Ottawa’s police chief says force of 1,500 are powerless to end Canadian capital’s truckers blockade

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Canadian elected officials are calling for funds from a GoFundMe created for the ‘Freedom Convoy’ of truckers protesting the country’s vaccine mandates in Ottawa to be seized by the government.

The campaign was suspended by the crowd-funding site Wednesday night – after it had raised nearly $8million (US).

‘I want to ask the Mayor [Jim Watson] if he will pick up the phone and call GoFundMe in the States directly and demand that they cease and desist sending money to these unlawful protesters,’ said Ottawa City Councilor Diane Deans, a member of the country’s Liberal Party.

Deans said she’s been in conversations about suing GoFundMe but did not elaborate about the alleged talks with the company.

‘We need to cut off the pipeline of funding to these people – mercenaries, if you will – that are unlawfully protesting and occupying our communities,’ she added.

On Wednesday, the account was frozen, as the Freedom Convoy that paralyzed Canada’s capital entered its sixth day. On January 25, when donations were nearing $5 million, GoFundMe also froze the funds, saying it needed to see a plan for where the funds would go. On January 27, a spokesperson for the company said $1 million had been released. 

‘This fundraiser is currently paused and under review to ensure it complies with our terms of service and applicable laws and regulations,’ a notice that appeared on the Freedom Convoy donations page Wednesday explained.

‘Our team is working 24/7 and doing all we can to protect both organizers and donors. Thank you for your patience.’

The company released another statement later that day, saying that the account met its terms and services at the time of its creation last month.

‘We strictly prohibit user content that reflects or promotes behavior in support of violence – in this case, the organizer met our requirements and the fundraiser did not violate our Terms of Service at the time of creation.’

The company says that it has been monitoring the fundraiser to ensure the money – raised from more than 120,000 donations – goes to the intended recipients, and went on to detail the criteria on how it intends to discern the integrity and transparency of the organizers of the fundraiser.

‘As the activity surrounding the protest evolves, we have been monitoring the fundraiser to ensure the funds are going to the intended recipients and that the fundraiser remains within our Terms of Service.

‘Our monitoring includes maintaining close communication with the organizer as well as collaborating with local law enforcement,’ GoFundMe said.

‘This process takes time and may slow down the withdrawal process. If the fundraiser does violate our Terms of Service or does not directly benefit the intended beneficiary, we will remove it from the platform,’ the site added.

DailyMail.com reached out to GoFundMe Thursday morning to gain clarification as to what led to the company’s sudden stance reversal and who made the call to suspend the campaign, but did not immediately receive a response.

Two days before the account was nixed, another elected official in Ottawa also demanded the funds be frozen, in a reportedly deleted Tweet that outlined a plan to seize the cash raised for the truckers through the account – which surpassed the $10million CAD mark Wednesday – using a network of other influential city officials.

‘This morning, I have asked the city manager and city solicitor to immediately launch court proceedings targeting the millions of dollars in funds frozen by @GoFundMe so Ottawa taxpayers are not left holding the bag for these protests,’ Ottawa City Councilor Mathieu Fleury, also a liberal, allegedly tweeted Monday morning, in a post archived by other users’ screenshots.

The tweet, however, was deleted before noon that day. As of Thursday, the parliament member’s Twitter account was restricted to only allow ‘approved followers’ to see his tweets, which was not the case at the time of the initial post. It is currently unclear when exactly Fleury protected the account.

Fleury’s website, mathieufleury.ca, does not have a working ‘Contact Us’ page, and instead shows a ‘Page not found’ error message.

The GoFundMe page in question surpassed its goal of $10million CAD as of Wednesday – a sum roughly half a million CAD more than funds raised by all of the major Canadian political parties in the final quarter of 2021.

Reports began circulating last week that the convoy’s GoFundMe page had been frozen, with the company saying that organizers needed to outline how the millions of dollars in raised funds would be spent.

On Monday, a spokesperson for the company asserted that organizers did detail how the funds would be spent, and that they withdrew $1 million to support their effort.

Freedom Convoy organizers BJ Dichter and Tamara Lich say that the proceeds will go towards fuel for the truckers, who have been protesting for five days straight with no sign of stopping despite warning from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as food and lodgings ‘to help ease the pressures of this arduous task.’

‘Our current government is implementing rules and mandates that are destroying the foundation of our businesses, industries and livelihoods,’ the two wrote on the 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.’  

Videos released from the nation’s capital Wednesday showed the protesters delivering food to the homeless as crowds cheered and waived flags. 

Ottawa’s chief of police Peter Sloly on Wednesday, said his force of 1,500 officers cannot clear the city and may need the help of the nation’s military.

‘This is a national issue, not an Ottawa issue,’ Sloly said. ‘I am increasingly concerned there is no policing solution to this.

‘There is no lawful authority to seal a city. There’s no practical capability to seal a city of this size,’ Sloly explained.  

‘We do not want riots, but all options remain on the table,’ he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has re-emerged after going into isolation on Jan. 27 when  one of his children tested positive for Covid, said the federal government is working with the Ottawa police to put an end to the protest

‘We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that people are protected and to ensure that this protest, which is now becoming illegal, does come to an end,’ Trudeau said in French in the House of Commons on Wednesday, when asked what the federal government is doing to remove truckers from downtown Ottawa.

Sloly warned that bringing in the military would carry a ‘massive risk’ and calculated that he would need a force of around 50,000 officers in order to move protesters out of the capital. 

Meanwhile, the blockade  at a United States border in southern Alberta seems to be easing up after official truckers blocking access to the border crossing at Coutts agreed to open some blocked lanes.

