(OTTAWA) The co-founder of GiveSendGo, a crowdfunding platform used by convoy protesters in Ottawa, testified Thursday that he doesn’t mind the participation of hate-inciting groups like the Ku Klux Klan and Proud Boys in the financing on the site, provided it is done in a legal manner.
Posted at 6:28 p.m.
The statement emerged from one of many heated exchanges between MPs on a House of Commons committee and Jacob Wells and Heather Wilson, siblings who founded the US site they describe as a Christian platform.
While Wells highlighted how the funding platform values freedom, committee member and Liberal MP Pam Damoff questioned its ties to the Proud Boys, who in Canada are listed as a terrorist entity and who have used the site for fundraising.
“If we started imposing litmus tests on who qualifies to use public services, we would be in a very, very difficult situation,” Mr Wells said.
“We absolutely believe at the core of our being that the danger of suppressing free speech is far more dangerous than speech itself,” he added.
In response, M.me Damoff asserted, “My brand of Christianity is very different from yours if it includes hate. »
MPs lobbied the founders of GiveSendGo for allowing organizers to use their site to raise millions of dollars after the City of Ottawa declared a state of emergency over the situation.
Convoy demonstrators in Ottawa turned to the platform of Mr. Wells and Mme Wilson after GoFundMe ended an earlier campaign.
Mme Wilson said she thinks GoFundMe was wrong to end the initial fundraiser and said many of the campaigns they host turn to them after being taken down due to “political beliefs.”
Mr Wells said that judging from what he saw, he believes the protest blocking access to Parliament Hill was largely peaceful, although it included “fringe” elements.
He told the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security that the fundraising platform promotes “hope” and “freedom” and said he believed it was unfair to paint some general picture of the protest based on the actions of some.
Mme Wilson told MPs she believed that had Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chosen to speak with the truckers protesting around Parliament Hill, much of what happened could have been avoided.
She also said that if the federal Liberal government was concerned about the money raised through GiveSendGo, it should have reached out to the organization.
The more than US$8.4 million raised through the site was frozen after the Ontario government filed a lawsuit demanding that the funds not be distributed.
Earlier Thursday, the committee studying the relationship between crowdfunding platforms and the financing of extremism also heard from GoFundMe president Juan Benitez, alongside a lawyer for the company, who defended how the crowdfunding platform managed the initial campaign.
MPs asked Mr Benitez about the platform’s response to a fundraiser organized by Tamara Lich, which generated more than 10 million for the so-called “freedom convoy”, which saw protesters in large trucks refusing to leave downtown Ottawa for more than three weeks.
Mr. Benitez testified that GoFundMe began monitoring the campaign in mid-January after it became popular and initially determined that it met its terms of service.
The committee learned that on January 27, nearly two weeks after the fundraiser began, the site donated $1 million to the organizer.
GoFundMe attorney Kim Wilford said at the time that there was no indication there were any issues with the organizer. The money was provided with information on how the funds would be distributed, including how the remaining money would be sent to registered charities, she said.
Mr Benitez told MPs that after the money was released, the situation took another turn.
“Things changed immediately and very quickly,” he said. Communication has changed, factual information has changed, the convoy itself has changed, and we have reacted to those changes. »
He told MPs how on February 4, after consulting with local police, GoFundMe decided to suspend the campaign, which by then had exceeded 10 million, and began offering refunds to donors.
Mme Wilford said the GoFundMe site is proud of how it handled the situation.
The committee learned that more than 85% of campaign donations came from Canada.
The federal government has not contacted GoFundMe directly about fundraising concerns, Benitez noted.
“The Freedom Convoy fundraiser was unique,” he said. We support peaceful protests, as long as they abide by our terms of service. »
He added that while there are lessons to be learned from the experience, he hopes MPs will recognize the actions GoFundMe has taken.
The federal government ultimately relied on the never-before-used Emergency Measures Act to freeze protesters’ funds.