Nearly a quarter of Canadian convoy donations came from B.C., leaked data shows

People living in British Columbia donated nearly $924,000 US almost $1.2million Cdn to a crowdfunding campaign to help fuel the ongoing "Freedom Convoy" protest, according to leaked dataposted onlinethis week.

The money from B.C. accounts for nearly a quarter of all Canadian donations to the convoy. The vast majority came in the form of small sums of less than $100 US, though more than 100 donors gave $1,000 or more.

The largest donation from B.C. was for $18,000 US.

The leaked data from theGiveSendGo crowdfunding platform, posted online illegally Sundayby anonymous hackers, listed more than 92,000 donations totallingmore than $8million US. An analysisshowed roughly$4.3 million came from Canada, while another $3.6 million originated in the United States.

The leak included the names,home country, personal emails and postal code of donors.

Donors were directed to the GiveSendGo fundraiser after an original GoFundMefundraiser was shut down after raising $10 million Cdn. The Canadian crowdfunding site refunded the money, sayingthe protest violated its rule on violence and harassment.

The convoy which set off from B.C. on Jan. 23and arrived Jan. 28in downtown Ottawa, where protesters haveremainedsince began as a protest against vaccine mandates, public healthrestrictions and pandemic lockdowns, but has become associated with extreme right-wing ideologies.

Some protesters have displayed signs and symbols of hate, including the Confederate flag and swastikas, while there have also beenpolice reports of violence.

B.C. donations by the numbers

• The total dollar value of donations with a B.C. postal code came to$923,690 US or $1,171,529 Cdn.
• Just over 7,400 donations were linked to postal codes in B.C., according to an analysis by CBC News.
• 77 per cent of the donations from B.C.were of$100 US or less.
• Another 43 per cent were for $50 US or less.
• 107 donors gave $1,000 US or more.
• The average donation, skewed by more significant donations, was$124.77 US.
• The largest donation was for $18,000 US$22,829 Cdnfrom an email address linked to a shooting range business in Langley, B.C.

A statement posted by The Range Langleysaid its donation to the convoy was its"way of peacefully participating in democracy."

"For whatever reason, some may disagree with our beliefs and support for this cause. That is their Right. We will always defend the Rights of those that disagree with us and encourage them to build on their own beliefs rather than allowing them to destroy ours," read the statement on its website.

The hacked data set is still an estimate, as GiveSendGo has not validated the postal codes and donors could have entered fake information.

WATCH |More than half of convoy donations came from U.S., hacked data shows:

More than half of convoy donations came from U.S., hacked data shows

3 years ago

Duration 2:01

A CBC News analysis of hacked data about those who donated to the protest convoys through GiveSendGo found more than half of the donations came from the U.S. Its raising concern about foreign funding of political activity.

The next largest donations from B.C., given by four different people, werefor $5,000 US.

CBC News is withholding names of individuals listed in the leaked dataunless they can be reached for comment and to independentlyconfirm their donation.