong, with donations coming from as far away as Latvia and Japan, the records show.
But dwarfing them all were donations from those who said they were in the United States — about 52 per cent of identifiable donations.
In that country, right-wing politicians and media figures have promoted the convoy, and also threatened an investigation into funding platform GoFundMe for refunding most of its donations.
“It’s an organic groundswell from the people. And I think the Canadian truckers are standing up not just for the freedom of Canadians, but for the freedom of Americans,” Senator Ted Cruz told media Wednesday.
But something that appears organic may actually be organized by right-wing networks, drawing on an American base of support for a political issue internal to Canada, said Alexander Ross, an adjunct professor at Portland State University.
“When you have this kind of intervention from one country to another, you start to see the transnational networks that compose the modern far right,” he said.
GiveSendGo did not respond to an email from CTV News asking for a full breakdown of sources of funds by country for the money that had been raised so far for the trucker convoy, or to questions about whether it planned to refund the money as well.
At a press conference Wednesday, Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said he was concerned about the rapid pace of transactions and the sheer size of donations.
“I’m relieved, as I think we all are, that GoFundMe put a stop to the distribution of funds to the convoy. Clearly they had looked carefully and with meticulous detail at who was contributing, and I think also examined the very important question about what those funds could be used to do,” he said.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said, “We’re all concerned about the lack of transparency and accountability and how these funds are being used.”
Charlie Hardage, the President of the Republican Club of Lakeland, Florida, told CTV News he authorized a $300 donation from his group because he believed in medical freedom.
“A lot of people are concerned about vaccine mandates or other mandates,” he said.
When asked if he would support a group of left-wing Canadians donating money to a left-wing cause in the United States, Hardage said, “I guess that’s probably going to be determined by where you stand. I assume the truckers are happy to have support from abroad. People opposed to their movement may see it as unwelcome guests.”
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