GUELPH/ERAMOSA – A Guelph/Eramosa township councillor has confirmed he donated to a fundraiser in support of the Freedom Convoy.
As first reported in the Wellington Advertiser, Coun. Corey Woods confirmed via email he donated US$200 to the Give Send Go campaign on Feb. 6 in support of protests in Ottawa and at several border crossings.
“I come from a trucking family and I support our truckers. I live in a farm country and I support our farmers,” Woods’ email said. “I live in Canada and support freedom, including freedom from vaccine mandates and vaccine passports.”
Woods is Ward 2 councillor on Guelph/Eramosa council, first elected in 2010 according to the township website.
GiveSendGo is a US-based Christian crowdfunding site with a freedom convoy fundraiser that began after an initial campaign with GoFundMe was shut down.
The Freedom Convoy donation page on GiveSendGo claims donations go towards fuel, necessities of life, legal aid, financial aid and permanent infrastructure for occupiers.
As of Feb. 22, donations have totalled over US$9.7 million although the Ontario government successfully petitioned a court to freeze these funds. Protesters in Ottawa have largely been cleared out.
The group Distributed Denial of Secrets shared allegedly hacked data from the crowdfunding site that showed names of donors, email addresses and postal codes.
In the email, Woods said he supports the “democratic right to peaceful protests” but did not elaborate if he approved of the demonstration that took place in Ottawa.
He said he believes COVID is real and has affected many people but “gaslighting and divisiveness” from the government and news media needs to stop.
“Shaming people and threatening people should not be something that is tolerated. It was never right to threaten to fire anyone for not getting vaccinated,” Woods said. “It was never right to segregate the population. Families are divided, society is divided.”
Woods declined further comment.
