A Telegram group supporting trucker convoys is advertising a $747 'emergency food' kit with items like 'creamy stroganoff' and 'traveler's stew'
REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
- A Telegram channel is promoting "emergency food" kits during the ongoing trucker convoy in Ottawa.
- The supply kits, sold by My Patriot Supply, range in size and price.
- On its website, the company advertises itself as "the original Patriot survival company."
A channel on the social-media app Telegram supporting the ongoing trucker convoy in Ottawa, Canada, is promoting "emergency food supply" kits that cost between hundreds and thousands of dollars.
The group, Truckers for Freedom, has amassed over 15,000 followers on Telegram, the platform associated with far-right groups, since it was created January 31.
For more than a week, the group has posted daily, sharing clips of what's become known as Canada's "Freedom Convoy": thousands of truckers who gathered in Ottawa to protest the country's COVID-19 vaccine mandate and other restrictions.
Canada's mandate was imposed January 15 and requires truckers to present proof of vaccination in order to cross the border. Truckers who are unvaccinated are required to quarantine and take a COVID-19 test when they return from the US, Insider previously reported.
The Telegram channel's description, and a message pinned at the top of the group, urges members to "be prepared" by purchasing a food package from the company My Patriot Supply. On its website, the company says the products are "for short-term survival" and have an "up to 25-year shelf life."
My Patriot Supply did not respond to a request for comment.
The Telegram channel has promoted the products at least six times since the page was created just over a week ago.
The company advertises itself on its website as "the original Patriot survival company." The Telegram channel linked to 4-week and 3-month food supply kits, which cost $297 and $747, respectively. The website sells other products, including a 1-year emergency food package that costs nearly $3,000.
These food kits contain items like "creamy stroganoff," "cheesy broccoli soup," and "traveler's stew," according to My Patriot Supply's website.
In addition to posting about the products, the group has shared messages urging members to donate to Canadian truckers on GiveSendGo and referenced a potential future mass convoy protest in the US.
There are dozens of Telegram channels actively discussing how to organize trucker convoys in the US, with many of them mentioning the nation's capital Washington, DC, as a center for the protests, Insider reported.