OTTAWA, ON: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that the trial of Chris Barber and Tamara Lich resumes today, August 13, 2024 – eleven months after their trial began in September 2023. Mr. Barber and Ms. Lich were criminally charged in February 2022 after peacefully exercising their Charter freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly during the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa. Thirty months ago, they were charged with mischief, intimidation, obstructing a highway, obstructing a police officer, and counselling others to commit the same offences.
In January and February 2022, thousands of Canadians travelled from coasts and mountains and prairies to the nation’s capital to protest mandatory vaccination policies, which turned millions of Canadians into second-class citizens if they did not get injected with the Covid vaccine.
In British Columbia, dissenting healthcare workers and firefighters were fired. In Nova Scotia, judges were pressured into getting injected and threatened with consequences for choosing not to do so. In Quebec, government officials threatened a tax on the unvaccinated. Across Canada, conscientious objectors were fired from their jobs, suspended from their university programs, and prevented from travelling. Cross-border Covid vaccine mandates particularly affected Canadian truckers.
Mr. Barber and Ms. Lich were arrested on February 17, 2022–one day before the brutal police crackdown on Ottawa protestors. This occurred after the federal government illegally invoked the Emergencies Act, for the first time ever, on February 14, 2022.
Their trial began on September 5, 2023, and was originally scheduled to last 16 days. Now, nearly one year later, their trial is nearing 40 days of court time.
Chris Barber, a trucker and trucking company owner from Swift Current, Saskatchewan, pleaded not guilty to all charges on April 23, 2023. Diane Magas, defence counsel for Mr. Barber, has consistently argued that he acted peacefully and lawfully throughout his time in Ottawa.
“Crown prosecutors in Ontario claim that they do not have enough resources to prosecute people accused of sexual assault and other serious crimes. People accused of serious crimes are walking away without facing trial because of extreme delays, supposedly caused by the Crown lacking adequate resources. Yet the Crown has devoted massive amounts of its limited time and energy to prosecuting peaceful protesters who exercised their fundamental Charter freedoms,” stated John Carpay, President of the Justice Centre.
“The Justice Centre continues to receive donations from Canadians to pay for the legal defence of Chris Barber in this lengthy trial. Donations are eligible for an official tax receipt,” concluded Mr. Carpay.
For media inquiries, please contact media@jccf.ca.
