Governor General Supported Shutting Down Convoy’s Online Crowdfunding: Emergencies Act Inquiry

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon looks on as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signs documents at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Sept. 10, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

During a phone call in early February with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon voiced support for shutting down a fundraising campaign for Freedom Convoy on the online crowdfunding platform GoFundMe, which resulted in most of the $10 million donated being refunded to the original senders.

Simon also said she believed the convoy to be funded by “some international money.”

“About the funding issue, is there more here[?] Saw about GoFundMe,” Simon said during the phone call on Feb. 5, according to a transcript introduced as evidence to the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) on Nov. 25.

GoFundMe removed the convoy’s fundraising page on Feb. 4 on the grounds that it violated their service terms.

“I can have people brief your team,” Trudeau replied to Simon on the call. “GoFundMe page has been closed but [$1 million] was released. The other [$9 million] going back to donors.”

“It’s a wise thing,” Simon replied. “Discussion about how this has been growing. Been concerned about something underlying...”

Trudeau replied, “I understand people worry about foreign sources of funding.”

GoFundMe executives previously told parliamentary committees that the convoy’s fundraising campaign raised over $10 million before it was shut down, 88 percent of which came from donations originating in Canada.

The House of Commons finance committee asked GoFundMe’s president Juan Benitez on March 17 if the platform had observed Russian money funding the convoy.

“There was virtually no, perhaps a handful at most, of donations from Russia,” Benitez said.

GoFundMe general counsel Kim Wilford also told the committee on Nov. 18 that she didn’t believe there were any donations sent through the platform from China.

Responsibility

Several days after GoFundMe closed the fundraising campaign, then-chief of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) Peter Sloly said the OPS and the city of Ottawa were responsible for removing the funding.

“We went after the funding,” Sloly said during a press conference on Feb. 7. “Our efforts combined with the city’s efforts eliminated the GoFundMe. Ten million dollars are no longer accessible to the demonstrators.”

A day earlier, convoy organizers blamed the ending of the fundraiser on political interference.

“It was clearly direct interference from the government to cancel this campaign,” said organizer Benjamin Dichter at a press conference on Feb. 6.

GoFundMe executives have since maintained during testimony before parliamentary committees that the decision to end the fundraising campaign was solely their own.

“All our decisions and policies are guided by our terms of service, which are posted publicly and outline what is permissible and what is prohibited on our platform,” Benitez told the Commons finance committee on March 17.

Benitez said GoFundMe initially deemed the Freedom Convoy fundraiser was within its service terms near the end of January.

However, he said the company decided to first suspend the fundraiser on Feb. 2 and then remove it altogether on Feb. 4 because of a “shift in tone” from the convoy organizers.

“We heard from local authorities that what had begun as a peaceful movement had shifted into something else,” Benitez said.

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.