Freedom Convoy leaders Chris Barber and Tamara Lich will largely remain free after being handed a conditional sentence in the Ontario Court of Justice for their involvement in the Freedom Convoy.
Freedom Convoy leaders Chris Barber and Tamara Lich will largely remain free after being handed a conditional sentence in the Ontario Court of Justice for their involvement in the Freedom Convoy.
A judge on Tuesday handed Barber an 18-month conditional sentence and Lich a 15.5-month conditional sentence (i.e. house arrest).
Importantly, neither sentence will require time in prison. Instead the punishments will be served at home under certain conditions, including curfews – contrary to the Ontario Crown Prosecutor demanding 8 and 7 years in prison for Barber and Lich, respectively.
The decision was delivered in a packed courtroom.
The judge outsourced Barber’s sentence to the Saskatchewan Court of Justice for conditioning and monitoring.
Lich’s conditional sentence was also transferred to Medicine Hat, Alb., for administration and monitoring.
The trial of Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, which some commentators have referred to as “the longest mischief trial in world history,” stems from their leadership of the peaceful anti-vaccine mandate Freedom Convoy movement in 2022.
The protest “bear-hugged” the nation’s capital for several weeks, creating a gridlock near Parliament, the sentencing judge said.
For their involvement in the February 2022 Freedom Convoy protest, Barber and Lich were each found guilty of one count of mischief. Barber was also found guilty of counselling others to disobey a court order.
The protests, initially sparked by opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, grew into a broader movement against the federal government, drawing thousands of demonstrators and extensive law enforcement scrutiny.
The Crown had argued their “leadership” in the protest helped sustain an unlawful occupation, disrupting residents, businesses and government operations.
On Tuesday, Perkins-McVey called that “leadership” “largely symbolic.”
Nonetheless, Crown prosecutor Siobhain Wetscher had earlier asked the judge to impose extraordinary sentences—eight years’ imprisonment for Barber and seven for Lich—arguing that such heavy penalties would deter similar protests.
During sentencing, the Ontario Court Justice said R v. King and the Coutts border blockade were the two most informative cases in determining an appropriate sentence.
Curiously, Perkins-McVey did not give similar attention to Supreme Court Justice Richard Mosley’s decision that the Trudeau government’s imposition of the Emergencies Act, which was the basis for the arrests of Lich and Barber, was unconstitutional.
That judgment remains subject to numerous federal government appeal
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Justice Centre lawyers continue to defend Matt and Nicole Alexander, who were abruptly fired from their teaching positions for “not celebrating and affirming LGBTQ issues.” There were no complaints against either teacher about failing to treat a student with respect and kindness. Their union refused to take their grievances to arbitration. However, we are pleased to announce that the Ontario Labour Relations Board recently ruled against an attempt by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Renfrew County District School Board to have the Alexanders’ case dismissed. No Canadian should be fired for refusing to affirm and celebrate an ideology that contradicts their moral or religious convictions.
We continue to provide lawyers for BC nurse Amy Hamm, recently found guilty of “unprofessional conduct” by the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives because she said publicly that there are only two genders. Amy’s professional regulatory body also ordered her to pay $93,639.80 in legal costs. The legal battles continue.
On the east coast, Justice Centre lawyers are in court to challenge Nova Scotia’s irrational ban on walking in the woods, imposed by Premier Tim Houston. Our lawyers represent Jeff Evely, a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces. Conservation officers fined him $28,872.50 for merely walking in the woods. This anti-human law views people as the problem, rather than targeting higher-risk activities like smoking, campfires and cooking in dry, wooded areas.
We continue to defend peaceful Freedom Convoy protestor Chris Barber against the Crown’s demand that his truck, “Big Red,” be seized and that he spend the next eight years of his life in prison. To imprison a man who sought and followed legal advice while peacefully protesting harmful Covid vaccine mandates would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
Justice Centre lawyers represent Terry Francois in a Federal Court case highlighting serious concerns about accountability and due process within First Nations governance. The Indigenous father of five was banished without warning from his home and family on the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation reserve in Manitoba. “I was totally shocked. I felt crushed,” said Mr. Francois. “I’ve worked all my life and raised five girls on my own. I didn’t think this could happen.”
Our lawyers continue to defend peaceful protestor Evan Blackman, who was arrested and charged with mischief and obstruction for his involvement in the 2022 Freedom Convoy. Now, a court has ordered the RCMP and TD Bank to produce records related to the freezing of his bank accounts. This ruling marks a significant step in the first Charter challenge to the freezing of personal bank accounts under the Emergencies Act.
The Justice Centre continues to collect petition signatures against Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act (which I prefer to call the “Strong Surveillance Act”).The Bill would grant the federal government new regulatory powers over electronic service providers and would allow law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches. The Bill would also outlaw cash transactions of $10,000 or more, which opens the door to eventually outlawing all cash payments and donations.
I invite you to join the 35,000 Canadians who have signed our petition (www.jccf.ca/petitions) calling upon the Prime Minister of Canada to strike the criminalization of cash, and to table legislation protecting Canadian’s right to use cash of any amount for legal transactions.
My new book, Corrupted by Fear: How the Charter was betrayed and what Canadians can do about it, is a #1 Bestseller on Amazon, with over 3,500 copies sold since January. Corrupted by Fear exposes how some judges repeated the media narrative in their Covid court rulings, rather than considering the evidence that was placed before them in court. The paperback, eBook and audiobook versions are available at Amazon.ca.
The deadline to enter the 2025 Brandon Langhjelm Memorial Essay Contest is fast approaching – October 26, 2025. This year, we invite Canadians aged 15 to 25 to write on either the value of privacy or on the balance between freedom of religion and state neutrality. Learn more about this contest at www.jccf.ca/essay-contest.
The Justice Centre has released a new report, “Post-Covid Canada: The rise in unexplained deaths,” available at www.jccf.ca/reports. Statistics Canada data shows that more Canadians are dying after the government imposed lockdowns and vaccine mandates. According to Statistics Canada, the 2022 and 2023 death rate for children was 15% higher than in the years before lockdowns, and deaths among Canadians under the age of 45 are up by more than a quarter. Drug overdose deaths are up by 55%, and alcohol-induced deaths are up 18%. The additional deaths among children and younger Canadians were not caused by Covid. Incredibly, there was a 26% increase in Covid deaths after most Canadians had been injected with Covid vaccines.
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The Central Bank Digital Currency brochure educates Canadians about the dangers of Central Bank Digital Currency. If you would like extra copies to give away to friends, neighbours and family, please email info@jccf.ca or call our office at 403-475-3622.
Thank you for your continued support, which allows us to defend the free society in 2025.
Bill Whatcott’s Thoughts on the State of Religious and Political Freedom in Canada
Dear Friends,
Freedom has been in decline for awhile now in Canada. In 1994 I was arrested for standing on a public sidewalk in Toronto with a Life Chain sign that read “Abortion Kills Children.” The Ontario NDP Government of the time went to court and got an injunction to prevent Ontario’s pro-lifers from protesting in front of abortuaries, even we as taxpayers have to pay for them. I and many other pro-life citizens believed the injunction was unjust and an unjustified attack on free speech. I went into the no protest zone and stood on the public sidewalk and prayed while holding my sign to challenge the injunction. I didn’t obstruct, threaten, or accost anyone. A sheriff read me the injunction and a police officer put handcuffs on me and walked me to the back of a police car where I got in.
I couldn’t raise enough money to go to trial. The lawyer I got thought I would be looking at a $100 fine or so if I plead guilty, in line with anti-logging protesters who were arrested in BC that year who were blocking worksites and disobeying injuctions obtained by logging companies. Both me and my lawyer quickly learned that the treatment of Christian protesters defending the human rights of the unborn child would be very different than the treatment of left wing protesters protecting trees. The NDP saw my case as serious enough to merit sending a special prosecutor to ask for the maximum sentence allowable under law (6 months in jail). And a judge, aptly named Judge Mean, duly imposed the maximum sentence on me as requested by the provincial government’s special prosecutor.
