A communications official for the Ontario Solicitor General was forced out of her job after a hack of the Christian crowdfund site GiveSendGo revealed that she donated $100 to the freedom convoy protests in Canada, the Post Millennial reported.
A spokesperson said that Marion Isabeau Ringuette, formerly the director of communications for Sylvia Jones, “no longer works for the Ontario government.” According to the Toronto Star, she “parted ways with Premier Doug Ford’s government on Tuesday, ten days after she had donated the money” to the Freedom Convoy.
#BREAKING: Ontario PC staffer leaves Queen’s Park after donating $100 to convoy protests https://t.co/dDCaYJaJly
— Toronto Star (@TorontoStar) February 16, 2022
“We’re not commenting any further as this is a staffing matter,” said executive director of media relations Ivana Yelich.
Isabeau-Ringuette, is one of thousands of private citizens whose identities were doxxed following a hack of the fundraising site by a notorious Canadian anarchist/hacktivist named Aubrey Cottle.
“The data from this breach will be provided in its entirety to researchers and journalists so that the impact of foreign political interference can be better understood, and sensible, informed policy decisions can be made to defend against this growing threat,” Cottle said in a manifesto following the hack.
The hacktivist has since posted several TikTok videos brazenly taking credit for the hack, and suggesting that he’s untouchable.
https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1494024855745753089?s=20&t=1MnqYGRDGxMag1qW1MksKA
The Freedom Convoy protesters are calling for an end to all civil rights violations—especially vaccine mandates and passports— imposed on Canadians during the pandemic.
Cottle apparently gave the hacked data to DDoS, a website that is devoted to disseminating leaked data, and it in turn released the Freedom Convoy donor information. GiveSendGo has raised more than $8 million in donations from Canadians and Americans.
According to the Post Millennial, Isabeau-Ringuette donated under the initials “M.R.,” but online sleuths were able to identify her via “an email address and postal code linked to the donation.”
The corporate media in the U.S. and Canada have seized on the opportunity to expose and shame the Freedom Convoy supporters, with some feeling the need to offer readers a headcount of donors in their area.
TBNewsWatch, which services Thunder Bay, recently published an article titled “Data leaks shows 140 local area people donated to convoy campaign.”
“At least 140 Thunder Bay-area people donated to the GiveSendGo fundraising campaign in support of anti-mandate protesters who have descended on Ottawa and border crossings around the province,” they write.SeaWay News in Cornwall, Ontario wrote an article highlighting how 35 residents of the town of 50,000 donated to the cause.
Reuters doxxed the names of several donors, as did the the Toronto Sun.
Tammy Giuliani, owner of Stella Luna Gelato Cafe in Ottawa, was forced to close the doors of her business due to threats from left-wing extremists after her name appeared on the list, Breitbart reported.
“We got a call from the team saying, ‘We’re getting phone calls here,’” Giuliani told the Ottawa Citizen newspaper and added, “I said, ‘What’s going on?’ and they said, ‘They’re threatening to throw bricks through our window. They’re threatening to come and get us.’ We said, ‘Lock the door and we’ll find out what’s going on.’”
With her livelihood under threat, Giuliani sought to placate critics by expressing regret for her action.
“In retrospect, it was bad judgment, but does that mean that people have a right to threaten our staff? Does it mean people have the right to threaten to throw bricks through our window and to threaten my family? We made a mistake. Who could have anticipated it?” she said.
Others, like Vicki Dutton and her husband, are also concerned about possible reprisals after their names appeared in the list of nearly 93,000 people, which allegedly included personal information such as emails and postal codes.
“We’re not ashamed of the donation, but what we’re worried about is being targeted by people who find hate in this, and I don’t think there should be hate in a peaceful movement,” Dutton told the Toronto Sun in an interview.