Tamara Lich News

Freedom Convoy” protest organizers has ordered access to internal police documents so that she can determine whether they should be admitted as evidence.Justice Heather Perkins-McVey said she must review unredacted copies of police communications to determine whether they are protected by solicitor-client privilege, and also whether they are relevant to assessing the credibility of police liaison witnesses.Defence lawyers for Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, who are on trial for their role in the massive demonstration against COVID-19 public-health measures in early 2022, have asked to see emails that show what evidence police officers were asked to hand over as part of the case.They also want to see any instructions given to officers about updating the software on their cellphones when the protest ended, as the judge said that update deleted messages between Barber and Ottawa police Const. Nicole Bach, considered a primary contact of Barber.Const.

The trial of two “Freedom Convoy” organizers is set to resume Tuesday with the continued testimony of an officer who served as a liaison between the Ottawa Police Service and demonstrators.

The woman who went to court to get an injunction against the “Freedom Convoy” last year is set to testify Monday in the criminal trial of two of the protest’s organizers.

Tamara Lich promised that “Freedom Convoy” demonstrators in downtown Ottawa would remain “peaceful but planted” as reports emerged that Prime Minister Minister Justin Trudeau was ready to invoke the Emergencies Act to end the protest, a courtroom heard Tuesday.

Freedom Convoy” organizers are working to keep the proceedings from coming to a standstill.Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are facing charges related to their role in the demonstration that had big-rig trucks blocking downtown Ottawa streets to protest COVID-19 public health measures.The Crown had thought it would take about 10 days to present its case in a trial originally scheduled for 16 days.But as the trial begins its third week in an Ottawa courtroom, just two of the Crown’s 21 planned witnesses have appeared so far.Legal arguments over the admissibility and disclosure of evidence has slowed the proceedings, and the lawyers were left wondering last week how best to move forward.Justice Heather Perkins-McVey says the goal is to ensure the trial is fair to everyone, and that they will get there eventually.

“Freedom Convoy” protests are expected to make their case today to block nine Ottawa residents and business representatives from taking the stand.Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are on trial for criminal charges related to their role in the demonstration, which blockaded Ottawa city streets for weeks last year as protestors railed against COVID-19 public health measures.The Crown plans to call five Ottawa residents as witnesses in the case, including Zexi Li, who filed a class-action lawsuit against the organizers on behalf of people who live and work in downtown Ottawa.The Crown also intends to call the owner of a women’s clothing boutique, and employees from the National Arts Centre, the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel, and the local public transit operator.Lich’s lawyer Lawrence Greenspon argued against hearing from the witnesses when court resumed Monday.Lich and Barber have already signed admissions that the “actions of certain individuals” who participated in the protest interfered with public transit and the lawful use and enjoyment of property and businesses.“There’s is absolutely no need to call these nine witnesses,” Greenspon said, arguing their testimony would be irrelevant in a strictly legal sense.The witnesses didn’t have any direct interactions with Lich or Baber, and the organizers have not admitted to playing any role in the disruptions.The admission did not go far enough to justify blocking the testimony of people directly impacted by the protest, Crown attorney Siobhain Wetscher argued.“I don’t think that Mr. Greenspon is in a position to admit that the protest is not peaceful,” Wetscher said.

The Ottawa Police Service incident commander in charge of the “Freedom Convoy” response told the court hearing a trial of two of its organizers that work to shrink the footprint was undermined after the first weekend by an order to not to give an inch of downtown.

Crown prosecutor Tim Radcliffe says that “Freedom Convoy” organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber’s political views are not on trial, but rather the means they allegedly employed to achieve their ends.

Freedom Convoy” protest are set to stand trial in Ottawa starting Tuesday.Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are both accused of mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief, and intimidation.As the trial gets underway and is expected to last 16 days, Global News breaks down what these charges mean.Under the Criminal Code, mischief has a broad definition. It’s characterized as the willful destruction of property, making it dangerous or useless to others and/or obstructing, interrupting or interfering with the lawful enjoyment of property of others.“To the layperson, it can seem sort of trivial or minor.

Tamara Lich was led away from supporters in handcuffs on the snowy streets of Ottawa in 2022, she threw a single phrase over her shoulder.“Hold the line,” said the petite figurehead of the “Freedom Convoy” movement as the officers at each of her elbows walked her to the waiting cruiser.She was echoing the words shouted by of one of her supporters in a scene that was captured on video and circulated online the eve before hundreds of police moved in.Officers spent the next two days dislodging protesters from the streets around Parliament Hill.But that parting phrase, which would go on to become the title of Lich’s recently published book, is likely to be at the heart of her criminal trial.Lich and fellow convoy organizer Chris Barber are scheduled to stand trial in Ottawa starting Tuesday for their role in the three-week protest that overtook the streets around downtown and sparked a national emergency declaration.In the final days of the demonstration, as police began to order people to leave, organizers and supporters used “hold the line” as a rallying cry, as words of encouragement and as a salutation.Lich and Barber stand co-accused of mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation.Several of the charges hinge on whether Lich and Barber encouraged protesters to defy police orders by remaining in Ottawa after authorities ordered everyone to clear the streets and, if they did, whether that was a criminal act.“We do not expect this to be the trial of the ‘Freedom Convoy,”’ Lich and Barber’s lawyers said in a joint statement Friday.“The central issue will be whether the actions of two of the organizers of a peaceful protest should warrant criminal sanction.”Lich told a federal inquiry

In Canada, Ontario Superior Court has frozen millions of dollars and cryptocurrencies linked to organizers of the Ottawa’ Freedom Convoy’ protest by obtaining a so-called Mareva injunction.