COVID-19
Canadian who protested COVID measures at bridge blockade wins appeal
From LifeSiteNews
The Democracy Fund in a press release said its client Theodorus DeBoer, who had pleaded guilty in 2023 to one count of mischief for obstructing traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, has had his criminal record ‘vacated.’
On September 10, the Democracy Fund (TDF) in a press release said its client Theodorus DeBoer, who had pleaded guilty in 2023 to one count of mischief for obstructing traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, has had his criminal record “vacated.”
In February of 2022, during the same time the Freedom Convoy was taking place in Ottawa, Canadian and American truckers made a convoy blocking access to the border crossing from Michigan into Windsor, Ontario. The blockade was a sign of solidarity with the freedom movement which was protesting COVID mandates put in place by the federal and provincial governments.
DeBoer took part in the protests, and as part of his original plea deal, the “prosecution agreed to drop the more serious charge of disobeying a court order,” TDF noted.
TDF said that the prosecutor and the defense also made a “joint submission” regarding DeBoer’s sentencing, “asking the trial judge to discharge DeBoer with conditions as opposed to any sentence that would carry a criminal record.”
However, the trial judge instead took the “unusual step of rejecting the recommendation of the lawyers and imposed a suspended sentence, which involve probation and a criminal record,” said TDF.
According to lawyer Alan Honner, who was retained by TDF to argue DeBoer’s appeal, judges are required to “give way to joint submissions except in rare circumstances where the proposed sentence would bring the administration of justice into disrepute or otherwise be contrary to the public interest.”
After a time, the Appellate Court agreed with Honner’s appeal submission, concurring that the trial judge had indeed made a mistake in applying the wrong legal test.
TDF noted that this “varied the sentence to bring it into conformity with the original joint submission,” and thus DeBoer’s “criminal record was vacated.”
TDF has in the past helped many Canadians who participated in the Windsor protests, as well as other COVID-related protests held across Canada. According to TDF, “not a single” one of its clients has “ended up with a criminal record.”
While many Canadians who fought COVID fines, charges, and rules were successful in getting them overturned, others have not been successful.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, a Trudeau-appointed judge recently sentenced two men involved in a 2022 Freedom Convoy-inspired border blockade protest in Coutts, Alberta, to six years in prison.
Also, Canada’s Supreme Court recently decided it will not hear appeals to two high-profile cases brought forth by People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier and former Premier of Newfoundland Brian Peckford. The pair had alleged their “Charter rights” were violated because of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government’s COVID jab travel mandates, which banned the vaccine-free from flying.
COVID vaccine mandates, which also came from provincial governments with the support of the federal government, split Canadian society. The mRNA shots have been linked to a multitude of negative and often severe side effects in children.
From LifeSiteNews
The Ontario Court of Appeals is allowing a $290 million class-action lawsuit against Freedom Convoy protesters to continue.
On March 6, Ontario Court of Appeals Justices David Brown, Peter Lauwers, and Steve Coroza ruled that a $290 million class-action lawsuit against some of those who organized and participated in the Freedom Convoy for creating a “public nuisance causing pain” will be allowed to proceed.
“We are not unconstrained free actors but must all live subject to some rules,” Brown wrote.
“The Charter reminds us that individual action must always be alive to its effect on other members of the community since limits can be placed on individual action as long as they are ’reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society,” he continued.
The 2022 Freedom Convoy was a peaceful protest in downtown Ottawa, featuring thousands of truckers and Canadians camping outside Parliament to call for an end to COVID regulations.
Despite the demonstration’s non-violent nature, some residents from downtown Ottawa have claimed that the protest disrupted their lives.
In February 2022, the Freedom Convoy leaders were hit with the lawsuit, which originally started at $9.8 million but then ballooned to $290 million. The class-action lawsuit was filed by Ottawa civil servant Zexi Li on February 4, 2022, along with Geoffrey Delaney, Happy Goat Coffee Company, and a local union. It names plaintiffs who have businesses or were working in the city’s downtown core during the Freedom Convoy.
The defendants of the claim are Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber along with a number of other participants and entities. A previous attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed was rejected.
The decision comes just over a year after Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that Prime Minister Trudeau was “not justified” in invoking the Emergencies Act to shut down the protest.
From LifeSiteNews
Both Freedom Convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber face up to 10 years in prison for their roles in the non-violent Freedom Convoy protest which sought to bring an end to COVID mandates in Canada.
The verdict for Freedom Convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber’s mischief trial, which was supposed to have already been released, will now come on April 3.
“We have a new verdict date. April 3,” Lich wrote on X Monday.
At the end of last month, Lich broke the news that the original verdict date of March 12, 2025, had been delayed indefinitely.
Both Lich and Barber face a possible 10-year prison sentence despite the non-violent nature of the protest. LifeSiteNews has reported extensively on their trial.
Lich recently shared a heartwarming letter she received from a child, who told her to “keep fighting” for everyone and that “God will protect” her from the “enemy.”
The Lich and Barber trial concluded in September of 2024, more than a year after it began. It was only originally scheduled to last 16 days.
Lich and Barber were arrested on February 17, 2022, in Ottawa for their roles in leading the popular Freedom Convoy protest against COVID mandates. During COVID, Canadians were subjected to vaccine mandates, mask mandates, extensive lockdowns and even the closure of churches.
Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act to clear-out protesters, an action a federal judge has since said was “not justified.” During the clear-out, an elderly lady was trampled by a police horse and many who donated to the cause had their bank accounts frozen.
While Trudeau has now been replaced as Liberal Party leader by Mark Carney, the latter is on the record as having been in favor of the freezing of bank accounts of Freedom Convoy protesters and their supporters.
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