A former spokesperson for the Ontario government said she was fired within minutes of her name being announced as a donor to a protest convoy, even though she was a loyal government employee.

Marion Isabau Ringuette claimed she was wrongfully removed from her position as communications director for the Attorney General of Ontario over "personal political gains" by Premier Doug Ford - allowing him to publicly oppose the convoy - in a lawsuit against Ford, the Premier of Ontario, Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, and two other journalists.

In her claim statement, Ringuette said she was promoted to her position in February 2020 and was outstanding in the Ford government, being a fully bilingual political staffer.

None of the allegations in the statement of claim have been verified in court.

Ringuette also said she followed government directives, including canceling travel plans to visit family in Texas for the 2021 Christmas holiday in line with Ford's policy against travel during COVID-19 restrictions.

It is noteworthy that GiveSendGo started hosting a fundraising campaign for the protest after it was banned from the more popular site GoFundMe, and the GiveSendGo site was hacked on February 13, with the hack explicitly declared as an activist attack against a donor-submitted public information database.

The data included information on 92,844 donations totaling more than $8.4 million, such as the name, email address, amount given, postal code, country, donor's IP address, and payment method, but the leaked data did not include credit card numbers.
 

On the other hand, analysts, news organizations, and critics were allowed to examine the source of the protest funds.

The data revealed names behind donations, some of whom were prominent or held positions that made public support embarrassing, and Ringuette was one of them, with a $100 donation under the initials M.R., but the leaked data included a personal email address containing her name.

On February 15, a journalist contacted Ringuette, with Charles Pinkerton, interim editor of QP Briefing, a publication focused on Ontario politics owned by the Toronto Star, calling Ringuette on her cell phone, according to her claim, but she did not answer.

He then sent her a text message, which she ignored, and then sent work and personal email addresses asking her to confirm her government position and donation to the convoy, according to her claim.

A similar email was sent to the Premier’s office.

Then, within minutes, her direct supervisor, David Garland, called her and asked if she had donated to the convoy.

According to her claim, she was told: "The Premier’s office wanted to fire her."

Garland said he was trying to intervene but called back several minutes later saying she was fired "because they wanted to be seen to be acting" quickly, according to the claim.

Another person from Ford’s office got on the line and confirmed she was fired after 16 weeks of dismissal, according to her allegation.

The government later responded to Pinkerton’s email saying Ringuette no longer works for the government, according to her claim.

The lawsuit Ringuette filed states that the government’s response confirmed her identity as a donor, allowing the public disclosure of her personal information.
 

On the other hand, Pinkerton and Andrew Takaji, a reporter at QP Briefing, shared the subheadline in the February 15 story on qpbriefing.com titled "Senior attorney general staffer out of job after donation to 'Freedom Convoy'." They also co-authored a story repeating information found on iPolitics.ca.

Ringuette’s lawsuit alleges the journalists and employer "acted with blatant disregard" for her privacy and the harm that politically "controversial" information could cause her career.

The lawsuit also accuses Ford and his chief of staff James Wallace of acting in bad faith.

The lawsuit claims "provincial elections were imminent, and Premier Ford’s decision to terminate Ms. Ringuette’s employment was based on his and his campaign team’s belief that it would ultimately benefit him politically to oppose the Freedom Convoy."
 

Ringuette is seeking $450,000 from the government and officials for wrongful dismissal, in addition to a joint lawsuit against all defendants for $1.5 million for invasion of privacy, public disclosure of private facts, defamation, and emotional distress.

The National Post contacted the Premier’s office, Toronto Star, and Queen’s Park for a briefing comment but received no responses by the time of publication.

It is worth mentioning that some news stories about donors handled the data in aggregate or anonymously.

Others revealed names if they could confirm identity or if the donor admitted to it, including the National Post and some other Postmedia newspapers.

For news organizations, it was usually reserved for government officials, civil servants, or public figures, in an attempt to hold institutions and public figures accountable, and some business owners received coverage.

After the names became public, either through news stories or on social media, many people lost or left their jobs, with at least one person misidentified, an Alberta judge who shares a name with a donor.