freedom convoy” protesters who have disrupted the nation’s capital.Brad Howland, president of Easy-Kleen Pressure Systems Ltd., confirmed the donation, the largest from within Canada, following a hack of crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo.Howland declined to speak to Global News but said in a statement he had travelled to Ottawa to witness the “beautiful, legal, peaceful protest that overwhelmed us with emotion.”“We are thankful to be blessed enough to support their efforts to do what they have to do in a peaceful way until the government removes the mandates to restore all our freedom as pre-COVID,” he said.Protest organizers have secured millions in pledges from donors on GiveSendGo, the U.S.-based Christian crowdfunding platform that is hosting the fundraising campaign.
Trudeau invokes Emergencies Act for 1st time to aid convoy blockade response Last week, the Ontario court froze the funds as offence-related property after the Ottawa Police Service alleged the money was facilitating the crimes committed by anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine protesters.Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday the government was increasing the scope of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) to oversee crowdfunding websites, allowing banks to freeze accounts without first obtaining a court order.“We are making these changes because we know that these platforms are being used to support illegal blockades and illegal activity which is damaging the Canadian economy,” Freeland said at a press conference.Although many of the donations were made anonymously, or using what appeared to be false names, data shared with news organizations showed the email addresses used by donors.Among them was a $100 donation.