BREAKING VERDICT: Freedom Convoy protesters Chris Barber and Tamara Lich found guilty on mischief charges
Lich and Barber were charged with mischief, counseling others to commit mischief, intimidation and obstructing police as leaders of the Freedom Convoy that polarized residents of Ottawa in February 2022 and arguably began to roll back Covid-19 mandates.
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Ontario judge Heather Perkins-McVey has found Freedom Convoy organizers Chris Barber and Tamara Lich guilty on mischief charges in Ottawa’s provincial courthouse Thursday.
Lich and Barber were charged with mischief, counseling others to commit mischief, intimidation and obstructing police as leaders of the Freedom Convoy that polarized residents of Ottawa in February 2022 and arguably began to roll back Covid-19 mandates.
The judge said she read the book “The Right to Protest: an Uneasy Balance” in reaching her verdict, and asked when does the right to protest “protect those from criminal liability” or or allow the them to infringe on “the right of other citizens to enjoy their property? Charter rights are not absolute.” She recessed the court before finishing the rest of her verdict on the remaining charges.
The lead lawyer for the duo had always insisted the charges were an affront to basic free speech rights guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights. “The Crown seeks to criminalize the words and actions of leaders of a protest, a protest in which those leaders consistently urged others to be peaceful and to cooperate with police,” Lawrence Greenspon said. “The Crown asks that those leaders be held criminally responsible for the actions of unidentified others who were directed into the downtown core of Ottawa and they were allowed to stay for a three week period of time without so much as a single parking ticket being issued to anyone.”
“It was only after the two leaders had been arrested that any arguable obstruction took place. This is a case which the crown is referred to as overwhelming, and I submit the only thing that is overwhelming are the unprecedented resources that have been afforded for prosecution of the case,” Greenspon continued.
Greenspon argued that the Crown is seeking a unique judgment: “that is, to find a conspiracy based on a common lawful purpose and the acts of unidentified groups and individuals who carry out interference with downtown residents despite the repeated message of peaceful protest and cooperation with police.”
Lich had previously told The Post Millennial that she was prepared for a long legal battle. “Unfortunately for them, they picked on the wrong woman because I am not going to back down and they do not scare me and they do not intimidate me and so they have no power over me. But what they’re trying to do is scare everybody else – right? Well, don’t do this.”
But the activist said that’s not what Canada is all about and that’s what the Freedom Convoy showed the world.
“But, I mean, we’re Canadians: some of the most positive people on the planet.”
In February, Barber told The Post Millennial: “I always say that I probably grew the most throughout the Freedom Convoy. I’m not an organizer, I’m not a protester, I’m not an activist; I’m just a blue collar truck driver. I run a famous red truck now and and every time I have that truck on the road, it’s got the big Canada label down the hood on it, and I’ve [had] people yelling at me on the radio, people, it’s hard to make a mile because you’ve always got somebody that wants to stop and have a conversation, but more than willing to do that. I’ve met so many amazing people across the country in the last three years, and I am very appreciative for all the support we have.”
“You know when we started organizing this we had no idea how it was going to take off and no idea that it would go global. You know that was a shock to us but it really did it and resonated all around the world.”
Lawyers for Lich and Barber presented their final summation in the trial last September. The duo were instrumental in organizing the Freedom Convoy trucker protest of January and February 2022, which galvanized opponents of Covid mandates. The protest was abruptly halted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when he invoked the never-before-used Emergencies Act that brought down the full force of the police on the protest in the nation’s capital.
The trial began on Sept. 5, 2023. Greenspon told The Post Millennial a year later, as he made his concluding statements, that the trial was already the longest mischief trial in Canadian history.
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