Crown Stays 49 Charges Against 7 Freedom Convoy Protesters: Legal Advocacy Group

Supporters of the Freedom Convoy protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions in front of Parliament in Ottawa on Jan. 28, 2022. Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images

The Crown has stayed 49 charges against seven protesters who took part in the Freedom Convoy demonstration held in Ottawa earlier this year, a constitutional rights advocacy group says.

“The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is pleased to announce that the Crown has stayed 49 charges against seven Freedom Convoy protestors who took part in a peaceful protest in Ottawa,” the group said in a news release on Aug. 18.

“All seven maintain their innocence and believe that the right to peaceful protest is essential for a healthy democracy.”

The Justice Centre said it retained Ottawa lawyer Monick Grenier to represent Rob McGown, Nick Moir, and Michael Flannery, among others, while lawyer Diane Magas was retained to represent Alexandru Naiche and Mathieu Monette.

The seven were charged with mischief, mischief to property, disobeying a lawful order, and obstruction of a peace officer, but the Crown stayed those charges in the past two weeks due to a lack of evidence.

“A key piece of missing evidence are the arresting officer’s notes, which the Crown failed to obtain for all charges related to the seven protestors,” the Justice Centre said. “Without these notes, the Crown could not prove the grounds for arrest or have a reasonable chance of conviction.”

In Monette’s case, the Crown could not obtain the identity of the arresting RCMP officers nor provide details of the arrest, the group said.

The Freedom Convoy was a nationwide movement initially aimed at protesting the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate imposed on cross-border truck drivers. As convoys of trucks rolled across the country, gathering in Ottawa’s downtown core starting late January, many joined to call for an end to other pandemic-related restrictions.

The Justice Centre noted that “no criminal charges were laid for weeks against the protestors,” until Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government unprecedentedly invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, giving special powers to law enforcement to arrest and remove the demonstrations in escalated operations over several days.

“Using this declaration as a pretext, law enforcement cracked down on the peaceful demonstrators dramatically, including trampling a disabled elderly indigenous woman with a horse,” the Justice Centre said.

Earlier this week, the Public Order Emergency Commission announced that a public inquiry into Ottawa’s invocation of the Act will begin next month. Public hearings are expected to be held from Sept. 19 until Oct. 28 at Library and Archives Canada in downtown Ottawa. The public hearings will be open to the public via livestream, according to the Justice Centre.

The group said it will be participating in the inquiry to make “evidentiary, factual and legal submissions, submit policy papers, suggest and cross-examine witnesses, and/or participate in policy roundtables and deliberations.”

Another civil rights group, The Democracy Fund (TDF), said this week that its legal team has also successfully defended a Freedom Convoy protester, who faced multiple offences, including up to 45 days in jail if convicted.

TDF said in a news release that its client was “peacefully exercising his rights in Ottawa” when he was arrested and charged with mischief under $5,000, disobeying a court order, and obstructing a peace officer.

Following several court appearances, the Crown agreed to stay the charges on Aug. 9.

Isaac Teo contributed to this report.