Supporters of Gitxsan rail blockade question cancellation of GoFundMe campaign

The organizer of a fundraising effort to build an "organizing hub" to assist supporters of a northern B.C. rail blockade is questioning a decision by GoFundMe to cancel the campaign before it even hit the internet.

Git'luuhl'um'hetxwit house member Kolin Sutherland-Wilson says the fundraising platform wrote Thursday to say it had removed the campaign to build a "landback mobile command centre" he had been working for months to launch.

GoFundMe didn't provide an exact reason, claiming only that the conduct of the fundraiser "falls under our 'Prohibited conduct' section."

Sutherland-Wilson says the structure was intended as a distribution point for food, supplies and educational material that could be towed around to Gitxsan villages — not a device used to impede railway traffic.

That's left him wondering if Indigenous activists will suffer the fallout from the American crowdfunding giant's recent decision to stop payments to the organizers of protests against vaccine mandates.

"Given everything that's happening with GoFundMe and the convoy movement, I think we're basically thinking that GoFundMe is pretty much going to be worried about Canadian law cracking down on them in regards to any protests, whether that's Indigenous, vaccine or what have you," Sutherland-Wilson told the CBC.

"I just think the recent events are going to make it harder for Indigenous grass roots."

GoFundMe has yet to respond to an email from the CBC asking about the situation.

The company's terms and conditions include a long list of causes the company won't allow to be promoted on its site, ranging from the outright violation of laws to the sale of drugs and the legal defence of alleged crimes associated with hate or violence.

Gitxsan members blocked Canadian National Railway lines in February 2020 in sympathy with protesters who were seeking to stop the construction of a Coastal GasLink pipeline on Wetsuwet'en traditional territory about 130 km away.

RCMP arrested three hereditary Gitxsan chiefs and nine other people for violating an injunction. Last month, CN Rail announced it would not pursue contempt charges against them.

Sutherland-Wilson provided a draft copy of the campaign the group were hoping to launch through GoFundMe.

"We're asking for your help to upgrade our operations centre and expand our community organizing efforts," the plea for money states.

"We need to build a more permanent and secure longhouse structure that can house essential services and serve as an organizing hub."