TORONTO, ON: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that lawyers representing Chris Barber, Tamara Lich, and other Freedom Convoy participants will be in court to appeal the dismissal of an Anti-SLAPP motion in the lawsuit filed by Ottawa residents against the Freedom Convoy.
The hearing will take place on Monday, October 28, 2024, starting at 10 AM ET in Courtroom No. 1, Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario.
In February 2022, Ottawa residents Zexi Li and Geoffrey Delaney, Happy Goat Coffee Company, and a local union filed a $290 million class-action lawsuit against Chris Barber, Tamara Lich, and other Freedom Convoy participants. They are seeking damages for the interruptions caused by the parking of trucks and honking of horns in downtown Ottawa during the protest at the beginning of 2022. Included as defendants are donors who supported the Freedom Convoy. Many of these were not even present at the protest.
Supported by the Justice Centre, lawyers attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed outright. In June 2023, they launched what is known as an “anti-SLAPP” motion on behalf of the defendants. “SLAPP” actions, or “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” are designed to intimidate and/or bankrupt critics by burdening them with the costs of a legal defence. The “anti-SLAPP” provisions protect freedom of expression and weed out cases from the system that were clearly designed to stifle free speech.
On February 5, 2023, Justice Calum MacLeod dismissed the anti-SLAPP motion at the Superior Court of Ontario.
