By Clare Marie Merkowsky
Canadian Armed Forces veteran Jeff Evely was on his way for his shift standing guard at the War Memorial when he was arrested by police for entering a closed off area at the 2022 Freedom Convoy.
A Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) veteran is on trial for mischief and obstruction charges after he was forcibly detained at the 2022 Freedom Convoy.
According to a press release from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), the trial for CAF veteran Jeff Evely continued Tuesday. Evely is charged with mischief and obstructing police. He was arrested while on his way to guard the Ottawa War Memorial during the 2022 Freedom Convoy.
“The actions of the Ottawa police in locking down downtown Ottawa and preventing all civilians from accessing public areas greatly exceeded their powers under the common law,” JCCF lawyer Chris Fleury said of the case.
“Mr. Evely’s arrest for simply being inside of the locked down area was arbitrary,” he insisted.
According to the JCCF press release, when the convoy first came to Ottawa, allegations were floated that the memorial had been desecrated. After learning of this, Evely quickly organized a group of veterans to stand guard around the clock to protect the area.
However, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act, many parts of downtown Ottawa were blocked to the public, and a vigilant police force roamed the streets.
It was during this time that Evely was arrested for entering a closed off section of downtown Ottawa during the early hours of February 19, 2022. He had been on his way to take the 4:25 a.m. shift protecting the Ottawa War Memorial.
As Evely walked to the memorial, he was allegedly told to stop by police. According to the police, Evely “ran for a short distance before being confronted by two additional police officers.”
He was forcibly pushed to the ground, landing face first. The veteran was then arrested and charged with mischief and obstructing police.
At the time, the use of the EA was justified by claims that the protest was “violent,” a claim that has still gone unsubstantiated.
In fact, videos of the protest against COVID regulations and vaccine mandates show Canadians from across the country gathering outside Parliament engaged in dancing, street hockey, and other family-friendly activities.
Indeed, the only acts of violence caught on video were carried out against the protesters after the Trudeau government directed police to end the protest. One such video showed an elderly women being trampled by a police horse.
While the officers’ actions were originally sanctioned under the EA, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that Trudeau was “not justified” in invoking the EA, forcing Crown prosecutors to adopt a different strategy.
Now, Crown prosecutors allege that the common law granted police the authority to stop and detain Evely, regardless of the EA.
However, Evely and his lawyers have challenged this argument under section 9 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, insisting that his “arrest and detention were arbitrary.”
Evely is hardly the only Canadian to be facing charges following the Freedom Convoy. Earlier this month, two men linked to the 2022 Freedom Convoy-inspired border blockade protest in Coutts, Alberta, Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert, were acquitted of charges of conspiracy to commit murder, but not before being jailed and denied bail for over two years.
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