MPs vote to call GoFundMe to testify at Commons committee on convoy protest
CBC
A parliamentary committee has voted unanimously to call officials from the popular crowdfunding site GoFundMe to answer questions about a fundraiser that has collected more than $10.1 million to support the anti-vaccine mandate protest in Ottawa.
The motion, proposed by NDP MP Alistair MacGregor, calls on company officials to appear before the House of Commons committee on public safety and national security "as soon as possible."
Liberal, Conservative and Bloc Québécois members of the committee joined MacGregor in voting to invite the company to testify.
The committee wants the company to answer questions about measures in place to "ensure the funds are not being used to promote extremism, white supremacy, anti-Semitism and other forms of hate, which have been expressed among prominent organizers for the truck convoy currently in Ottawa."
The committee also wants the company to explain how it prevents anonymous donations and money from abroad from funding extremist groups, and what it's doing to ensure that the money already released to the protest is not being used to promote extremist views and activities.
An amendment proposed by Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed calls on officials from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) — Canada's money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog — to also appear before the committee.
"There are some real questions about transparency given the fact that the fund is now exceeding $10 million, many of the donors are anonymous and many of the donors are in places outside of Canada's jurisdiction," MacGregor told CBC News.
A CBC News analysis of the donations last week found that at least a third of the donors to the "Freedom Convoy 2022" fundraising campaign on GoFundMe were listed as anonymous or used invented names. In the comments section, a number of donors said they were located in other countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia or Poland.
The committee's decision comes a day after GoFundMe put the convoy protest's fundraising campaign on pause, saying it had questions of its own about how the money was going to be used that organizers had not yet answered.
Before the company paused the campaign, it had raised more than $10.1 million from more than 120,000 donors.
Meanwhile, some donors to the convoy protest fundraiser have been posting on social media that GoFundMe has told them their donations are being refunded.
In a statement issued Thursday, GoFundMe refused to answer any questions regarding refunds. It has not yet reacted publicly to the committee calling it to testify.
During a news conference held by protest organizers Thursday, Keith Wilson of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms said that the convoy protest has taken steps to formally incorporate and set up bank accounts.
GoFundMe has said that $1 million of the money raised has been released to organizers. Wilson said lawyers and accountants working with the organizers are working on a process to reimburse protest participants once GoFundMe releases the rest of the money.
A new study suggests that a colony of sea birds nesting on Cape Parry in the N.W.T. could face increasing threats related to increased Arctic shipping traffic and environmental change.
Albertans — predominantly members of the South Asian community — gathered at the Venice Banquet Hall in northeast Calgary for a town hall Saturday to address concerns around extortion and crime, with provincial and federal elected officials in attendance.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says his party's focus on affordability "is what unites all Conservatives," as the Tories grapple with another MP crossing the floor to join the Liberals — bringing them one seat shy of forming a majority government.
Toronto, York and Peel police are increasing their presence in the Jewish community during Hanukkah after the harrowing attack at Australia’s Bondi Beach on Sunday.
Another round of wintry weather is moving through Nova Scotia and P.E.I. on Sunday and will continue into Monday, with more snow and gusty winds, followed by frigid temperatures.
Hundreds of Londoners showed up at CBC's annual Make the Season Kind holiday event on Thursday in support of the London Food Bank.
The crisp weather didn’t stop the hundreds of people who took part in the annual Mummer’s parade in Bowring Park, St. John’s Saturday.
Wake Lloire loves how slow letter writing is, from composition right to its arrival at its final destination by mail. It's like a "little time capsule."
Experts are constantly warning the public to be on guard for new and increasingly convincing scams, but police say the holiday shopping season is especially fraught with risk.
A surgeon who used to work at Flin Flon's hospital says residents in the northwestern Manitoba city have been left in a precarious situation after more than five years without general surgery services.
Moubarak Bokhit Ali's memories of his home country of Sudan are punctuated by flashes of violence.
The man behind the Moose Jaw health centre that has claimed “a 100 per cent success rate in stopping the progression and in restoring function of people with ALS” says a recent CBC story about his company is evidence that he is seen as “a direct threat to the ALS drug industry.”
The Neighbour to Neighbour Centre’s trans and non-binary grocery program, which offers free food and household products to community members once a month, began with a simple question: how do we get free menstrual products to trans people without being awkward?