Canada trucker protest organizers found guilty of mischief

OTTAWA, Ontario — Two of the organizers of Canada’s trucker protests against COVID-19 restrictions in 2022 have been found guilty of mischief for their roles in the mass protest in Ottawa, a judge ruled Thursday.

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were key figures and organizers in the massive protest that saw hundreds of vehicles and thousands of people occupy downtown Ottawa and insist they would stay until COVID-19 public health mandates were eliminated.

The February 2022 protests, dubbed the Freedom Convoy, were sparked by a Canadian government vaccine mandate for truck drivers crossing the U.S.-Canada border.

Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of protesters clogged the streets of the capital, Ottawa, and besieged Parliament Hill for three weeks in early 2022, demonstrating against vaccine mandates for truckers and other precautions and condemning then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.

In finding the two guilty of mischief, Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey said the evidence shows that the two routinely encouraged people to join or remain at the protest, despite knowing the adverse effect it was having on downtown residents and businesses.

The defense argued that Lich and Barber called for a peaceful protest and blamed any disorder on police and city officials.

Perkins-McVey found Lich and Barber not guilty of intimidation, counselling someone to commit intimidation, obstructing police and counselling someone to obstruct police.

Barber also was found guilty of counselling to disobey a court order for telling people to ignore an injunction issued by a judge directing convoy participants to stop honking their truck horns in downtown Ottawa.

The truckers’ convoy gridlocked downtown streets around Parliament Hill, with area residents complaining about the fumes from diesel engines running non-stop, and unrelenting noise from constant honking of horns and music from parties.

Truckers also blockaded U.S.-Canada border crossings in protest.

Trudeau’s government ultimately invoked the Emergencies Act to try and bring an end to the protests. Ottawa Police brought in hundreds of officers from forces across Canada.

The Freedom Convoy shook Canada’s reputation for civility, inspired convoys in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands and interrupted economic trade.

For almost a week the busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit was blocked. It carries more than 25% of trade between the countries, who are each other’s largest trading partners.