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Freedom Convoy judge questions why Ottawa police officers had phone data wiped during protest

Published

1 year ago

7 minute read

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Justice Heather Perkins-McVey noted that it was ‘unusual’ that the officers knew ‘they had to have their phones upgraded and yet did not take the responsible steps to ensure that all the evidence and disclosure was preserved.’

The trial for Freedom Convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber resumed Thursday this week, seeing Justice Heather Perkins-McVey note that it was “unusual” that two Ottawa Police Service (OPS) officers who interacted with protestors had their phone data wiped during the protests.  

Perkins-McVey said in court that the OPS officers “knew they had to have their phones upgraded and yet did not take the responsible steps to ensure that all the evidence and disclosure was preserved.” 

The Democracy Fund (TDF), which is crowdfunding Lich’s legal costs, noted in a Day 22 trial update that Perkins-McVey found it “interesting that two PLT [Police Liaison Team] officers had their phones wiped” of important Signal chats between them and protestors.  

“She questioned how many other officers had experienced the same,” noted the TDF. 

Last Thursday, during Day 20 of the trial, a second police witness, Nicole Bach of the OPS PLT, testified her police-provided phone was “wiped” of all information when asked by the judge if she had copies of vital information of conversations between her and protesters.  

Bach was the second police officer in less than a week to testify that their phone was suddenly “wiped” of all data. 

OPS liaison team officer Isabelle Cyr testified last week that her contacts were “wiped” clean from her phone between January 27 and February 9, 2022, which was when the main protests took place. 

She noted to the court, however, that she had some text message exchanges with Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber printed out before her information was “wiped.” 

Yesterday in court, defense counsel Eric Granger referred to an email from an Officer “Li” which was made to Bach, and suggested that by May 2022, it was evident that the “PLT officers were seeking evidence that might have been lost while highlighting the absence of an email response from Bach in the disclosure.” 

Diane Magas, counsel for Chris Barber, “reiterated her request for a response regarding when Bach was directed to update her phone and why she updated it when she did, leading to the phone’s wipe.” 

Last Friday, during Day 21 of the trial, Bach was again cross-examined which resulted in disclosure concerns pertaining to her testimony on Day 20 about her phone getting wiped.  

As per the TDF, the “defense team requested disclosure about the reasons behind the ‘wiping’ of Officer Bach’s cell phone. The Crown and defense left the courtroom together to discuss the issue.” 

Documents requested by the defense given to them in ‘blacked out’ form  

Lich and Barber’s defense has thus far only received completely blacked-out documents concerning the phone wipes of the OPS officers.

On Thursday in court, lawyers for Lich and Barber noted to the court they got copies of five internal emails they had requested, which were said to be communications between officers, but they were heavily redacted and wondered why this was the case.  

The OPS had claimed the emails were protected by solicitor-client privilege.  

Lawyer Vanessa Stewart, who was in court on behalf of the OPS, claimed that some of the emails have evidence from the Crown, which was shared between officers.  

The TDF noted that “Granger pointed out that solicitor-client privilege typically does not exist between the police and the crown, leading to discussions about the involvement of the crown in such legal discussions with the police.” 

Perkins-McVey inquired to Crown lawyers if the “Ottawa police were in a position to waive privilege, assuming privilege existed in the first place.” 

Stewart replied with a “No.” 

The TDF noted that Perkins-McVey questioned how communication “between two officers could trigger solicitor-client privilege.” 

In response, Stewart “maintained that the conversation was about legal advice received from the crown, justifying the privilege.” 

Perkins-McVey “noted that it was not clear whether solicitor-client privilege had been sufficiently established.” Stewart after this, “then made submissions on the waiver of privilege.”  

Lich and Barber’s trial has thus far taken more time than originally planned due to the slow pace of the Crown calling its witnesses. LifeSiteNews has been covering the trial extensively. 

Last week, bail-related charges placed against Lich for attending an awards ceremony were stayed by the Crown in a move that comes during her weeks-long trial for leading the convoy, which is separate from her bond charges. 

In early 2022, the Freedom Convoy saw thousands of Canadians from coast to coast come to Ottawa to demand an end to COVID mandates in all forms. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government enacted the Emergencies Act in mid-February, leading to Lich’s arrest two days later on February 17, 2022. 