Campaign Life put out a press release denouncing my sentence. My church organized a telephone campaign targeting the Attorney General’s office. A number of pro-life groups held demostrations in front of the Attorney General’s Office demanding I be released from jail. Two Christian media outlets covered my case and I got letters from across Canada and the United States as a result. However, the big media outlets CBC, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, Global News, etc….., they all got the press releases and protest announcements and they all ignored the story.
That was 31 years ago…..
Alot has happened since then….
In 2013 the Whatcott Decision was rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada and for the first time ever, the court ruled that in hate speech cases litigated in a human rights tribunal that truth was not an absolute defence. Since then Whatcott has been cited in multiple cases, criminal, human rights and civil, and sadly the rulings in favour of restricting speech have been piling up.
In parallel with our loss of freedom of speech, the right to firearm ownership and the right for private citizens to protect their persons and private property has also been eroded over the years. In 2015 an Edmonton man named Robert Hinchey was convicted of careless use of a firearm. Mr. Hinchey received a criminal record, and had to forfeit his guns, after he fired a warning shot through the top right hand of his door in an attempt to scare off a large, young, drunk, who was screaming and trying to kick his door down. In the 911 call played in court Mr. Hinchey’s panicked wife could be heard begging the police to come quickly, saying her door was coming off the hinges as the screaming of the drunk and kicking could be heard in the background. Mr. Hinchey fired one warning shot and the drunk quit kicking. Apparently the drunk got a small cut on his forehead from a small piece of wood catching him as the bullet went through the top of the door. The drunk sat on the front step until the police arrived. The police arrested the home owner Robert Hinchey for discharging his firearm in defense of his home and set the drunk free who was screaming and kicking down Mr. Hinchey’s door.
In December 2023, Bill C-21 became law and the sale of handguns became banned in Canada. Since 1996 more than a thousand different types of long guns (mostly semi autos) have also been banned. I lost one gun that I purchased as a non-restricted .22 rifle. It was a 10 shot M-16 look alike called the Armi Jager. It was a cheap, Italian .22 rifle that was not actually that great. I kept it around for rabbits and plinking. One day the government declared it was a “military assault style” rifle and too dangerous for civilians to own. In actual fact after doing some research, I could not find one single instance of the Armi Jager .22 being used in a crime. But truth doesn’t matter and even though gun crime and all types of violent crime and property crime has gone up dramatically in Canada over the past ten years most Canadians are apathetic about the loss of their right to own legal firearms.
Canada’s erosion of freedom cannot be analyzed without considering the lockdowns of 2020-2022. For the first time in Canada’s history churches and small businesses were forcibly closed, people were coerced to take an experimental vaccine, and the negative side effects and reactions were hidden from the public, and the government forced people to wear masks in public.
Eventually the economic and emotional damage was such that large numbers of Canadians started questioning the “science.” It also became hard for Canadians to take Chief Public Health Officers seriously as they started wrecking their own credibility. Alberta’s Public Health Officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw was caught in a lie when she claimed during a press conference that a 14 year old girl died from Covid -19. Dr. Hinshaw and the media was trying hard to convince Albertans young people were dying from Covid -19 and that they needed to be vaccinated. In actual fact more children have been injured and have had their lives potentially shortened from vaccine induced myocarditis than from Covid-19, which has not taken the life of a single healthy child. The girl’s family went on Twitter and corrected the Chief Public Health Officer and stated their daughter died from Leukemia. Twitter deleted the parent’s comment, but not before it went viral and Hinshaw was forced to apologize.
In British Columbia, Chief Public Health Officer “Dr.” Bonnie Henry decided the “science” was you could go to the cannabis store and Starbucks safely, but you couldn’t go to church. Henry kept cannabis stores open for the entirity of the Covid pandemic as they were “essential.” Starbucks while not “essential” was allowed to reopen in the spring of 2020. Churches however were forced to remain closed until June 2021.
“Dr.” Henry also opined that in order to stay safe from Covid-19 when having sex, it was a good idea to do it using “glory holes.” “Glory holes” are a thing in some homosexual bars where homosexual men get a thrill by sticking their penis into a hole in a wall and then a person unkown to them on the other side services it. Bonnie thought this was a good idea for all BC residents and the media uncritically reported it, of course in the name of “science” and “public health.”
Trudeau’s Chief Public Health Officer, “Dr.” Theresa Tam; a possible, crossdressing, homosexual male, locked up Canadians returning from abroad in quarantine hotels for two week periods. He/she decided to do this after allowing thousands of Chinese citizens into the country without any testing or quarantine. Then one day he/she announced to the media it would be a good idea for couples to engage in sex while wearing masks to stay safe from the Covid virus. In addition to huge salaries, Tam and Henry were awarded the Order of Canada for their quackery and incompetence.
Strangely, churches, businesses, and millions of Canadians went along with this “science” for a long time, to great harm to themselves and their country. By the two year mark though, enough Canadians suffered sufficiently, and various politicians and chief public health officers discredited themselves enough that thousands of Canadians said no more and the Freedom Convoy rolled across Canada in early 2022. Dozens of Canadians were imprisoned in various provinces for defying the lockdowns and the Federal government violently crushed the peaceful protest in Ottawa , trampling an elderly indiginous woman using a police horse and thousands of Canadians across the country who donated to the Freedom Convoy had their bank accounts frozen.
Elderly Metis woman lying on ground in red jacket after being trampled by a mounted police offcer during a violent operation (the police were violent not the protesters) to end the Freedom Convoy protest in front of Parliament Hill, February 18, 2022
The draconian measures inflamed many Canadians even more and it was clear if the lockdowns and repression continued things were going to likely spiral out of control, so suddenly the “science” changed and the country opened up. Masking requirements and vaccine passports ended. Travel bans were lifted, businesses and churches opened up again and people could socialize freely. The predicted mass death from Covid-19 if things opened up didn’t happen.
The government backed down on the mass repression but they were determined to make examples of a few dissidents. Four protesters who were arrested at a blockade in Coutts Alberta were to remain in custody for two more years. Two of the protesters were eventually sentenced to 6.5 years after spending two years in pre-trial custody. The other two I think were released after time served. Apparently they brought some hunting rifles with them to the protest. They claimed their motive was to protect fellow protesters if things got violent. The Prosecutor claimed they were planning on killing police. The Coutts 4 were eventually were acquitted of conspiring to kill a police officer but convicted on illegal gun possession charges.
Trudeau became very unpopular and eventually left in early 2025 and Canadians in an act of “elbows up” and in a display of shallow, pseudo patriotism, elected Mark Carney, a globalist with deep ties to China’s communist party. Just like under Trudeau, car theives, muggers, fentanyl dealers, and sex offenders are being treated leniently, especially if they aren’t white. Political prisoners, if they are conservative and standing for freedom are also being treated the same as under Trudeau. The courts are merciless with those who protest and vocally oppose the Liberal agenda.
The organizers of the Freedom Convoy Chris Barber and Tamara Lich were both arrested as the Freedom Convoy was crushed and spent nearly two months in jail before being released on bail. After more than two years and a lengthy trial, Barber and Lich were found guilty of Mischief in April 2025. Typically, peaceful protesters in Canada receive no jail time for their first offense. Homosexual activist and NDP politician Svend Robinson received a $700 fine when he blocked a logging company’s road in BC back in the 1990s. In 2003 Svend decided to steal a $60,000 ring at an auction to give as a gift to his boyfriend. This offense got Svend copious praise from the sentencing judge for all his alleged good work, promoting homosexuality, euthanasia, hate crime laws, etc…. and Svend’s “sentence” for the $60,000 theft was an absolute discharge.
