Keeping Police Evidence From Defence Lawyers Is ‘Bizarre,’ Says Convoy Organizer Tom Marazzo

Tamara Lich walks with her lawyer Lawrence Greenspon (L) as they make their way to the courthouse on the first day of Lich’s trial, in Ottawa on Sept. 5, 2023. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

As the judge in the trial of two Freedom Convoy protest organizers has ordered access to internal Ottawa police documents, another one of the organizers at the centre of the protest said he believes it is “bizarre” that the evidence has been kept from defence lawyers.

“I found the whole thing bizarre given that it’s the Crown’s evidence that was submitted. And so why does the defence not have an opportunity to look at evidence that the Crown prosecutor was bringing into the courtroom?” Freedom Convoy organizer Tom Marazzo said in an interview.

“It’s literally absurd that the defence doesn’t get a chance to look at the evidence being used against them.”

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are charged with counselling to disobey a court order, counselling to obstruct police, and mischief that interferes with the use and enjoyment of property for their role in the Freedom Convoy protest that disrupted Ottawa for nearly three weeks in early 2022.

The Freedom Convoy protest started in response to a mandate requiring COVID-19 vaccination for truck drivers crossing the Canada–U.S. border and resulted in encampments of trucks in the nation’s capital. Similar protests were held at several Canada–U.S. border crossings, where vehicles blocked access to the border.

Three weeks into the trial of Mr. Barber and Ms. Lich, Justice Heather Perkins-McVey said she needed to review unredacted copies of Ottawa Police Service communications to determine whether they are protected by solicitor-client privilege and are relevant to assessing the credibility of police liaison witnesses who have testified in the trial.

While the defence lawyers for Mr. Barber and Ms. Lich had asked to see emails that showed what evidence police officers were asked to hand over as part of the criminal case, they received heavily redacted documents in response. Crown lawyers and the Ottawa police argued that the only information that was omitted was either irrelevant or protected by solicitor-client privilege.

Deleted Chat Logs

Mr. Marazzo told The Epoch Times that during the three-week protest, he and Convoy lawyer Keith Wilson had been in contact with the Ottawa police liaison team “several times throughout every day” and had a daily phone call with the Ontario Provincial Police at 10 a.m. each morning.

He said he also found it “bizarre” that text chat logs between Ottawa police officers were deleted due to a phone software upgrade that was implemented after the protest.

Two police officers who testified during the trial said the text messages on their phones had been wiped, leading defence lawyers to request more information.