It was the second week of what I am calling the Freedom Trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, two peaceful protesters who came to Ottawa during the Freedom Convoy demonstration of January to February 2022. This prosecution and persecution of course is not just about Lich and Barber—it’s about the whole Freedom Convoy and everyone who dared to support it. Especially those who had their bank accounts frozen by the government for doing so.
The trial has recessed for the week and will resume on Monday, Sept. 18. Day 8 on Thursday began to get interesting as the defence was permitted to ask questions of the prosecution’s witness, Sgt. Joanne Pilotte of the Ottawa Police Service.
But as this theatre of the absurd continues, is there some larger purpose for this trial beyond the potential vindication of a protest that sought to restore individual liberty to Canadians by targeting authoritarian COVID-19 mandates?
Yes, it’s a reminder that those mandates, those mindless lockdowns, that dangerous masking, those still unproven vaccinations might be coming back. And Big Brother is already warning you that these unnecessary and punitive measures are on the horizon.
But we need to say, no, not one step back. We are not returning to mandatory masking, vaccines, and lockdowns. Not now, not ever.
But first the trial.
It is the torrent of minutiae that wears you down: the Crown putting pictures of snowdrifts on the video screen and asking Pilotte if she recognizes the imagery. The trial should be half over at this point: It was originally scheduled for 16 days but because the prosecution keeps introducing more evidence and seeks to widen the scope of its evidentiary assessment, the defence has needed more time to assess this evidence.
We were supposed to hear from several key witnesses this week, including Serge Arpin, the chief of staff to former Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, but we are nowhere near that stage. Tamara Lich’s attorney, Lawrence Greenspon, told me this week that he suggested it was not necessary to hear from all of the Ottawa residents on the witness list because the defence is prepared to acknowledge that some people were upset by the presence of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa. But other witnesses can take the stand who will attest that the truckers did not impede life or business in the nation’s capital.
Greenspon thought it might save some time to avoid this back and forth.
This trial is costing everyone involved—including taxpayers—a lot of money as it threatens to drag on into November.
Charging Lich and Barber with a bunch of petty crimes was ridiculous to start with. It represented Canada’s increasingly biased system attempting to implicate two leading figures from the Freedom Convoy in whatever way possible—to find something that might stick in court.
We have watched dozens of videos over the past week, some introduced by the prosecution, others by the defence, but they all have one thing in common. The footage demonstrates just how thorough and comprehensive Lich and Barber were in their insistence that anyone associated with the Freedom Convoy protest peacefully, not disturb the residents of Ottawa, and obey the instructions of the police.
Their commitment to a non-violent protest could not be clearer.
But just as we are being reminded of how thousands of courageous truckers and their supporters dared to confront the federal government and its provincial surrogates—dared to be obdurate in the face of unreasonable demands of the state—that federal government and that state is again suggesting we had better get ready to mask up in the fall.
Take a news conference on Sept. 12 with Canada’s chief public health officer, Theresa Tam.
She and her cohorts were all blissfully masked-up for the media event, and that wasn’t missed by a representative from Canada’s mainstream media who faithfully echoed the government talking points all through the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to call the Freedom Convoy an “occupation” today.
“We hope people have developed the habit to be able to use masks as needed during the respiratory virus season,” Tam replied, suggesting the masks even work against influenza and of course RSV as well.
“I do think now is the time to get your mask ready if you don’t already have them,” she said.
Tam insisted it was a good idea to reach for the masks because there was another one of those surges in “COVID-19 indicators” in the Ottawa area.
Uh-huh.
Why does the federal government continue to promulgate falsehoods about these masks?
Masks were, and are, little more than a mystical talisman that true believers wear to fend off evil forces. They are as effective as the remedies used to prevent the Bubonic plague in the Dark Ages.
You can put your faith in the power of a mask or a rabbit’s foot with all the ferocity and sincerity that you may muster, but it’s still not scientific.
This was even revealed during the height of the pandemic.
If you really want to keep getting COVID-19 vaccines for the rest of your life, that is your choice and your right. But don’t ask me to do so. It is madness. I’ve had my two vaccines and I’m still recovering from the effects of those.
Lockdowns did nothing to prevent COVID-19, but they did promote drug addiction, alcohol abuse, and an epidemic of mental health problems.
So as the trial of Lich and Barber continues, let it be a reminder that we are not going back to February 2022. Not on your life.