The Oka confrontation was a more violent affair than either Svend’s anti-logging crusade or the Barber’s and Lich’s Freedom Convoy. Native protesters killed one police officer, shot it out with the provincial police for over an hour, and then enaged in an armed stand-off with the Canadian army for more than two months. Bridges and roads were blockaded, rocks were sometimes thrown at police and soldiers. When the stand-off ended the most visible protester Ronald Cross (he was photographed staring face to face with a Canadian soldier and had a prohibited assault rifle slung over his back) was sentenced to six years in prison.
The Crown Prosecutor is asking for 8 years in prison for Chris Barber, along with the destruction of his truck which is his source of livelihood. The Crown is asking for 7 years in prison for Tamara Lich. Neither are accused of doing anything violent. Neither have criminal records. They have been found to be responsible for some of the truckers honking their horns at inappropriate hours during the first couple days of the protest, though Barber and Lich both encouraged truckers to keep horn honking to daylight hours and indeed all of the truckers complied with that request after they were asked to do so.
This past week an American Christian musician who happens to support Donald Trump (as does tens of millions of other Americans and for what it is worth a substantial minority of Canadians) by the name of Sean Feucht had all of his venues cancelled in Eastern Canada after the CBC did a hit piece on him and called him a “MAGA supporter.”
When a Spanish Evangelical church hosted Mr. Feucht in Montreal, after the Mayor of Montreal Valérie Plante condemned him for his political and religious views and ordered his venue be cancelled, both the police and Antifa showed up at the church. The police threatened the church with a fine if they didn’t cancel Mr. Feucht’s performance. The performance went ahead and the church was fined $2500. An Antifa thug threw two smoke bombs at Mr Feucht while he was singing. The police did nothing and a parishioner took the bombs off the stage and disposed of them outside.
The Montreal Mayor’s office released this statement as justification for cancelling Mr. Feucht’s performance. “This show runs counter to the values of inclusion, solidarity, and respect that are championed in Montreal. Freedom of expression is one of our fundamental values, but hateful and discriminatory speech is not acceptable in Montreal.”
The guy was singing Gospel music, not unlike the music that is sung at my church every Sunday morning. Mr. Feucht said nothing hateful or discriminatory of anyone. The actual hate and lack of respect was shown by the Antifa thug who threw smoke bombs at Mr Feucht, the police who witnessed the attack and refused to protect Mr. Feucht, and the Mayor who abused the power of her government by shutting down Mr. Feucht’s first venue and punishing the Spanish church for offering him an alternative venue.
The Canadian media and various Canadian politicians hate Sean Feucht and want to cancel him because he is opposed to LGBT ideology, is prolife, and he has publicly supported Donald Trump. It appears Mr. Feught has come to Canada on other occassions and he is on record as saying he loves Canada.
Contrast the visceral hatred shown towards a Christian singer with the “wrong” personal views and the hatred Canadians are displaying towards the American President, to the partiality of Canadian politicians on display in this venue below. The Chinese Benevelont Association hosted this event in February at the Terminal City Club in Vancouver. The Chinese Benevelont Association is connected to the Chinese Communist Party and is known to interfere in Canadian elections and silence negative messaging about the Chinese Communist Party amongst the Chinese diaspora in Vancouver.
This event was attended by Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, NDP Burnaby Councillor James Wang and “Conservative” MLAs Steve Kooner and Dallas Brodie. They all join People’s Republic of China’s Deputy Consul General. Zeng Zhi in singing “March of the Volunteers” the Chinese Communist Party anthem. Neither the Mayor, nor any of the other politicians, nor any of the media present, is calling on the venue to cancel the event because of it’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The Deputy Consul General Zeng Zhi is not being denounced because he is singing the communist anthem nor is he being critciizing because he likes Chinese Communist Dictator Xi Jinping.
While it is true Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Canadian automobiles and our automobile sector is suffering, it is also true China imposed a 100% tariff on Canadian canola. While tariffs are nasty, I don’t think they are a crime. Countries have the right to impose tariffs if they wish. The Canadian government has chosen to keep tariffs to protect Canada’s dairy industry. Depending on the dairy product and its quota, our tariffs on American dairy products seem to be between 7.5% and up to 300%.
Trump’s other “crimes” seem to be calling Trudeau “governor” and saying Canada should be a 51st state.
China by contrast has taken two of our citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor and held them hostage for three years in a Chinese prison though they committed no crimes. The Chinese have interfered in our elections. Chinese labs with apparent state sanction have flooded our streets with fentanyl, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. Chinese government actors have stolen both Canadian state and private sector secrets and the Chinese are responsible for hacking into and stealing our former flagship industry Nortel’s data, duplicating our company’s technology, and then the Chinese Communist Party controlled company Huawei underbidded Nortel with its own products and drove our company into bankrupcy, costing Canada tens of thousands of good paying jobs and untold billions of dollars in revenue.
The Orangeman in the White House never did anything like the above to Canada. In fact shortly after BC Premier David Eby announced the BC government was buying 4 ferries from the Chinese and boycotting American shipyards, wine, and whatnot; a quintessentially Canadian terrorist by the name of Shaheer Cassim hijacked a small Cessna and flew it over the Vancouver International airport for a couple hours and shut down Vancouver’s airspace.
I say Cassim is “quintessentially Canadian” because where else except Canada would you find a terrorist like this? Here is an excerpt of his manifesto on Facebook:
“I am a messenger of Allah. I am the messiah sent to save humanity from climate change and usher in an era of world peace, …. The Arctic sea ice is going to disappear within two years. When that happens, huge amounts of methane are going to erupt from the Arctic Ocean, triggering abrupt runaway global warming, turning Earth into Venus.”
Anyways, as Cassim flew over the Vancouver International Airport (Canada’s third busiest airport) and shut it down, performing jihad in the name of saving the earth from climate change, Canada’s airforce was unable to respond. We had no fighter jets on the west coast. Our closest air assets on the day Mr. Cassim performed his climate jihad were located in Cold Lake AB, and they were a half dozen or so 40 year old CF-18s. These elderly fighters were over three hours away and it was determined they would need to refuel upon reaching British Columbia before they could engage the Cessna.
We had to call the Americans to save our third largest city from the Cessna flying jihadist trying to bring awareness to climate change. The Americans scrambled two F-15s to liberate our airspace, but thankfully Mr. Cassim decided he made his point and peacefully landed his commandeered airplane, freeing his flight instructor unharmed, and peacefully gave himself up.
Canadians should note it was the Americans who scambled jets to save us not the Chinese. We should also note we allowed our own airforce to become so pathetic that we were literally unable to save our third largest city from a Cessna.
Our media and leftist politicians in all three levels of governments are complicit in our erosion of freedom; they seem irrationally hostile to the western, Christian, democratic tradition we as a nation have been founded on. This hostility motivates them to move us as a nation away from America’s orbit and towards the Chinese orbit. This is not in Canada’s best interest and for ordinary Canadians to tolerate it, it will be a huge mistake. I pray we Canadians awaken from our apathy and mind numbness and prevent this shift in orbit from happening. If we can’t or won’t wake up, then I pray the Americans themselves prevent us from going further towards Beijing.
If you read this far, I would like to remind you of another freedom issue that is near and dear to my heart. Namely, my own. I have a court case coming up with 5 days of hearings in October and three weeks of trial in March, 2026. The Prosecutor is asking for 6 months to a year in prison if I am convicted. My “crime” is sharing the Gospel and accurate health information while disguised as a “Gay Zombie Cannabis Consumer” at the Toronto Homosexual Pride parade in 2016. You can find out more on the link below and donate if you wish to help me out with the expenses related to this ridiculous prosecution that are imposed on me and my family.
for hearing on my SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) application to strike the City’s Petition against us. (See the B.C. Protection of Public Participation Act)
Rustad promises to ensure all court proceedings are recorded and made available online so people can hear what is going on. This is the first step in holding judges accountable.
