Recently it was reported that GoFundMe froze millions of dollars that were raised for the “Freedom Convoy” in Canada. This was organized by a group of Canadian truckers who are against the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
This grassroots movement has now received some pretty powerful endorsements. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla just spoke out in favor of the convoy. Joe Rogan, the popular podcast host did the same. And they were joined by psychology professor Jordan Peterson.
The focus of the movement is that Canadian trucking policy that forces unvaccinated drivers to observe a two-week quarantine and COVID-19 tests before crossing into Canada from the United States.
When the protest gained some momentum and news of the convoy made international headlines, Elon Musk gave a simple three-word text of approval: “Canadian truckers rule.”
Near the same time, Joe Rogan focused on the convoy and stated that Canada is “in revolt.”
Professor Peterson, a Canadian himself, has continually talked about the protest on his Twitter page. One of the posts that he wrote characterized The Toronto Star’s statement that the truckers were “flirting with extremists” as “laughable.”
Peterson tagged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in another post. He wanted to refute the remarks that the prime minister had made saying that only a few “extremist” Canadians who had “unacceptable” views were actually participating in the convoy.
Former NHL player and two-time Olympic gold medalist Theo Fleury interviewed Laura Ingraham of Fox News. He also addressed the remarks of Prime Minister Trudeau.
“Right now in Canada, we have one of the biggest revolutions happening. There are 50,000 truckers and about 1.4 million people headed to the parliament in Ottawa. And they’re going to stay there until Trudeau resigns,” Fleury said to Ingraham.
Tamara Lich organized the “Freedom Convoy” GoFundMe page. It has raised almost $5 million from 60,000 supporters. Lich wrote in the description of the group’s page, “We are a peaceful country that has helped protect nations across the globe from tyrannical governments who oppressed their people, and now it seems it is happening here. We are taking our fight to the doorsteps of our Federal Government and demanding that they cease all mandates against its people.”
GoFundMe eventually blocked access to the funds because they require that fundraisers be transparent about how the funds will be used. There needs to be a clear path regarding how the funds will be spent. A GoFundMe spokesperson, Rachel Hollis, said to The Toronto Star that they would be in touch with the organizer to verify the information.
This movement in Canada has taken encouragement from the lawsuit that was filed in the United States against President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers.
Jeremy Boreing, the CEO of The Daily Wire who filed the lawsuit and won, said that it was a tremendous day for the American people. He explained that when the Supreme Court overturned Biden’s statute, it was a total victory.
“Total victory, not just for the millions of Americans who have exercised their right not to be vaccinated, but the millions more who oppose the tyranny of this mandate regardless of their vaccine status. And utter defeat for the government, which sought to enforce its will on the American people — literally INTO the American people — at threat of financial ruin just because they’re convinced they know better than you,” Boreing stated.
Canada is looking for a similar victory over its government restrictions. And now they have some big guns using their massive platforms to help their cause.
