Series - Editorial Fellowship: Transforming Funding Models

Canada is cracking down on the Freedom Convoy’s finances. Here’s why that may hurt social justice movements, too.

Authors Brennan Doherty & Gabe Oatley
The Emergencies Act, invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Feb. 14, would require crowdfunding platforms to report suspicious transactions to Canada’s anti-terror financing watchdog.

Why It Matters

Indigenous land defenders and other social justice movements have been labeled "extremist" in the past for their work. Subjecting their fundraising methods to additional anti-terror restrictions could make it harder for them to raise funds publicly.

Gabe Oatley’s journalism on this special report is made possible by the Future of Good editorial fellowship on transforming funding models, supported by United Way Centraide Canada and Community Foundations of Canada.

After two-and-a-half weeks of a disruptive, loud, occasionally violent occupation of downtown Ottawa by protesters virulently opposed to COVID-19 public health restrictions, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government put its foot down.

The Freedom Convoy started as an occupation of Canada’s capital city, bankrolled in large part by massive crowdfunding campaigns on platforms like GoFundMe. Since then, it has devolved into a series of rotating blockades of major Canada-U.S. border crossings, rowdy weekend protests in cities like Edmonton and Toronto, and cover for violent opposition to the Canadian government. Thirteen participants from Alberta

 

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