If my case was open to the Canadian public who could see J. Heinrich’s actions and incessant eyeball rolling, as well as Grabavac’s, the hot lines would be filled with people demanding their resignations.
Alberta has had its own effective Bill of Rights for decades and will be strengthening it this fall.
If elected, will you promote the passage of a similar B.C. Bill of Rights for this Province, including protection for property rights, protection for unvaccinated, and parental rights over their children?
Yes You get my vote
No Why would you not want to protect our rights and freedoms? You don’t get my vote.
Please remember other innocent people who have stood up for our rights and freedoms against our tyrannical governments during COVID-19 and to the present, who are now in the midst of their ongoing, oppressive trials:
Tamara Lich
Chris Barber
The Coutts prisoners: Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert
Pat King
Tommy Robinson
and many other real victims.
NOTE: Jury decision in the Coutts trial was rendered and the jury determined that they were innocent of the primary charge of conspiracy to commit murder against police officers.
Despite this, they remain in custody now for over 900 days.
Justice Labrenz unbelievably sentenced Carbert to 6 ½ years for possession of a restricted firearm and six months for mischief (to be served concurrently), and Olienick to six years possession of a restricted firearm and six months for mischief, as well as a six month sentence for possession of an explosive also served concurrently, for a similar total of 6 ½ years. Less 900 days (credited to equal about four years).
Make no mistake, no one goes to jail for this length of time on these types of criminal offences.
An appeal by the Accused should now have already been filed.
The Crown, Mr. Johnston, to no surprise has already appealed as well.
Counsel for the accused has submitted a sealed envelope that could implicate one of the prosecutors in criminality. No details have yet been provided, but it is said to be part of the appeals process.
An application will be made shortly to have the prisoners released pending the hearing of their appeal.
Defence counsel have already raised the issue of the jury being pressured into a rushed verdict so as to be released for the August long weekend. This would not be surprising. Other concerns about the jury have already been expressed by counsel that they were culturally biased in relation to a firearms possession charge.
In a mixed set of updates here. The Bank of Canada (B of C) has recently announced plans to suspend introduction of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to the public.
While this may sound victorious on its face, and there is much positive to say when such plans are shelved or put on hold, please remember the use of the word “suspend” as opposed to “cancel”.
Has the B of C simply decided to wait on the outcomes and research from other countries and then simply tag along?
In this past summer, the B of C was recommending Canada provide its own CBDC for digital payments. This apparently has been suspended or now put on hold. We can only hope for some permanency to this decision.
We need a Constitutional amendment that 100% absolutely provides for the mandatory use and acceptance of cash for all transactions – in any amount. So, if you wish to pay $1 000 000.00 for a house in $100/bills, you should be allowed to so do. That is privacy.
Conversely, Google has announced that the Google Wallet can now function as digital ID, based on the selling point of course, of convenience to the exclusion of all privacy. Once privacy is lost, so is freedom.
“Imagine starting a vacation like this,” Google Wallet executive Alan Stapelberg wrote in a blog post last week. “You arrive at the airport and breeze through security by tapping your phone to a reader, scanning your boarding pass and ID. While waiting to board, you grab a drink at an airport bar, tapping your phone to prove your age. When you arrive at your destination, you find your rental car and leave the lot without stopping for an in-person ID check because you already provided the necessary information in the rental car app. You check into your hotel online and your key is issued straight to your digital wallet. You do all of this with your phone — no physical wallet required.”
It is starting – Use cash as much as possible – use credit cards or digital only if there is no other alternative.
The Bank of Canada is admittedly planning for digital currency. It claims that it will not replace cash – BUT – and here is the caveat, it will continue to use cash “notes for as long as Canadians want them.”
In other words, if you don’t use cash, you will lose it. Reading between the lines, it is clear that the Gov’t will simply issue press releases and polls showing most Canadians don’t use and/or don’t want cash, and then the Bank of Canada will claim it has to eliminate cash because few people are using it or want it, and it is, ironically, too costly to maintain printing the notes and coins.
Bill Still, the US Patriot and author of the incredible documentary, The Money Masters, outlines the results of recent polls showing that 86% of Canadians fear the digital dollar!!! Wow.
87% of Canadians have heard or are aware of the Bank of Canada’s CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency), and 82% are strongly opposed to it!!
Companies will not use digital currency if we are not using digital currency!
It will cost them too much in lost business.
Here are two awesome posters that you can distribute to all businesses to put on their entrance doors, advocating for the use of cash. Print on 8 1/2 x 11 glossy hard stock for best results.
For Business owners:
The dangers of digital gov’t ID and currencies are here… you need to use cash as much as possible. As recognized by Freedom Rising, there are many inherent dangers of using digital currency. What do you do, not if, but when:
The internet is down
There is a power outage
The card reader malfunctions
Your phone battery dies or doesn’t work for other reasons
WE SUGGEST YOU CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING AS WELL:
Your phone is stolen
Your passwords are co-opted
Your credit/debit card strip is damaged – needs replacing
There are errors in relation to the quantum of $$ on your card
Gov’t limits your purchases/CRA liens the balance on your card
AND MANY OTHER DANGERS
CLEAR has promoted the non-use of digital currencies and credit/debit cards as much as possible, for years.
Suggested Solution:
Withdraw money on Saturday/Sunday from the bank or bank machine, and then leave your money at home if you are scared to carry it with you, and just carry the amounts of cash for each day’s purchases for the week.
NO MORE CARDS!!!! NO EXCUSES!
USE CASH $$$$$$$$$
Do you want to be the next person to be “unbanked” because of your political beliefs????
Get these cards below at the CLEAR booth to give out everytime you use cash – or print your own to hand out!
Make Business sized cards to hand out at all your cash purchases!
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Kindness of the week
To Johnwho continues to tirelessly support our website and internet related activities!!
And….
To all our kind and wonderful volunteers who make this all possible…including these newsletters!
Pastor Reimer was fined $500 for allegedly breaching bail conditions, despite the fact that the original, underlying charges against him were dismissed!
Speaker of the House of Commons freezes all Government Bills, including Bill C-293, until all STDC documents are turned over to the RCMP in relation to the Green Slush Fund (Auditor General found over $300 million funneled to Liberal insider businesses)
Felony Charges Filed Against 7 in Michigan Double-Voting Case
Concerns over election integrity are mounting among U.S. voters. According to a recent Gallup poll, the percentage of Americans saying they are “not at all confident” in the vote has steadily climbed from 6 percent in 2004 to 19 percent in 2024.
While 57 percent of voters say they are somewhat or very confident that the votes for this year’s presidential election will be accurately counted, a deep partisan divide persists. A record-high 56-percentage-point gap exists between Democrats and Republicans, with 84 percent of Democrats expressing confidence in the voting process, compared to just 28 percent of Republicans.
This is compounded by the fact that food prices are generally not included in the determination of the inflation rate in Canada. Make no mistake – they should be.
Thanks to the generosity of donors, the Justice Centre has been able to provide Chris Barber and other Canadians with criminal defence counsel. His lawyer, Diane Magas, has spent 45 days in court over the past 31 months, challenging the Crown’s prosecution every step of the way.
For the criminal defence of Chris Barber alone, the Justice Centre has received invoices for $217,117 in the past 31 months. We have also previously paid invoices for $122,272 to defend Tamara Lich against the unjust prosecution that she has been facing since February 2022.