After the protesters were cleared out, which was done through the freezing of bank accounts of those involved without a court order as well as the physical removal and arrest of demonstrators, Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23. 

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COVID-19

Maxime Bernier slams Freedom Convoy leaders’ guilty verdict, calls Canada’s justice system ‘corrupt’

Published on April 5, 2025

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

The leader of the People’s Party of Canada says Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were victims of a ‘political witch hunt.’

The leader of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) ripped Thursday’s federal court ruling that found Freedom Convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber guilty of mischief, saying the court siding with the government amounted to a “political witch hunt.”

“It is disheartening to learn that two of the heroes of the Freedom Convoy, @LichTamara and @ChrisBarber1975, have been found guilty of mischief in the longest and one of the costliest trials in Canadian history,” Maxime Bernier wrote Thursday on X.

“This clearly was a political witch hunt.”

Bernier added that in his view the reality is that Canada’s justice system is “corrupt.”

“Trudeau and his ministers who illegally invoked the Emergencies Act and violated basic rights will go unpunished,” he noted.

“Our justice system is corrupt to the bones.”

On Thursday, Justice Heather Perkins-McVey, the federal judge overseeing the mischief trial, delivered her verdict, finding both Lich and Barber guilty of mischief.

Perkins-McVey seemed to agree with the Crown’s case that Lich and Barber’s influence on the Freedom Convoy constituted public mischief but did dismiss the Crown’s Carter Application accusing Lich and Barber of conspiracy outright.

Lich and Barber both faced six charges each, those being charges of mischief, obstruction, intimidation, and counseling others to commit mischief and intimidation. After the court reconvened Thursday afternoon, Lich was acquitted of four of her six charges, with the fifth charge, counseling to commit mischief, being stayed by the judge.

As for sentencing, the court will reconvene on April 16 at 1:30 p.m. EST, at which time it will say when a date and time for sentencing will be held.

Lich and Barber both face a possible 10-year prison sentence. LifeSiteNews has reported extensively on their trial.

The Lich and Barber trial concluded in September 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.

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2025 Federal Election

Mark Carney refuses to clarify 2022 remarks accusing the Freedom Convoy of ‘sedition’

Published on April 5, 2025

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Mark Carney described the Freedom Convoy as an act of ‘sedition’ and advocated for the government to use its power to crush the non-violent protest movement.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney refused to elaborate on comments he made in 2022 referring to the anti-mandate Freedom Convoy protest as an act of “sedition” and advocating for the government to put an end to the movement.

“Well, look, I haven’t been a politician,” Carney said when a reporter in Windsor, Ontario, where a Freedom Convoy-linked border blockade took place in 2022, asked, “What do you say to Canadians who lost trust in the Liberal government back then and do not have trust in you now?”

“I became a politician a little more than two months ago, two and a half months ago,” he said. “I came in because I thought this country needed big change. We needed big change in the economy.”

Carney’s lack of an answer seems to be in stark contrast to the strong opinion he voiced in a February 7, 2022, column published in the Globe & Mail at the time of the convoy titled, “It’s Time To End The Sedition In Ottawa.”

In that piece, Carney wrote that the Freedom Convoy was a movement of “sedition,” adding, “That’s a word I never thought I’d use in Canada. It means incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority.”

Carney went on to claim in the piece that if “left unchecked” by government authorities, the Freedom Convoy would “achieve” its “goal of undermining our democracy.”

Carney even targeted “[a]nyone sending money to the Convoy,” accusing them of “funding sedition.”

Internal emails from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) eventually showed that his definition of sedition were not in conformity with the definition under Canada’s Criminal Code, which explicitly lists the “use of force” as a necessary aspect of sedition.

“The key bit is ‘use of force,’” one RCMP officer noted in the emails. “I’m all about a resolution to this and a forceful one with us victorious but, from the facts on the ground, I don’t know we’re there except in a small number of cases.”

The reality is that the Freedom Convoy was a peaceful event of public protest against COVID mandates, and not one protestor was charged with sedition. However, the Liberal government, then under Justin Trudeau, did take an approach similar to the one advocated for by Carney, invoking the Emergencies Act to clear-out protesters. Since then, a federal judge has ruled that such action was “not justified.”

Despite this, the two most prominent leaders of the Freedom Convoy, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, still face a possible 10-year prison sentence for their role in the non-violent assembly. LifeSiteNews has reported extensively on their trial.

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