The trial of Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber has just been adjourned until Aug.13.
I’m not kidding. I was in the Ottawa courthouse on March 15 when Judge Heather Perkins-McVey made the decision.
Speaking with lead defence attorney Lawrence Greenspon after the courtroom cleared, he told me that he was ready to argue against the Carter application even though the judge had decided to “bifurcate” the issue so that the respective teams will have to discuss Lich and Barber’s actions separately.
Greenspon said he was prepared to jump through this latest hoop if it satisfied any lingering doubts about the innocence of his clients. He told me that he hoped the judge was just being thorough.
This is just the latest example of how Lich and Barber have had to put their lives on hold because they have become symbols to much of the political establishment of dangerous protest and unsanctioned dissent.
This is another layer of legal minutiae that has been foisted on the trial by the Crown, which appears to remain convinced that the Freedom Convoy protest posed a grave risk to Canada and that Lich and Barber should be treated as domestic terrorists.
But I believe the judge is going along with this ploy because she doesn’t want anyone to appeal her verdict.
I am optimistic about what that will be.
Try to remember that Lich and Barber are accused of mischief and counselling mischief. These are the sort of charges that usually arise from a drunken wedding party where tempers flare, a few glasses are broken, and insults are hurled across the room. If it actually comes to trial and a judge has to get involved, a verdict can be assured within a few days.
For the next weeks and yes, months, the Crown played videos and recordings of Lich and Barber interacting with protesters, either in their vehicles on the road to Ottawa or from the downtown of the capital as they reached out to the tens of thousands of people who had become activated and energized by the protest. Time after time, these “co-conspirators” can be heard counselling people to “protest peacefully” to obey the instructions of police, and to not bother Ottawa residents.
There were times I would look at other reporters who were covering the trial and ask, “Is the Crown trying to lose this?”
Well, it may have been great fun for someone but it certainly wasn’t for the accused who were spending more time in court than the average serial killer.
Lich and Barber have been getting some financial assistance from supporters to pay legal costs. A three-day trial is financially onerous for any blue-collar family. Try 40 or 50 days.
When I last interviewed Lich, she told me that she and her husband are paying the cost of travelling from their home in Medicine Hat to Ottawa every time she is required to appear in court. That’s gas, restaurants, hotels, etc.
Besides that, she has had to live in limbo until the justice system determines whether or not she should receive further punishment for participating in a peaceful protest.
So while we wait another five months for this trial to resume, it is worth considering that time is on the side of the Freedom Convoy. With each passing week, they look more like heroes and the brutal authorities who crushed their protest appear more like villains.
In January, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was unjustified in invoking the Emergencies Act against the convoy protest, saying the move was unreasonable, unconstitutional, and illegal.
Did this decision have no impact on the trial? Surely it indicates that if any crime was committed, it wasn’t accomplished in protest but in government crackdown. Now, I don’t think for a minute that Trudeau or anyone in his cabinet will be arrested, let alone alone charged or convicted, for a crime. But I do think Mosley’s decision at least implies that it wasn’t a crime to merely oppose COVID-19 policies that were hurting people.
And we need to thank the protesters who were arrested and mowed over by the powerful coalition of police forces that came to Ottawa in February 2022 to crush the convoy. They had the courage to resist COVID mandates when there was almost monolithic support for these authoritarian measures from government, industry, and the media.
In the aftermath of this pandemic, we are now allowed to logically assess what effects the mandates had on people.
You may or may not agree as to the benefits of the COVID vaccine, but it is undeniable that it didn’t prevent transmission.
It is highly debatable that mass masking or lockdowns actually contained the disease, but we can still see the economic fallout and the adverse effects on mental health from those policies.
You may have objected to all those blue-collar truckers and their supporters crowding the cold February streets of Ottawa and having such a good time with food, dancing, and bouncy castles. But I’ll bet you’re grateful for that courage, determination, and celebration of life today.
That’s why it was—and is—the Freedom Convoy, with no quotation marks around that title please.
