CONVOY TRIAL DIARY: A Citizen’s Personal Confession

After an Emotional Day in Court

Trish WoodSep 19, 2023

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.

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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.

Stay critical.