‘Frankly, the protesters feel their message has been heard,’ said Chad Williamson, a lawyer representing truckers.  ‘Nobody wants this blockade to happen any more.’

Ottawa residents frustrated with the incessant blare of truck horns and traffic gridlock are questioning how police have handled the demonstration from the start. 

Sloly also said there is a ‘significant element’ of the protest’s funding and organization coming from the United States.

‘It is a local destination, a provincial demonstration, a national demonstration, and one that has international elements associated to it,’ Sloly added.    

On the streets, supporters of the Freedom Convoy are said to have been handing out free food to anyone who needs it. According to one of the volunteers, much of it has been donated by locals. 

‘The freedom convoy truckers are providing free meals for the homeless in Ottawa. Yet the media and Justin Trudeau turn a blind eye to this. It’s an inconvenient truth for them,’ James Melville tweeted.

How the truckers were funding themselves was made cleared on Wednesday night after a fundraising page set up by the convoy was suddenly shut down.

Organizers were told they needed to explain how the millions of dollars raised funds would be spent. 

On Monday, GoFundMe said that they were satisfied in the explanations given. 

 ‘Money raised will be dispersed to our Truckers to aid them with the cost of the journey. Funds will be spent to help cover the cost of fuel for our Truckers first and foremost, will be used to assist with food if needed and contribute to shelter if needed,’ the page details.

GoFundMe explained their latest suspension in a blog post.

‘Recent events in Ottawa, Canada, have generated widespread discussion about the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser on GoFundMe. We wanted to provide clarity around the actions that our global Trust & Safety and Customer Care teams take every day, just as they have with the Freedom Convoy fundraiser,’ GoFundMe wrote

‘As the activity surrounding the protest evolves, we have been monitoring the fundraiser to ensure the funds are going to the intended recipients and that the fundraiser remains within our Terms of Service. Our monitoring includes maintaining close communication with the organizer as well as collaborating with local law enforcement,’ GoFundMe said.

Thousands of protesters descended on Ottawa over the weekend, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill.

Police estimate the protest involved 8,000 to 15,000 people Saturday, but has since dwindled to several hundred. But trucks were still blocking traffic.

‘We are now aware of a significant element from the United States that have been involved in the funding, the organizing and the demonstrating. 

‘They have converged on our city and there are plans for more to come,’ Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said.

The numbers of protesters are falling on the capital’s streets but they have vowed to stay put until all vaccine mandates and restrictions are removed. 

‘Can you be clear about what you mean?’ asked one reporter that was present at the briefing. ‘That is alarming to people, and I’d like to hear what we’re talking about when we say that.’

Sloly said that various options were being considered including everything ‘available to us within the legal bounds from negotiation through to court injunction through to an enforced removal,’ he said.

‘When you say ‘other than police,’ do you mean politics? Do you need military? I don’t understand the answer. I understand it’s not only police, but then what are those other options that are not police options that we might need?’ the reporter asked.

‘I think you just listed most of them right there,’ Sloly replied.

‘Increasingly, as we see demonstrations, not just here, but elsewhere in the country, where there are efforts by strictly a policing action, we are not as confident as we have been that police alone will resolve this situation substantially, never mind in totality.

‘Mixing military into a population in the downtown core in a highly volatile demonstration … may mitigate some risks and may create and escalate a whole bunch of other risks.’ 

Organizers, including one who has espoused white supremacist views, raised millions for the cross-Canada ‘freedom truck convoy’ against vaccine mandates. There was a public GoFundMe page. 

Many Canadians have been angered by some of the crude behavior of the protesters. Some urinated or parked on the National War Memorial. One danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A number carried signs and flags with swastikas.

The most visible contingent of protesters were truck drivers who parked their big rigs on Parliament Hill. 

Some of them were protesting a rule that took effect Jan. 15 requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully immunized against the coronavirus. The Canadian Trucking Alliance has estimated that 85% of truckers in Canada are vaccinated.

The protesting truckers also have received praise from former U.S. President Donald Trump and tweets of support from Tesla billionaire Elon Musk. 

The demonstration began as a move to force the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to drop a vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers. It has since turned into a more populist anti-Trudeau movement.

‘We understand your frustration … but the responsibility for your inconvenience lies squarely on the shoulders of politicians,’ protest leader Chris Barber said in a statement to Ottawa residents.

‘We are here and we are not going anywhere until we achieve our objective, to see an end of all COVID-19 mandates and with that a restoration of freedoms of all Canadians,’ he said.

Meanwhile, 2,000 miles across the country in southern Alberta, truckers are still blocking the Canada-U.S. border with Montana but there are signs of a move towards resolving the protest blockade.

The truckers, which have been in place since Saturday, are essentially in a standoff with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) over the vaccine mandates.

The RCMP moved in on truckers blockading the U.S. border at the town of Coutts but pulled back after clashes with some drivers. 

Chad Williamson, a lawyer representing truckers blocking access to the crossing at Coutts, Alberta, said they spoke with police and agreed to open some blocked lanes. RCMP Corporal Curtis Peters said there were indications that the lane openings might only be temporary.

The tie-up stranded travelers and cross-border truckers for days. Police tried to peacefully break up the demonstration on Tuesday, but demonstrators breached a nearby checkpoint.   

Alberta premier, Jason Kenney, has condemned the ‘unlawful’ blockades, calling on protesters to disband and return home. 

He told reporters people sympathetic with the protests had assaulted police.

‘Without hesitation, I condemn those actions and I call for calm amongst anybody who feels sympathetic to those engaged in this blockade,’ said Kenney.