Will you partner with us in the defence of Chris Barber?
Your donation of $500, $100, $50 or any other amount will help us cover these legal expenses. Your support will ensure that we can continue to fight for Chris and other Canadians whom we are defending against political prosecutions. As a registered charity, we will send you an official tax receipt in 2025, for all donations you make in 2024.
Essentially, by defending Chris, we are defending the Charter freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly on behalf of all Canadians.
Peaceful protests, attended by Canadians like Chris Barber, belong on Parliament Hill. The violent suppression of peaceful protests should have no place in Canada, nor should citizens ever face criminal prosecutions over simply exercising their Charter freedoms peacefully.
Thank you for your generosity in supporting the Justice Centre’s work to defend the free society.
Yours sincerely,
John Carpay, B.A., LL.B. President Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms
Our society is so dumbed down and indoctrinated that anyone who is a critical thinker is labeled as a Conspiracy Theorist
Did you know: The term ‘conspiracy theorist’ was first coined and used by the CIA to ridicule anyone who opposed the gov’t narrative?
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Kelowna Courts
Falsified assault charge
Kelowna Courthouse
R v David Lindsay s. 266 Criminal Code Assault
Next Provincial Court Hearing Date:
I am only appearing to the scheduler’s office on July 17 to set a date for the sentence judgment.
I will not know of the Sentencing date until Wednesday morning at some point.
Thank you for all your support and belief for freedom!!
Remember the Freedom Principle:
An attack against one is an attack against all.
An attack against all, is an attack against one.
.
Update on July 10, hearing
Let me begin by extending my heartfelt gratitude to everyone for all your kind support over the past week, and even ongoing. The amount of support was really overwhelming.
I am also much indebted to Bettina for all her sacrifices and appearing in Court for me when I could not make it. Appearing in Court for the first time can be frightening no matter what the reason, but especially under these conditions where she is simultaneously worried about me, while trying to convince the Judge and Grabavac that I truly was seriously ill, for which she had direct personal knowledge.
I was unable for the most part to communicate in the hospital as I had no computer for internet access until about ½ hour before I left. The weekend was pretty much spent in rest.
As by now all are aware, I was unable to make it to the sentencing hearing last Wed due to medical reasons; painful medical reasons.
Comments and actions taken by Grabavac (Crown Persecutor) and Judge Heinrichs on this date were completely unprofessional and disrespectful. And they may and likely do, go further than that.
Upon hearing Bettina in Court of my health situation, Grabavac immediately stood up in court and objected to my non-appearance, alleging that this was somehow typical Lindsay strategy, and on the basis that he is allegedly to be in pain every week and he still shows up to work. My life/health threatening situation was clearly of more importance than Grabavac’s weekly hemorrhoid problems. (Wait, yes this confirms he truly is a pain in everyone’s ass)
I wish to add at this point. Grabavac and local ragbloid media (primarily but not restricted to Castanet, InfoTel) strongly suggested I was on the lam to avoid the sentence, and possibility of jail. I have never been afraid of any Court in Canada, ever. I am not scared of Grabavac nor the Judge in this case. I have been falsely incarcerated for standing up for freedom in the past and this will likely happen in the future, simply because corrupt Socialist governments and justice system officials, do not like challenges to their corruption, not that I am doing anything wrong. The fact that sentencing involved the possibility of jail does not frighten me in the least. As Bruce and others will support, I was fully ready for Court the day prior.
J. Heinrich’s and Grabavac came to the decision that they did not believe Bettina when she appeared as my agent in court to advise them that she had to drive me to the hospital at 5:00 a.m. that morning due to unforeseen medical issues, that further resulted in absolutely no sleep at all. No reasons were provided for their unbelief, as usual.
Grabavac called the RCMP to come to the hospital and check on me that morning; as if they didn’t have more important things to do. The Officer arrived demanding the nurses and doctors tell them my private, confidential health information. Fortunately, and thankfully, they refused to so do and immediately came and advised me of his presence. They refused to tell the Officer any medical details and at their request, I agreed to speak to the RCMP Officer.
He arrived to my emergency room stall and the first words out of his mouth: “Good morning Mr. Lindsay….you don’t look too well.” He explained that he was there from the Court. He pretty much left immediately after that. He then filed a report with Grabavac confirming that there were real health problems. If he was there on behalf of the Court (Judge), why did he file a report with the Crown? Why did he not file his report directly with the Judge? Clearly Grabavac was behind this attack to my good name and reputation.
Have no doubt, that if Grabavac called in that he could not come to court due to medical issues, not one question would be demanded of him. The Court would simply adjourn and that would be the end of the matter. Why was I not accorded this same respect? If the Judge was truly believing that I was on the lam, all she had to do was have the Court clerk call the emergency department at the hospital to confirm my presence there. End of matter.
The fact that I had Bettina appear for me, still allowed the Judge to maintain jurisdiction over me. (Bit of a complicated legal issue – Provincial Court judges have jurisdiction over the offence and the person. If the person does not appear at all, warrants are issued to preserve the Court’s jurisdiction. If they did not, they would lose jurisdiction and it could only be regained if the accused voluntarily appeared at some future date.)
J. Heinrichs demanded that Bettina release the nature of my confidential health situation to her in open court. This was absolutely not permitted in law. No judge would compel any lawyer to release information under solicitor-client privilege, yet J. Heinrichs demanded Bettina release my private health information, against my express instructions, and which was completely covered in doctor-patient privilege/confidentiality. If anyone should know this, it is J. Heinrichs and Grabavac. Bettina has never been in any court in Canada in the past, and this was truly a dishonest opportunistic J. Heinrichs to compel answers to release my private health issues which she had no moral, ethical or legal right to know. Nor did Grabavac, or the media or the public. Remember, this was in open court with hounds of BC Socialist, ragbloid reporters just waiting to pounce.
At one point, after Grabavac finally conceded only after the RCMP report was provided to him that I was on IV in the hospital and it would be unfair to force my appearance, J. Heinrichs then exclaimed that the IV could be removed for me to appear at 2:00 p.m. that afternoon!!! So Judge Heinrichs is now Dr. Heinrichs. Compelling me to appear to any hearing, while I am high on opioids and incapacitated with significant amounts of pain, emanating from health and/or life-threatening issues and against doctor’s orders to remain in the hospital, is, to put it mildly, gross professional negligence at best. Forcing me to court could have been health or life threatening. I was in serious condition in the hospital for two days.
I have appeared to all court appearances in this matter without fail, for over 2 ½ years and done nothing to deserve any questioning or unbelief by the Judge or Grabavac. But if anything, this again confirms the politics behind these charges, as those people in attendance witnessed first-hand.
I now appear on July 17 to fix a date for hearing of the sentence and will let everyone know later this week of this date.
Once again, thank you to everyone for your kind support and concern. It is with your support that I will continue to stand for freedom in the coming years in ways that most people do not yet even know or are aware of. But more freedom issues will be arising, and I will be there. Quitting is not an option, period.
.
Next Supreme Court Appeal Hearing Date:
July 22, 2024 — 10:00 a.m.
Notice of Conviction Appeal Hearing
This hearing date will be to set the agenda for the hearing of the appeal from the conviction and sentence of J. Heinrichs.
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City of Kelowna v David Lindsay et al
Petition to Stop Rallies
Week of September 3, 2024 10:00 a.m.
1355 Water St.
Kelowna Courthouse
for hearing on my SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) application to strike the City’s Petition against us. (See the B.C. Protection of Public Participation Act)
We had one day before the Hon. Justice Hardwick. The remaining two days were canceled apparently due to the judge either being ill or otherwise not available to appear.
