Petition pushes GoFundMe to remove Stanley campaign

An international advocacy group says it has collected thousands of names in a campaign calling for GoFundMe to remove a page that’s raising funds for Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley’s family.

The online petition launched by the group SumOfUs says the crowdfunding website is profiting from the death of Colten Boushie, an Indigenous man who died on Stanley’s farm in 2016.

A jury acquitted Stanley of second-degree murder in Boushie’s death earlier this month and a GoFundMe campaign to assist Stanley’s family has raised more than $200,000.

The petition says GoFundMe collects a fee for each donation and a percentage for processing the payment, and it argues the fundraising page violates GoFundMe’s terms that prohibit items that promote hate, violence, racial intolerance, or the financial exploitation of a crime.

“The courts have failed the Boushie family, and now, GoFundMe is profiting off of their pain,” the petition states.

It further calls on GoFundMe to return all of the donations the campaign has raised.

GoFundMe spokeswoman Rachel Hollis says that donations to GoFundMe campaigns in Canada are subject to fees by third-party processors that charge for handling the online payments, but that since December the site has relied on voluntary donations, or tips, from donors to help pay for its website.

“So a donor’s entire donation will go to the beneficiary of the campaign and they then have the option to voluntarily tip to help with the cost associated with the platform,” Hollis said in an email.

A similar GoFundMe page for Boushie’s family, established five months ago, has raised almost $180,000.

Since the not guilty verdict, protests and rallies have been held across the country demanding changes to the justice system and jury process to include more Indigenous people.

“This is one other way that we can talk about this, that there are companies and platforms that are providing a platform for money| to be raised for the family for the man who shot and killed Colten Boushie,” said Emma Pullman, Canadian campaign manager with SumOfUs.

Previous petitions by SumOfUs have included one against Donald Trump’s plans for a golf resort in Scotland, as well as one in 2016 that called for WestJet CEO Greg Saretsky to step down over the company’s handling of sexual assault accusations.