Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD-Bank) has moved to freeze approximately $1.4 million in funds specifically allocated for the Freedom Convoy — a group of Canadian truckers protesting vaccine mandates and other government responses to COVID-19 — which continues into its third week in Ottawa and other Canadian cities.
Thus far, no other Canadian financial institution has announced whether they will take similar steps to TD-Bank’s.
The Toronto-based financial institution has said it is acting on a Thursday order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice banning the disbursement of funds connected to the Freedom Convoy to its rightful recipients.
“TD has asked the court to accept the funds, which were raised through crowdfunding and deposited into personal accounts at TD, so they may be managed and distributed in accordance with the intentions of the donors,” TD spokeswoman Carla Hindman said.
But Hindman’s words make no sense, since the funds were meant to assist those connected with the Freedom Convoy — and the bank is blocking such transactions.
The funds in question appear to include a lump-sum payment of $1 million through the original crowdfunding source GoFundMe, which later took down pages connected to the Freedom Convoy. The remaining funds had been sent to a second account via multiple bank e-transfers.
Attorneys for the Freedom Convoy have already announced that they plan to fight the government and corporate attacks on the Freedom Convoy’s money.
“We will be taking expedited legal steps to have the restrictions on the donated funds lifted as soon as possible,” said Keith Wilson, an attorney for the Convoy.
“We are also going to be taking the Ontario government to court to seek an immediate lifting of what we consider to be an unlawful order,” Wilson said.
Meanwhile, a second crowdfunding source, the Christian company GiveSendGo, has already confirmed that it has no problem flouting what it considers an unjust Canadian court order, tweeting on February 10: “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.”
Thus far, GiveSendGo has raised more than $11 million for the Freedom Convoy campaign.
Thousands of Canadian truckers and their supporters first descended upon Canada’s capital Ottawa on January 29 to make their voices heard about what they consider unnecessary and totalitarian vaccine mandates and a digital vaccine mandate system.
Thus far, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has declined to speak with the organizers of the convoy, instead, linking the peaceful group to white supremacists and claiming that some in the group flew what Trudeau called “racist flags.”
“There is no place in our country for threats, violence, or hatred,” Trudeau claimed, although live streams of the Ottawa protests show little to no evidence of that type of behavior.
Trudeau has also dismissed those who are protesting his draconian COVID-19 measures as a “small fringe minority,” who the prime minister then claimed held “unacceptable views.”
Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe took issue with that characterization of the Freedom Convoy, telling Trudeau, “There are strong opinions on both sides of this issue, but neither side is a ‘small, fringe minority’ with ‘unacceptable views,’” Moe said.
Candice Bergen, one of the leaders of Canada’s Conservative Party and an MP from Manitoba, agreed, saying, “These were the ‘unacceptable views’ they were expressing: They and millions like them have had enough of the lockdowns and broken promises. They deserve to be heard and they deserve respect.”
The Freedom Convoy has people such as Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden in the United States in a panic. Regular citizens demanding to be heard always frighten would-be authoritarians. The sides in the great Canadian Freedom Convoy have been made clear. On one side sit dictatorial politicians such as Trudeau, compliant government courts, and corporate actors such as TD-Bank who wish the people of Canada would just be quiet and do what they’re told. On the other side are the people themselves, who have become tired of being dictated to and ignored by politicians and are demanding some answers.
Why are those answers so difficult to come up with?
