Canadians are reacting to the daughter of Ontario Premier Doug Ford asking for donations to cover the costs of her husband’s legal fees in a disciplinary case.
Krista Ford-Haynes, one of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s four daughters, has set up a GoFundMe for her husband, Toronto Police Service (TPS) Staff Sergeant Dave Haynes, who is in the midst of fighting misconduct charges for refusing to adhere to the service’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate back in 2021.
Ford and her husband are seeking $100,000 to pay for a lawyer independent of the Toronto Police Association, according to their fundraising page.
On Tuesday, Ford-Haynes appealed to her 40,000 Instagram followers for help.
“This is not usually like me, but in order to get my point across clearly I think its best to go off what I wrote” she said.
Since the crowdfunding campaign was created two days ago, it has raised nearly $16,000 as of publication.
Haynes is expected to appear at his tribunal on Feb. 25, but his wife says the couple have reservations about the fairness of his upcoming trial.
“I don’t have confidence that he will be given a fair hearing or investigation based on our unique political affiliation among other bonafide reasons,” she wrote in the GoFundMe description.
Meanwhile, Ford’s followers have been responding to her request for help.
“Isn’t your father a multimillionaire,” one person commented on Instagram.”
“Isn’t her father the Premier who is a millionaire? Out here asking me for money when I have to buy paper for my kid’s class after her daddy cut millions from schools,” another person wrote.
Nonetheless, others came out in support of the couple.
“I love you guys and am in tears. You have walked alongside so many of us, it’s time for us to be gracious to you,” a supporter wrote.
“We support you and Dave indefinitely. What can we do to help,” another person said.
Haynes is a 22-year veteran of the Toronto police, and is facing allegations of discreditable conduct, insubordination and breach of confidence, according to reports.
During the pandemic, TPS mandated that any officer not vaccinated by Nov. 31 2021, would be put on indefinite unpaid leave.
According to Ford-Haynes, she and her husband have been blocked from publicly discussing his charges until his tribunal, but were offered a deal by the police service, the terms of which were not clearly stated by the couple.
“The negotiations from the service unfortunately include my husband dropping a very serious grievance that addresses serious systemic supervisory concerns,” Ford-Haynes wrote.
“Because of this, we have tried to seek outside counsel but it has been denied to be financially supported by his association, despite paying his association dues for 22 years,” she added.
According to the Toronto Star, Haynes is not currently suspended and has been assigned to the Toronto Police College. The Star added that the Toronto Police Association members are free to seek their own legal counsel, and the police union typically provides lawyers to members who face misconduct allegations.
Both Ford-Haynes and her husband have expressed anti-vaccination views in the past. During the pandemic, they took to social media to question the validity of lockdown mandates and the roll-out of vaccines.
Her recent posts allude to these views playing a role in the couple’s legal predicament.
“In the last 4 years, my husband has been sent home on unpaid leave for 7 months for asking for more information about the efficacy of a vaccine being forced upon its members and what has turned out to be the most grotesque medical overstepping we’ve seen in our lifetime thus far,” the fundraising post says.
