Men dump buckets of ice water and plastic balls onto former NBA player Yao Ming as Yao takes part in the ALS ice bucket challenge in Beijing August 23, 2014. The Ice Bucket Challenge is aimed at raising awareness of - and money to fight - Amyotrophic Late
Men dump buckets of ice water and plastic balls onto former NBA player Yao Ming as Yao takes part in the ALS ice bucket challenge in Beijing August 23, 2014. The Ice Bucket Challenge is aimed at raising awareness of - and money to fight - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, more often known as ALS or Lou Gherig's Disease. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Canada has raised a total of $16.2 million for the wildly popular ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, a popular stint that took social media by storm this 2014. The amount will be used to invest in research as well as in programmes that will deliver support to Canadians living with ALS.

Over 260,000 Canadians took the challenge to douse buckets of ice water over their heads, the ALS Societies of Canada announced on Wednesday. ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a neurodegenerative disorder with various causes. The disease usually starts around the age of 60, except in cases that are directly inherited. Victims experience slowly losing their ability to move, thus making them totally dependent on others for the rest of their lives. It is an incurable disease where most patients die within two to five years.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge participants filmed themselves as they dumped ice water and had the videos uploaded on social media, but not without first challenging a family member or friend to take on the challenge and then have it passed on as well. As they did the dousing stint, they also donated amounts to the local ALS Society.

According to the ALS Societies of Canada, there are about 2,500 Canadians living with ALS. As the society disclosed the amount on Wednesday, the Canadian government announced it will be matching the $10 million allocated for ALS research through the Canada Brain Research Fund.

The social media viral event enticed many people, even politicians and celebrities, to join in, including television anchor Matt Lauer, golfer Chris Kennedy, Justin Bieber, LeBron James, "Weird Al" Yankovic, former President George W. Bush and Russell Brand, among others. Global political leaders Barack Obama, David Cameron and Stephen Harper declined the cold showers but made sure to write a cheque to the charity instead. It was actor Leonardo DiCaprio who challenged Mr Harper.

The Ice Bucket Challenge went viral on social media, particularly in the United States, in mid-2014. According to The New York Times, people shared more than 1.2 million videos on Facebook between June 1 and August 13 and mentioned the phenomenon more than 2.2 million times on Twitter between July 29 and August 17. Within weeks of the challenge going viral, the ALS Association had received $41.8 million in donations from July 29 until August 21, the New York Times said. However, a study by Charities Aid Foundation showed that while the Ice Bucket Challenge has indeed raised much in donations, the majority of participants who took on the challenge did not really actually donate.