“Criminalizing Dissent”

Downtown Ottawa in late January and much of February 2022 was either a peace-fuelled hug fest so beautiful to behold that it still induces tears, or a dangerous cauldron of hate and aggression that made life hell for the 18,000 or so people who call the city centre home. It truly was a matter of perspective.

These days, that great divide is never more apparent than in front of Library and Archives Canada on Wellington Street, where one woman stands on the sidewalk and insults the convoy leaders by name as they emerge from the building’s front door to stand around in tight groups, talking and smoking.

What a tragedy, Ottawa bureaucrats observed up close in their natural habitat.

Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich, a mother and grandmother from Medicine Hat, explained why she got involved in the protest movement during her Nov. 3 testimony at the public inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act to end convoy protests earlier this year.

“I was growing increasingly alarmed with the mandates and the harm that I was seeing the mandates inflict,” said Lich, who got emotional several times during her testimony. “I heard from families that were living in their vehicles because they’d lost their jobs. I heard from people that had lost their jobs and lost everything. I have the tears of thousands of Canadians on my shoulder, who everyday told me that we were bringing them hope.”

Tamara Lich, mother of three testifies how her arrest affected her life:

"I lost my job, I lost my freedom of speech, I lost my freedom to communicate with my friends… I have a daughter, that I don't want her to be seen with me" pic.twitter.com/SKC75HzWwt

— Efrain Flores Monsanto 🇨🇦🚛 (@realmonsanto) November 4, 2022

Benjamin Dichter, one of the Freedom Convoy’s main organizers, took the stand on Nov. 3 at the Public Order Emergency Commission, testifying that he distrusted most of the media covering the demonstrations because the outlets focused on controversial figures and misrepresented protesters.

Dichter said that the “legacy media” and resulting concerns over public perception prompted the convoy to put out public statements distancing the protest from any possible or potential future violence.

OTTAWA— The federal government produced daily intelligence briefings by RCMP and senior public servants on the so-called “Freedom Convoy’s” growing ranks and fundraising — reports that flagged rising concerns as copycat protests sprang up across the country and around the globe, and the Ottawa police appeared powerless to contain it.

Unlike the Ottawa police — whose chief and some subordinates predicted the protest might only be a weekend-long event — federal officials flagged from the get-go that its likely duration was unknown, and that the RCMP had concerns about possible “lone actors” or ideologically motivated individuals who might join in.

OTTAWA – The Freedom Convoy raised more than $24 million across crypto currencies and fundraising platforms, but almost all of that money ended up frozen, held in escrow as part of an ongoing lawsuit.

The Emergencies Act commission received an overview report of the convoy’s finances from Commission lawyer Dan Sheppard, who presented all the information they have collected on the convoy’s finances.

OTTAWA—Portraying themselves as honest brokers of a righteous cause, prominent “Freedom Convoy” figures distanced themselves from more controversial elements of their protest movement at the Emergencies Act inquiry Wednesday, before an outburst from an angry supporter interrupted the proceedings.

Over several hours of testimony, convoy leader Tom Marazzo dismissed concerns about a suspected extremist group that participated in last winter’s demonstrations, and joined Keith Wilson — a lawyer for some organizers who also testified Wednesday — in describing a notorious demand from an original group of protesters to unseat the elected federal government as “nonsense.”

OTTAWA – “Freedom Convoy” lawyer Keith Wilson says he told protesters to stay in downtown Ottawa to oppose COVID-19 restrictions after the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act, even though police were warning people to leave the area.

Wilson told the public inquiry investigating the invocation of the act that he never imagined the federal government would use force against “non-violent” protesting Canadians.

OTTAWA – Many groups and individuals fought for control over the Freedom Convoy seeking its power, influence and the millions of dollars it fundraised online, said a lawyer for convoy organizers testifying at the Emergencies Act commission.

Keith Wilson, an Edmonton lawyer, came to represent many convoy organizers through the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. He said he was asked to go to Ottawa shortly after the convoy arrived in the city and took a private plane, picking up other lawyers in different cities. Wilson said he was told the private plane was necessary because several of his fellow passengers were unvaccinated.

One of the main lawyers representing some convoy organizers says the group was receiving leaked police information during the early days of protests that blocked streets in downtown Ottawa, the Emergencies Act inquiry heard.

Keith Wilson, who represents organizers including Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, is testifying Wednesday in front of the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is reviewing the federal government’s decision to invoke emergency powers to clear the crowds and vehicles that had gridlocked the capital for more than three weeks.

Before his testimony, Wilson sat down with commission lawyers for an interview. A summary of that interview was entered as an exhibit on Wednesday.

The Takeaway: Honest cops hate Trudeau.

Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber said Tuesday the anti-vaccine mandate protest that gripped Ottawa for weeks last winter was beset by “conflict” among different factions pushing their own agendas.

Claiming he only ever wanted to lead a peaceful protest against vaccine mandates, Barber told the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) inquiry investigating the convoy that he had nothing to do with a death threat directed at Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Someone threatened to “put a bullet” in Freeland’s head the day after someone tied to Barber’s group circulated flyers to the convoy that made inflammatory claims about her relationship with the World Economic Forum (WEF).

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki was unable to explain text messages from last winter in which she suggested the federal government would ask police for retroactive support of the Emergencies Act and advocated using a messaging app that allows users to delete messages.

The country’s top Mountie spoke with reporters outside a House of Commons committee on Monday in Ottawa but gave few answers to questions.

“Freedom Convoy” organizer Chris Barber says the initial purpose of the protest was to get the federal government to listen to truck drivers’ concerns about cross-border COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Barber, 47, is the first of several organizers who will take the witness stand at the public inquiry investigating the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act.

Barber runs his own trucking company in Swift Current, Sask., and was greeted with a smattering of applause from spectators in the room.

One story about the convoy protest is not aging well in 13 days of public hearings into events that rattled through Canada last winter.

This is the story — still embraced by some Conservative MPs and strident fans of the demonstrators— that the so called “Freedom Convoy” was merely a giant party that would have ended if the participants got a fair hearing from Justin Trudeau’s government.

Police and politicians had many fierce disputes about the convoy, we’ve learned in often-fascinating detail over the past three weeks, but one thing they appear to have all agreed upon is that it was a public-security threat of major proportions.