COVID-19
Freedom Convoy leaders await final court date in long trial after lawyers present final submissions
From LifeSiteNews
After the trial for Tamara Lich and Chris Barber resumed last week for closing arguments, the court adjourned again until September, and a final verdict is not expected until 2025.
The trial for Freedom Convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber is slowly ending, with defense lawyers giving their last submissions to the Ottawa courthouse last Friday.
The trial is being overseen by Justice Heather Perkins-McVey. The government (Crown) has claimed that Lich and Barber acted as “co-conspirators” in the Freedom Convoy. Perkins-McVey is expected to give her ruling within a six-month time frame after the final court day, meaning a verdict will likely not come until 2025.
After a five-month hiatus, the trial resumed in an Ottawa courthouse last week for closing arguments. According to The Democracy Fund (TDF), which is crowdfunding Lich’s legal costs, the court has adjourned until September 13th, “on which it is expected that the Crown will have a half day to reply.”
Lich’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, noted to the court that there were two distinct things that “made this case different from the 100 legal cases cited by the Crown and defence,” as reported by the TDF.
The first was that “in no case is there a situation where authorities directed protesters to park, then arrested them — to now prosecute the leaders is unprecedented,” the TDF said.
As for the second thing, the TDF observed that “In no case was there an order by another court preserving the right of protesters to peacefully protest. Justice (Hugh) McLean made this clear in his two orders arising from the motion for an injunction. Crown counsel made no reference to this in their submissions. Greenspon said that these judicial orders preserved the right of protesters to protest. And, he noted, these rights are constitutionally entrenched in s2(b) and (c) of the Charter.”
Lich and Barber face multiple charges from the 2022 protests, including mischief, counseling mischief, counseling intimidation, and obstructing police for taking part in and organizing the anti-mandate Freedom Convoy. In Canada, anyone charged with mischief could face a potential jail sentence of up to 10 years.
As reported by LifeSiteNews at the time, despite the non-violent nature of the protest and the charges, Lich was jailed for weeks before she was granted bail.
Besides the ongoing trial, Lich and Barber and a host of others recently filed a $2 million lawsuit against the Trudeau government for its use of the Emergencies Act (EA) to quash the Freedom Convoy in 2022.
In early 2022, thousands of Canadians from coast to coast came to Ottawa to demand an end to COVID mandates in all forms. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government enacted the Emergencies Act on February 14. Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23.
The EA controversially allowed the government to freeze the bank accounts of protesters, conscript tow truck drivers, and arrest people for participating in assemblies the government deemed illegal.
During the clear-out of protesters after the EA was put in place, an elderly lady was trampled by a police horse and one conservative female reporter was beaten by police and shot with a tear gas canister.
Chris Barber leaves the courthouse in Ottawa after the verdict was delivered in his trial with fellow Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich, on Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
“Chris Barber consistently followed the legal advice that he received from police officers, lawyers, and a Superior Court judge.”
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that Chris Barber has asked the Ontario Court of Justice for a stay of proceedings against him. He argues that the legal advice given to him by police officers, lawyers, and a Superior Court judge during the Freedom Convoy was erroneous and that, as a result, the Crown is not entitled to convict him.
On April 3, 2025, Justice Heather Perkins-McVey of the Ontario Court of Justice found Mr. Barber guilty of mischief and of counselling others to breach a court order. That decision followed upon a lengthy 45-day trial stretching from September 2023 to September 2024.
Diane Magas, Chris Barber’s lawyer, filed a Stay of Proceedings Application with the Court on April 16, 2025. In that Application, Mr. Barber and his legal team argue that he did, in fact, seek legal advice regarding his actions during the Freedom Convoy protest.
For example, he followed Ottawa Police Services directions on where to park trucks in downtown Ottawa. When an officer asked him to move his truck, “Big Red,” from downtown Ottawa, he moved it. On February 7 and 16, 2022, his lawyer at the time advised him that Justice Maclean of the Superior Court had confirmed that the protest could continue so long as it continued to be peaceful and safe.
In essence, Chris Barber and his legal team are now arguing that he followed all legal advice that was given to him in 2022, but that some of the legal advice he was given turned out to be erroneous.
His Application argues for a stay of proceedings against him on the grounds that “he sought advice from lawyers, police officers, and a Superior Court Judge on the legality of the protest he was involved in.”
This Application was filed one day after Chris Barber was informed that the Crown was pursuing a two-year prison sentence against him. In an April 15 Facebook post, Mr. Barber wrote, “My family got bad news today. The Crown prosecutor wants to lock Tamara Lich and me in prison for two years-for standing up for freedom. They also want to [seize] my truck, Big Red, and crush her like she’s just scrap metal or sell it at auction.”
If the Application is successful, Mr. Barber would not see prison time, nor would his truck be seized.
“Throughout the peaceful Freedom Convoy, Chris Barber did what any law-abiding Canadian would do: seeking out and acting upon the best legal advice available to him,” stated John Carpay, President of the Justice Centre. “Chris Barber consistently followed the legal advice that he received from police officers, lawyers, and a Superior Court judge.”
“To hold a well-meaning man behind bars for two years and to confiscate his property, as is now demanded by the Crown, would bring the administration of justice into disrepute,” Mr. Carpay continued. “Crown prosecutors are painting a portrait of a dangerous criminal, even while Chris Barber sought out and followed legal advice when participating in the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa in 2022. Chris worked within the law when peacefully exercising his Charter freedoms of expression, assembly and association.”
COVID-19
Tamara Lich and Chris Barber trial update: The Longest Mischief Trial of All Time continues..
Here are the last two posts on Tamara Lich’s Substack posted April 16 and April 17:
April 17:
We weren’t able to secure a date yesterday for the sentencing hearing and instead another ‘speak to’ was set for April 28. In addition to time needed to enter numerous impact statements (coincidentally and conveniently comprised of individuals suing us for $300,000,000.00), the Crown has added a forfeiture order to seize Big Red which will add significant time to argue. Therefore I suspect all parties will need to find 4-5 days in their schedules for the sentencing hearing.
The Crown is also seeking two years in federal prison for each of us.
Three days were tentatively set aside at the end of May for a Stay of Proceedings application put forth yesterday by Ms. Magus on Chris’ behalf.
And so The Longest Mischief Trial of All Time continues to plod along, still no end in sight.
April 16:
In our trial, the longest mischief trial of all time, we set hearing dates to set hearing dates.
There will be a ‘speak to’ this afternoon to set a date for the sentencing hearing which we think will take 3-4 days. Following that hearing, Chris and I will return to Ottawa again for the actual sentence.
The Crown is seeking 2 years in a federal penitentiary for both of us, plus they have decided to file an application to confiscate Big Red. Funny, there hasn’t been a single other convoy case in which the Crown demanded that persons property or vehicle, yet they seem to want Big Red. You need to ask yourself why.
Chris raised his children in that truck, changed their diapers in that truck, had his old dog, Buddy, put to sleep in the passenger seat when his time came because that was Buddy’s favourite place in the world.
This is not about the rule of law.
It’s about crushing a Canadian symbol of Hope, Pride & Unity
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