While millions of dollars in donations to support last winter’s convoy protest came from outside Canada, the national spy agency told officials during the protest that the money did not appear to come from foreign states or “foreign actors”.
In a summary of a Feb. 6 call filed with the inquiry examining the government’s decision to invoke the Emergency Act to deal with the convoy protest, David Vigneault, director of the Intelligence Service of Security of Canada (CSIS), described what his service was seeing.
“There [are] No foreign actor has been identified at this time supporting or financing this convoy,” the call summary said. “FINTRAC supports this work/assessment and the banks are also engaged.
“The money from GoFundMe and other fundraising platforms [are] be tracked by FINTRAC and the banks and ensure that it is not used for a non-peaceful purpose.
“CSIS also hasn’t seen any foreign money coming from other states to support this. There’s not a lot (of) US energy and support in Canada.”
The brief was presented on Wednesday to the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is investigating whether the federal government’s use of emergency powers to end the protests was justified.
CSIS has not yet responded to CBC News’ questions about the call summary or how the spy agency defines “foreign actors.”
In an email Wednesday afternoon, Cecely Roy, press secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, noted a series of events that transpired between the Feb. 6 meeting attended by Vigneault and the decision by invoke the Law of Emergencies.
They include endorsements of the convoy protest from prominent Americans, criticism from prominent officials in three states of GoFundMe’s decision to cancel the protest’s crowdfunding campaign and a phone call between Trudeau and the US president , Joe Biden, on February 11 that included a discussion of the United States and the United States. global financial support flowing into the protest.
“As the illegal blockades and occupation progressed, the government continued to learn more, including about the foreign source of funds,” Roy wrote. “The Commission’s work continues and they will hear a lot of testimony on this and other issues in the coming weeks.”
The call that included Vigneault came two days after GoFundMe announced it was closing a fundraiser that had raised more than $10 million for the convoy protest. That same day, a new fundraiser was launched on rival crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo.
In the statement it issued after invoking the Emergency Act on February 14, the federal government cited donations from outside Canada as one factor in its decision.
“Anecdotal reports of donations from outside Canada to support the protesters gained credence when, on February 13, 2022, hackers from the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo.com released hacked data that revealed information about donors and the amount of donations directed at the protesters.”, the government wrote.
In testimony before a parliamentary committee on March 3, GoFundMe and GiveSendGo officials confirmed that donations to support the convoy came from people in Canada and other countries.
GiveSendGo chief Jacob Wells said 60% of the millions of dollars raised on his platform came from Canada and 37% from the United States. GoFundMe president Juan Benitez said 88 percent of the money raised on his platform and 86 percent of donors came from Canada.
CSIS Director David Vigneault told the federal government that the convoy of truckers was “primarily a domestic issue.” (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
The summary of the Feb. 6 call also quotes Vigneault as saying that CSIS was working closely with border enforcement partners, including the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency.
“CSIS has peepholes everywhere and they have been quite effective,” the summary says. “There is no major organization of truckers coming from the US to Canada as part of this convoy. It’s primarily a national issue.”
Vigneault also downplayed the presence of extremists among the protesters in the convoy.
“There are some individuals from other causes who are the hardened elements who will probably use violence, but they see that this is not their mission,” says the summary of Vigneault’s remarks. “They are located in various locations such as Parliament Hill, Quebec City, Toronto, Alberta; however, they are not actively participating or organizing and are likely to use it as a recruiting ground.”
The report of Vigneault’s comments appears to contradict part of the government’s rationale for invoking the Emergency Act.
“The protests have become a rallying point for anti-government and anti-authority, anti-vaccine, conspiracy theorist and white supremacist groups across Canada and other Western countries,” the government wrote in its statement on the invocation of the act
“The protesters have different ideological grievances, with demands ranging from the end of all public health restrictions to the overthrow of the elected government.”