The criminal trial for Chris Barber and Tamara Lich, organizers of the Freedom Convoy, is underway and going into its third week.
This is the first of many trials that will occur as a result of the numerous arrests in early 2022 after the Emergencies Act was invoked to quell the protests in Ottawa. The Freedom Convoy saw hundreds of semi-trucks blocking the city’s streets to protest vaccine mandates and COVID-19 measures that made it illegal for truckers to cross the American border without quarantining for two weeks afterwards.
According to CBCNews, Barber and Lich have been identified as leaders of the protest and are currently facing charges “that include mischief, counselling others to commit mischief, intimidation and obstructing police for their role in the weeks-long protest.” Furthermore, Barber is faced with an additional charge “of counselling others to disobey a court order.”
The prosecutors and the defence have opposing viewpoints on the purpose of the trial. Crown attorney Siobhain Weaver said that “this is ultimately a trial about what happened in this city.” They intend to call Ottawa residents to the stand to describe the condition of the city, which CTV News describes as “blocked streets, the constant sound of horns honking and truck engines running, the oppressive smell of exhaust, witnessing public urination and being unable to leave their homes.”
Conversely, defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon argues there is a necessity for these witnesses because Lich and Barber have already admitted that “there were individuals who interfered with the enjoyment of property.” Greenspon continues by saying: “We’ve made that admission, so why do we have to spend two and a half days, and it may be more, getting the Crown to prove that we’ve admitted it?” Justice Heather Perkins-McVey has yet to decide if she will allow these witnesses to be called, as they never directly dealt with either Barber or Lich.
One of the main topics of the trial’s eighth day was the phrase “hold the line” which videos show Barber and Lich saying repeatedly in the final days of the protest. Again, there are different interpretations of the phrase on both sides of the court, with Crown prosecutor Tim Radcliffe saying that Barber and Lich “crossed the line” by defying police orders for protestors to leave and encouraging them to stay.
However, the defence team set the stage for an argument against this on the eighth day of the trial by showing a video of Brian Peckford, former Premier of Newfoundland, using the same phrase to support the protest. David Fraser explains that Diane Magas, counsel for Barber, said these videos “show the judge circumstances and context,” and provide “legitimacy to the protests and speaks to the state of mind of the protesters.”
This trial is layered with intricacy and difficulty due to the heavy reliance on social media as evidence, as described in a Canadian Press article featured in the Toronto Star. The article explains how there are thousands of hours of video footage that could potentially be used as evidence, and it is difficult trying to gather and sort through it all. There is also an age-based communication barrier, with Perkins-McVey requiring some explanations of how different aspects of social media work. Overall, it makes for a slow-moving process.
