WELLINGTON COUNTY – A hacked list of donors shows more than 150 people from Wellington County donated to the “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa, raising over $24,000 through the Christian crowdfunding website GiveSendGo.
The organization Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets) obtained a hacked data set of donors to the “Freedom Convoy 2022” campaign started by one of the convoy organizers, Tamara Lich, after a previous convoy fundraiser on GoFundMe was shutdown.
The Advertiser was provided access to the “Freedom Convoy” data set from the Feb. 13 hack, containing over 92,000 entries revealing the self-reported names of donors, their postal codes and the comments submitted with donations.
“Sitting at our homes in Arthur, Ontario we realize that we are not on the front lines like you but we will attempt to uphold you in prayer,” stated one donor from the county.
“Very disheartening to see how [mainstream media] is portraying this,” said another.
“Love from us all in Minto, Ontario,” stated a third.
The Advertiser was able to identify 157 donations associated with Wellington County postal codes, totalling US$19,072 or $24,294 in Canadian currency.
Other media sources have reported about 150 donations from the City of Guelph, totalling about $18,000 in Canadian currency.
Wellington County donations ranged between US$5 and US$2,500, with the highest donation associated with a Palmerston postal code.
The following donations by municipality have been confirmed by the Advertiser (all in U.S. dollars):
- Centre Wellington, 42 donations ranging from $5 to $400 for a total of $4,070;
- Erin, nine donations ranging from $15 to $200 and totalling $725;
- Guelph/Eramosa, 32 donations ranging from $20 to $400 for a total of $3,015;
- Mapleton, 16 donations ranging from $20 to $400 for a total of $1,720;
- Minto, 13 donations ranging from $25 to $2,500 for a total of $3,805;
- Puslinch, 10 donations ranging from $100 to $500, for a total of $2,000; and
- Wellington North, 35 donations ranging from $15 to $500 for a total of $3,737.
The newspaper decided not to publish the names of individuals and businesses on the list – except for elected officials.
Guelph/Eramosa councillor Corey Woods, who confirmed he made a $200 USD donation on Feb. 6, is the only local politician on the list the Advertiser could identify.
“I come from a trucking family and I support our truckers. I live in farm country and I support our farmers,” Woods stated in a Feb. 18 email.
“I live in Canada and support freedom, including freedom from vaccine mandates and vaccine passports.”
GUELPH/ERAMOSA COUNCILLOR COREY WOODS
Woods seemed to take issue with the newspaper publishing “stolen information about donations to the Freedom Convoy,” noting he has also donated $10,000 over the years “towards trees” in Guelph/Eramosa.
Asked to clarify if he supported the ongoing (at the time) occupation of Ottawa, he replied, “I support the democratic right to peaceful protests.”
Mayor Chris White said Guelph/Eramosa council has not publicly discussed the Ottawa protest or COVID-19 public health measures.
“Our position and my position is we need to follow the direction of public health and the province,” White said on Feb. 18, adding local councillors should not be making decisions about public health measures.
Asked specifically about Woods’ donation, White said, “I don’t really have a comment on it because I don’t know what he was thinking or what was happening at the time.”
White, who noted Woods’ family has connections to the trucking industry, pointed out the situation in Ottawa has evolved since the protest first arrived in the city on Jan. 28/29.
“I don’t think anybody knew what this was going to be,” White said.
“It’s one thing to have a peaceful protest on Parliament Hill, but it’s another thing to … shut down the economy and put people out of work.”
Fundraiser continues
GiveSendGo has been the target of multiple hacks exploiting security vulnerabilities, leading to the exposure of donor lists naming those who contributed to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capital insurrection and more recently, another successful hack including donor information for a separate “Adopt A Trucker” campaign.
After a Feb. 10 decision by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to temporarily freeze distribution of “Freedom Convoy” GiveSendGo dollars raised, it’s unclear what will happen to those funds.
On Feb. 12 GiveSendGo tweeted: “The funds from the Freedom Convoy are not frozen contrary to what you might be hearing on the news.”
And on Feb. 18, it tweeted an image of a statement claiming “truckers have received some of the funds” and that legal options were being explored.
“Currently, the bulk of the funds are in an undisclosed U.S. bank,” the statement read, asking for donors not to request refunds. The statement concluded by quoting a verse of Bible scripture.
As of Feb. 21, the Freedom Convoy campaign amassed US$9.73 million with donations streaming in from the U.S., UK, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Hong Kong, Ireland, Australia, Thailand and others.
Over US$4.31 million was donated by Canadians to the convoy campaign, according to the data set, with at least $3.62 million from U.S. donors.