There has now been a further three days set aside during the week of Sept. 3, 2024 for the continuation of this hearing. I will be notified on the Friday, Aug. 30, 2024 of what days this will be. Considering that Monday, Sept. 2 is Labour Day, it appears we will be heard starting Tuesday or Wednesday of that week.
Our documents in this case are located on our website at:
Please remember other innocent people who have stood up for our rights and freedoms against our tyrannical governments during COVID-19 and to the present, who are now in the midst of their ongoing, oppressive trials:
Tamara Lich
Chris Barber
The Coutts prisoners: Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert
Pat King
and many other real victims.
————————————–
It was an honour to meet Dr. Trozzi and Dr. Malthouse shortly before the hearing. Thank you to Teresa, Ted and all others whose efforts made our gathering possible.
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Empower Hour
Every Wednesday Action4Canada hosts the Empower Hour, an online zoom meeting open to everyone. We have a special guest each week, who will educate, inform and answer your burning questions. Also, watch the Weekly Updates HERE.
To be kept informed of these webinars sign up for our Email Updates so as to receive advance notification along with details on how to pre-register for each Empower Hour webinar.
Below is a copy of the decision from the recent win in Ontario, where the Judge ruled that sticking a swab up a person’s nose for a PCR test, did violate the Quarantine Act. Interesting, that the Judge never dealt with the issue that this further constitutes a criminal assault if the legislation permitted it.
————————————–
.
R. v. Fernando, 2024 ONCJ 336 (CanLII)
CITATION: R. v. Fernando, 2024 ONCJ 336
DATE: June 26, 2024
Court File No. 3111-999-00-3261751F-00
ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE
HIS MAJESTY THE KING
v.
Meththa Fernando
RULING
BEFORE THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE PAUL MONAHAN
on June 26th, 2024 at BRAMPTON, Ontario
APPEARANCES:
A. Gurpersaud Counsel for The Crown
C. Weisdorf Agent for Meththa Fernando
WEDNESDAY JUNE 26, 2024
COMMENCED
MONAHAN, J. (Orally):
INTRODUCTION
This is the case of Ms. Meththa Fernando, M-E-T-H-T-H-A, Fernando. Ms. Meththa Fernando was charged with failing to comply with an order under Section 58 of the Quarantine Act. (S.C. 2005, c. 20)
In particular, Ms. Fernando took an airplane flight to her home in Mississauga, arriving at Pearson Airport on April 9th, 2022. She was apparently vaccinated, but she refused the COVID test, which was randomly selected to be performed on her.
In particular, she was asked by a screening officer, Mr. Aliel, A-L-I-E-L, Joshua, J-O-S-H-U-A, Roxas, R-O-X-A-S, employed by the Public Health Agency of Canada, to undergo a nasal swab COVID-19 test, and she refused.
The actual test was to be performed by another person (see trial testimony of Roxas at page 12). The evidence from Mr. Roxas is that he was requiring Ms. Fernando to submit to a nasal swab test.
Ms. Fernando was convicted at trial of failing to comply with an order under Section 58 of the Quarantine Act (the “Act”) and fined $5,000 with additional charges, taking it to a fine of $6,255.
She appeals now to this Court.
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Ms. Fernando appealed to this Court; she was assisted in her appeal by a non-lawyer, Mr. Weisdorf, who was helpful to her and to the Court.
Ms. Fernando sought to rely on the Canadian Bill of Rights before the Justice of the Peace and before me. She was not permitted by the Justice of the Peace to rely on the Canadian Bill of Rights because there was no application before the Court.
Whether the Justice of the Peace should have let the defence argue about whether the Canadian Bill of Rights was violated or not is not necessary for me to decide, given my view regarding Section 14 of the Quarantine Act.
The defence raised an argument before the Justice of the Peace and before me which has merit. The Justice of the Peace did not address this argument. The argument, simply put, is that the Act did not authorize a screening officer to use a screening test which involved the entry into the traveller’s body of an instrument or other foreign body.
The screening test that Mr. Roxas proposed involved the insertion of a nasal swab into Ms. Fernando’s nasal cavity, contrary to Section 14 of the Quarantine Act.
The relevant provisions are as follows, quoting Section 14 of the Quarantine Act:
Screening Technology
14(1) Any qualified person authorized by the Minister may, to determine whether a traveller has a communicable disease or symptoms of one, use any screening technology authorized by the Minister that does not involve the entry into the traveller’s body of any instrument or other foreign body.
Refusal to be Screened
14(2) If a traveller refuses to be screened with the screening technology and the person using it is not a screening officer or quarantine officer, the person shall immediately inform the screening officer or quarantine officer of the refusal.
Section 58 of the Quarantine Act provides, in part, as follows:
[58(1)] The Governor in Council may make an order prohibiting or subjecting to any condition the entry into Canada of any class of persons who have been in a foreign country or specified part of a foreign country if the Governor in Council is of the opinion that
(a)there is an outbreak of communicable disease in the foreign country;
(b)the introduction or spread of the disease would pose an imminent and severe risk to public health in Canada;
(c)the entry of members of that class of persons into Canada may introduce or contribute to the spread of the communicable disease in Canada; and
(d)no reasonable alternatives to prevent the introduction or spread of the disease are available.
The Governor in Council made numerous orders during COVID. It appears common ground that the order in force on April the 11th, 2022, was “PC2022-0321,” which I will refer to as the “Order.” The Order is over a hundred pages long. It provides for, among other things, pre-arrival COVID tests and arrival tests, including random tests: see Section 2.3(1.2).
It provides for a polymerase chain reaction “(PCR)” test in these circumstances. The COVID-19 molecular test is defined in the Order:
Covid-19 molecular test means a Covid-19 screening or diagnostic test, including a test performed using the method of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP), that is
(a)if the test is self-administered, observed and the result is verified
(i)in person by an accredited laboratory or testing provider, or
(ii)in real time by remote audio-visual means by the accredited laboratory or testing provider who provided the test; or
(b)if the test is not self-administered, performed by an accredited laboratory or testing provider.
I return to Section 14(1) of the Quarantine Act. It provides that the screening test cannot involve the insertion into the traveller’s body of any instrument or foreign body.
The prosecution raised the point that perhaps the insertion into the nasal cavity did not involve the entry into the body. I disagree. The insertion of a nasal swab into the nasal cavity is most definitely an insertion into the body.
Another question arises as to whether a nasal swab is an “instrument” or “foreign body.” “Instrument” is defined in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd Edition, as “a tool or implement.” A “foreign body” is defined in the Oxford Languages Online Dictionary, as “an object or piece of extraneous matter that has entered the body by design or accident.”
In my view, a nasal swab is “an instrument” or “foreign body.” In my view, the Quarantine Act did not permit a screening officer in this case, Mr. Roxas, to require Ms. Fernando to be tested at the airport by insertion into her nasal cavity of a nasal swab.
I am also of the view that the Order did not purport to expand the powers of the screening officers, and it could not do so as a matter of law. The governing legislation is the Quarantine Act. An Order made under Section 58 of the Act could not add to the legislative powers. Indeed, Section 6.1 of the Order provides as follows:
[6.1] For greater certainty
(a) this Order does not affect any of the powers and obligations set out in the Quarantine Act.
I am not called upon to decide, and I do not decide whether the requirement for pre-arrival COVID tests performed outside of Canada by persons who were not screening officers under the Quarantine Act was a violation of the Act.
I do decide that the nasal swab test, which the screening officer in this case required or demanded Ms. Fernando submit to, was an unlawful requirement or demand. Ms. Fernando’s refusal to comply with the requirement or demand was lawful on her part.
Because the requirement or demand made of her by the screening officer was not lawful, Ms. Fernando should not have been found guilty by the Justice of the Peace.
I am reversing the Justice of the Peace’s decision and entering a finding of not guilty. Those are my reasons.
