Canadian Mental Health Association returns Sudbury trucker convoy's donation

Canadian Mental Health Association Sudbury/Manitoulin says it is returning a donation made this week by "a local partisan group that conflicts with agency mission, vision and values."

In a news release, the CMHA-S/M said it accepted the money by mistake.

A photo of the $462.10 donation from Sudbury Freedom Convoy was posted on the group's Facebook page, saying another donation from an online fundraiser would also be made.

The group was created to show support for the trucker's convoy that is protesting COVID-19 mandates in Ottawa and has 1,244 members online.

The donation was made at the Elm Street main office downtown Monday afternoon.

"At the time, CMHA-S/M accepted the donation and was pictured with one of the representatives from the group. CMHA-S/M quickly realized that to have accepted the money was a mistake and as a result, is now reviewing its donation process to strengthen decision-making around future donations," the organization said.

"Many community members – not to mention thousands of Ontarians in places like Ottawa, Windsor and Toronto – have been negatively impacted by the actions of this particular donor group, their views and their wider cause."

 CMHA-S/M CEO Patty MacDonald apologized to anyone who was negatively impacted or harmed due to the acceptance of the donation.

"We want our staff, individuals we serve and partners to know that we stand with them. And while we sincerely appreciate financial or in-kind support from the community, we cannot accept donations from groups or people that are drastically misaligned with our beliefs and values,"MacDonald said in a news release.

CMHA-S/M said it has asked the convoy group to stop collecting donations on its behalf.

Eric Trottier, one of the organizers for the Sudbury convoy, told CTV News Friday no one from CMHA-S/M has reached out to him yet about returning the donation.

"I was never notified by CMHA that they were returning the funds even though they have access to my personal phone number. I have yet to receive any funds. This is a very unfortunate and sad situation considering I spent 30 minutes with those three ladies in CMHA expressing the kind of event that had taken place in order to raise funds for them," Trottier said.

"The event consisted of free food/drinks some ball hockey/music and speakers for the public to have their voices heard also a brand new hockey net was raffled off at the end of the day."

He said the women that took the donation were grateful and happy at the time.

"We are simply a few regular people who organized this event to try and help our community heal from the wounds of this global pandemic. We thought, what better way to help our community then raising money for those most vulnerable who have been affected by the pandemic? We got vilified and accused of being part of unspeakable groups of individuals that we all clearly do not participate in."

The CMHA-S/M is accredited as a non-profit by Imagine Canada. Imagine Canada CEO Bruce MacDonald said it's important for non-profits to know who is giving them donations and whether those groups share their values.

"In this case, the organization is saying if we're a mental health organization and people in the areas have been negatively affected, is that important for us to make a statement?" MacDonald asked.

"I think it's a very positive thing that organizations are thoughtful about this."

Kate Bahen, managing director of Charity Intelligence Canada, said concern about the source of donations is not a new issue.

"The issue of where your funding comes from has been going on as long as I've been working in it (the charitable sector)," Bahen said.

"Some charities do have ethical decisions to make. They will not accept money from gambling, they will not accept money from tobacco companies or oil and gas companies, whatever their missional purpose is so it's going to be a decision each charity is going to have to make for themselves."

But she said many people prefer to remain anonymous, but not for nefarious reasons.

"To some people, giving anonymously is a higher form of philanthropy than having your name all over the side of the building," she said.

"Is that going to be permissible in this era of transparency?"

CTV News has reached out to the person that posted the donation photo for comment but has not received a response at the time of publication.

Eric Trottier