***END OF TRANSCRIPT***
FORM 2
CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIPT (SUBSECTION 5 (2))
Evidence Act
I,
Tammy Duffy
,
(Name of Authorized Person)
certify that this document is a true and accurate transcript of the recording of
R. v. MeththaFernando
in the
Ontario Court of Justice
(Name of Case)
(Name of Court)
held at
7755 Hurontario Street, Brampton, Ontario
(Court Address)
taken from Recording
3111_105_20240626_084238__30_MONAHAPA.dcr
, which has been certified in Form 1.
29 June 2024
(Date)
(Signature of Authorized Person(s))
.
Sunday Paper Deliveries
Next delivery day:
Summer Holidays
(Weather Permitting)
Add your name to the delivery list and make sure to check your email on Sunday mornings for confirmation that our paper delivery will take place that day
Make sure you arrive before the designated time so we can all get going ASAP!
Schedule TBA
Sign-up on the Newspaper Delivery list so that you get an email confirming the deliveries for each Sunday. With winter in mind, we will only do this if roads are bare and it’s not snowing. The advantage of delivering this time of year is that nobody is hanging out in their front yards except for the odd snowman.
We meet at the Capri parking lot between A&W and De Dutch Pannekoek House
Bring a large bag for carrying the papers if you want
Grab a free small Kelowna mapbook that can help you get situated. Your cell phone will be tracking and tracing you. Learn how to read maps again
You will be provided with a printed google map of the area you will be delivering to. Bring a yellow marker to indicate which streets you completed. You may run out of papers or you may end up with extra
We ask that with every paper you deliver, you remove the inserts and place them in the mailbox in front or behind the paper. That way, someone who may hastily throw out the paper will still be forced to see each individual flyer
Please deliver only one paper per mailbox, regardless if you have different papers (we usually have a combination of different papers and editions). Some houses may have up to 4 mailboxes; put one paper in each as they are for different tenants
Sign up as a Volunteer to participate in one of the many focus groups we are working to organize. Most people are too busy to commit to fighting for freedom. I guarantee you will have plenty of extra time after Canada becomes a full-fledged communist country and your jobs & businesses are gone. Time to add freedom-fighting to your list of priorities. Much of the help needed can be done at home and even one hour per week will be helpful. Even if you don’t want to join a specific group, maybe you have something you can offer to help out. Let us know! Contact Linda at CLEAR.Linda@proton.me
3 Simple Things Freedom Activists can do to WIN this War:
1. Spread the Word by delivering papers and flyers everywhere:
Knowledge is power!
2. Replace your cell phone with a flip phone:
Think of your apps as TRAPS!
3. Use CASH:
Hand out the “Use cash cards” and “pay cash” business posters
————————————–
A bit about David
Due to time constraints right now, I will try and complete Part II asap.
Thanks for your patience.
————————————–
Freedom Rallies
“It ain’t over till it’s over”
Next Kelowna Rallies:
Saturday,
July 20, 2024
Hwy 97 & Cooper
Aug 3, 2024
Stuart Park
Join us for important announcements on the local, legal scene, and informative speakers!
.
July 20, 2024
Vernon Freedom Rally
12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. @ Polson Park
Join Darren for the Largest rally in the North Okanagan, and growing weekly!
Alex Honnold — on a rock face climbing without ropes
Like Alex Honnold in Free Solo, hanging onto rock walls with only his fingertips, we’ve all traversed danger and darkness without a net over the past three years. But we’ve come out the other side – almost. I’m proud I stood tall and refused the vaccine even though the isolation was debilitating and there were days it cost me my sanity. I look back on it now and wonder how I did it.
One thing I do know is that it got easier once the truckers hit the road. The Freedom Convoy brought us together, pulled us out of the shadows and reminded us that Canada is actually a good place, full of pioneering spirit and generosity. I often say that feeling of connectedness reminded me of how we came together to grieve for those sixteen kids and their support staff from the Humboldt Broncos hockey team bus who died in pursuit of the ultimate Canadian cultural event — small-town, prairie hockey.
I had nightmares about the scene at that intersection, near Tisdale, Saskatchewan and when the call went out to place hockey sticks on our front porches, my husband did it at his business and we even put one outside our door in the hallway of our apartment building. I loved that our country understood the moment.
Hockey Sticks in Toronto
I was again thinking about this story yesterday in trucker court, sitting just behind Chris Barber and Tamara Lich on trial for various charges that are not connected to any violence. They had already been arrested and yet the Crown lead evidence from February 19th — a day the Sûreté du Québec and other police forces, some dressed in black-bloc were aggressively trying to clear the streets. What I am about to say should disqualify me from reporting on the trial — but I am declaring my bias here and let the chips fall where they may.
Trish Wood is Critical is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
The scenes were surreal. Convoy protestors, sometimes nose to nose with police chanted love over fear and peace, despite the militaristic threat they faced. I believe I heard a couple of hold the line comments as well. What I saw was a study in thoughtful civil disobedience — the kind we usually applaud from historical figures. The protestors were mostly men, some of them military age and during a another era, they might have been soldiers deployed overseas. Watching them keep their cool in the face of overwhelming police power felt miraculous.
Police and convoy protestors from an unknown date.
Here is my live tweet from court:
So my confession is that I felt deeply yesterday that I should have been there, standing with those people. I supported the convoy — that’s no secret but I wonder if that was enough.
Every time video clips are lead by the Crown, I have the same reaction — how calm and in control of themselves the protestors seemed to be. That was underscored by the SQ officer on the witness stand admitting that his Green Squad broke in the midst of it to go for lunch – a moment highlighted by Tamara’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon.
In the meantime it’s being reported on social media that some of this country’s biggest unions are planning to disrupt tomorrow’s protests against schoolboards, teachers and ideological medicine working to indoctrinate our kids. If you ever doubted that the lone and distant Nazi flag at the trucker protest was a product of the same thinking, here is more evidence they don’t tolerate debate or opinions different from their own.
The prosecution of Chris Barber and Tamara Lich for their roles in the trucker convoy protests at times feels unsettling. Is it a microcosm of how our institutions and systems haven’t come to terms with what many people, outside the laptop bubble, are experiencing. Like forcing vaccination with an experimental product on healthy people or enabling a child’s psychic confusion with pharmaceuticals and surgery, the trial is a process but to what purpose? Where does this lead?
As I watched a series of Chris Barber’s TikTok videos unspool on courtroom screens yesterday, I was pulled back to those first days of the convoy when my faith in my fellow Canadians was restored. I had been concerned that the running of the country had been handed to public health bureaucrats, that our elected officials had stepped away and were no longer in charge. That media was not holding to account the people they should. Risk/benefit calculations had not been run and it was becoming clear the cure was worse than the disease. No matter how esteemed the expert witnesses, courts were not finding in favour of people challenging the government’s civil liberties overreach as we faced lockdown after lockdown and a mandated shot.
In the TikToks, we see Barber reacting to what the convoy had achieved and it made me smile for a minute recollecting those weeks of hope. Sitting almost directly in front of me, I watched him for a reaction but saw only a focussed man jotting notes in rapt attention.
The short videos and other social media seem to be making up a large part of the Crown’s case which involves proving mischief and the counselling of same — something Tim Radcliffe will likely argue the videos show. But that’s not what I saw. No one in that courtroom could walk away without noticing how well Barber comes off. He veers between imploring the protestors to be peaceful, to frustration at the government’s intransigence, to astonishment over the convoy’s successful fundraising campaign — a measure of how Canadians perceived the protest. And perhaps its downfall. Don’t forget it was the former mayor of Ottawa who convinced Go Fund Me to shut down the convoy account based on false allegations the truckers were violent. From Blacklock’s:
The proceedings have been plagued by organizational issues and technical glitches but so far it’s been cordial between all parties. Justice Heather Perkins-McVey even addressed the gallery Thursday morning to inquire if we could see and hear the video monitors well enough to follow along. I raised my hand and asked if they could be raised higher and she acknowledge that this a problem but not fixable. As I’ve said, she seems affable and fair. All good things in a criminal court justice.
Back to the videos — from the Ottawa Citizen:
Convoy protest organizer Chris Barber called for people to “flood the city” in a social media video that was shown Thursday in court as part of his criminal trial in Ottawa.
The Crown hopes his rallying call for people to come to Ottawa last year as police ordered protesters to leave may prove just as damaging to his fellow organizer, Tamara Lich as they could potentially be to Barber.
Barber, who operated a trucking business in Swift Current, Sask., and Lich, from Medicine Hat, Alta., are co-accused in the trial. They face charges of mischief, counselling others to commit mischief, intimidation, and obstructing police, all in relation to their roles organizing the protest against COVID-19 health restrictions last year that blockaded downtown Ottawa streets for weeks.
Barber faces an additional charge of counselling others to disobey a court order that banned the big rigs and other vehicles parked in the streets in protest, from honking their horns in the downtown core.
In the end, no matter what the outcome, this trial will be seen as a referendum on a citizen’s right to peacefully protest in the face of what they perceive as a grave and even life-threatening injustice.
There will be a motion to dismiss from the convoy lawyers at some point.
Just about to record this week’s podcast and then back to court.
Hybrid Edition: Sorry for the delay. Yesterday was busy, just getting back from Ottawa. I am including this week’s podcast which is also about the convoy and includes voice messages from people whose lives were harmed by Trudeau’s vaccine mandates (that he says didn’t force anyone).
I’ve been tough on Crown Attorney Tim Radcliffe this week but I don’t think unfairly. It is a mystery to me why he is conducting his case against trucker convoy defendants Chris Barber and Tamara Lich in a manner that is clearly frustrating the judge, annoying the defence and making long days in the courtroom almost unbearably boring.
Friday was a shit show that caused Justice Heather Perkins-McVey to suggest the trial has the potential for going off the rails. She has been a paragon of patience so far but Friday was so bizarre she requested a recess to settle herself. And her mantra was something like I am not happy.
Justice Heather Perkins-McVey
Radcliffe seems either unprepared or somehow unaware of the rules of evidence and disclosure — the gist of which is that the prosecutor must provide the elements of its case to the defence plus all materials in reasonable time to allow counsel to prepare a response. Criminal law 101. From the Criminal Law Notebook.
The Crown must disclose all materials and information that is in its possession or control that is not clearly irrelevant, regardless of if the evidence is to be called at trial or is inculpatory or exculpatory.[1]
The right to disclosures premised upon (1) the right to know the case to meet and (2) the right to make full answer in defence of an offence charged.[2]
Materials in possession of the Crown are not the “property” of the Crown but rather is the “property of the public to be used to ensure that justice is done.”[3]
Purpose
The right to disclosure is founded in the principle of fair play between parties[4] as well as the right to make full answer and defence. [5]
The right to make full answer and defence also suggests in a timely fashion which defence lawyer, Diane Magas asserts did not happen here. Canadian Press picked up by CTV reported in detail what transpired.
Hope that the trial of two “Freedom Convoy” organizers would last only four weeks may be dashed after the defence raised complaints about receiving heaps of new evidence mid trial.
There was a sense of tension in the courtroom Friday as Crown and defence lawyers sparred over the timing of the delivery of binders of text message evidence to the defence.
Justice Heather Perkins-McVey called a short recess to step away from the bench to “settle” herself after telling the lawyers she was “very unhappy” about the late-stage disclosure.
“This should have been done well before the trial,” she chided before leaving the courtroom.
Perkins-McVey is now working with court staff to find more dates as the prospect the trial will run long has grown. Initially 16 days were set aside for the trial, with three extra days added to the court’s calendar as a precaution.
But as the first week of hearings drew to a close Friday, it was clear the timelines were on the brink of being blown.
In fairness to Radcliffe, he might argue that there is precedent for what he is doing. Perhaps I just didn’t understand it or had stepped out to the washroom but there seemed to be general bafflement toward his approach to evidence. What does this mean for the case? It’s not a good look for the Crown but honourable judges, as Justice Perkins-McVey seems to be, can overlook these issues in the end and focus solely on the evidence as she perceives it — so this is not necessarily a freebie for Lich and Barber.
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In American courts, not handing over exculpatory evidence, something called a Brady violation, will get a convicted person out of jail if discovered after trial. It happened in a wrongful conviction case I investigated involving boxer Dewey Bozella, imprisoned for murdering an elderly lady in upstate New York. No one is suggesting Radcliffe is hiding evidence. But rather delivering it in perhaps obstructionist ways.
All week, there have been housekeeping issues and questions of actual provenance around what seems like hundreds of exhibits, from TikTok videos to digital messaging. As someone who works in documentary films, I can tell you that organizing this kind of material, on a scale this size is a humongous job and the Crown should have set aside a special budget and staff to ensure it was organized and accessible to all relevant parties in meaningful ways. I suspect the Crown’s case relies on it – so this could require a huge fix. Lots of people will be working on it this weekend on both side of the aisle.
This week’s show (listen here) is a convoy special with my documentary producing partner Jacqueline Bynon who was in Ottawa with me and our crew and Tom Marazzo, a convoy participant who has a new book out about his experience. On the show you will hear the voice recordings from Canada and the UK of people whose lives were turned upside by the vaccine mandates that didn’t, according tour our prime minister, mandate the vaccine at all. We didn’t suffer the losses and pain we think we did — because Justin Trudeau is now saying it didn’t happen.
Appeal from Derek Sloan Regarding the Emergency Inquiry
First, I would like to thank you again for all of your donations, your generosity to these freedom fighters is going a long way to help them continue to fight.
As the Emergency Inquiry continues – we have an exciting week ahead – with Tom Marazzo, Chris Barber, Danny Bulford, Brigitte Belton and Tamara Lich scheduled to testify. I’m certain their testimony will be riveting. etransfer : fundingthefight@proton.me Please use password – Freedom Today we want to broaden the net to raise some money for lost wages and living expenses for other Convoy heroes who are in Ottawa testifying and witnessing the proceedings.
Chris Barber, AKA Big Red, is one of the original founding members of the Freedom Convoy from Saskatchewan. He has been in Ottawa occurring expenses for the past few weeks.
Maggie Dingman is a mother who was arrested, driven 30 min away from downtown and dropped off in the snow without a working cell phone. She’s been suffering from PTSD as a result of the police pointing a rifle at her head.
Brigitte Belton is a hardworking trucker and one of the main organizers of the Convoy. Brigitte and Chris brought Tamara Lich into the original group and she began organizing the Freedom Convoy.
Chris Deering is an Afghanistan veteran and a Convoy leader. He was beaten by the police, and lost one of his medals that he was proudly wearing during his arrest. He lost a significant amount of wages during the period of his arrest, and is incurring further expenses right now in Ottawa during the Emergency Act inquiry.
Danny Bulford is a former RCMP sniper who worked on Justin Trudeau’s security detail. His stand for truth cost him his job, but gained him a lot of respect. He was a crucial part of Convoy operations.
And finally there’s Tamara Lich. She’s been arrested, denied bail, and re-arrested and denied bail again. The government has brought the hammer down on her – because she’s been the figurehead of the Convoy movement. They hope they can break her. I’m betting they won’t. etransfer: fundingthefight@proton.me Please use password – Freedom Please help support Tamara Lich, Chris Barber, Chris Deering, Maggie Dingman, Brigitte Belton, and Danny Bulford as they continue to fight for truth in Ottawa.
