OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – On the fifth day of the trial for Freedom Convoy leaders, Tamara Lich’s lawyer argued against allowing the Crown to be allowed to submit evidence to the court from local civilians who claimed the truckers’ horn-honking affected their well-being.
On Monday, Justice Heather Perkins-McVey nevertheless allotted two more weeks for court proceedings to take place, mainly due to the Crown wanting to include a total of nine witnesses it says will give “observational testimony” to try and bolster its case against Lich and Barber.
Lich’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, told the court, “This is not the trial of the Freedom Convoy,” or in effect a trial against all of those who participated in the protest, in arguing against allowing the witnesses’ testimony to be submitted to the court.
In an update from the fifth day of court proceedings held Monday, The Democracy Fund (TDF), which is crowdfunding Lich’s legal costs, said that the day began with an “argument about the admissibility of evidence from nine civilian witnesses the Crown is seeking to call.”
The TDF noted that the Crown claimed that the witnesses would “give evidence with respect to the existence of road blockages, gridlock, noise and air pollution, public transit, and the general condition of the city of Ottawa.”
According to the TDF, Greenspon directly argued against the “admission of the evidence from these witnesses.”
“He reviewed the jurisprudence on this point with the Court and argued that, given the admissions made by the defence with respect to the existence of mischief generally, evidence from these witnesses is neither probative nor relevant,” the TDF said.
Greenspon claimed that the Court has direct control over how its own procedure takes place and noted that means it can exclude evidence “where it would not irreparably damage the Crown’s legal position,” as stated by the TDF.
He also argued that when it comes to the charges against Lich concerning counselling intimidation, the charge is for “intimidation not committed.”
“Thus, any evidence of the effect of alleged intimidation is irrelevant: it is the counselling that must be proved by the Crown,” the TDF observed.
Late last week during the third and fourth days of the trial for Freedom Convoy leaders Lich and Chris Barber, Justice Perkins-McVey reportedly noted her unhappiness with the Crown after it submitted thousands of pages of evidence against the protest organizers all at once.
Without substantial evidence, Crown argues Lich and Barber intentionally caused chaos in downtown Ottawa with Freedom Convoy
Yesterday during court proceedings, the Crown, when its turn to rise in court came, claimed the evidence it wants to show, from its nine witnesses, will show, as noted by the TDF, that the “accused knew & disregarded the risk regarding their counsel to block streets & highways, honk horns, create gridlock, generate noise & air pollution, to gather donations toward continued protesting, and encourage others to come to Ottawa.”
Perkins-McVey has not yet decided on whether to allow the witnesses evidence, and in court reminded both parties that the court’s main function is to serve as a “gatekeeper” of evidence and that noting the gate is “tight.”
In the afternoon court session on Monday, the Court heard additional testimony from Sergeant Joanne Pilotte of the Ottawa Police Service. On day four of the court proceedings, the court heard about social media videos downloaded by her, pertaining to Lich and Barber.
Pilotte was asked to authenticate several videos of “Tamara Lich with another speaker and Chris Barber at a press conference together with two other individuals,” the TDF noted.
“Sergeant Pilotte also reviewed several screen captures from the Freedom Convoy Facebook page,” the TDF said.
The TDF said that at this point the Crown “advised that these screen captures comprised approximately 140 pages of disclosure, at which point the Court encouraged the Crown to expedite the process for tomorrow’s hearing.”
On day one of the trial held last Tuesday TDF observed that the judge overseeing the court case was clearly “not being led by the Crown.”
On day two of the trial last Wednesday, a police officer testified that he was under direct orders to not give protesters an “inch” and allow them to protest closer to Canada’s Parliament building, which he said would have mitigated disruptions to the city.
While TDF is crowdfunding Lich’s legal costs, her co-defendant, Barber, is relying on local fundraisers to help pay for his defense and is also receiving help from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.
Lich and Barber were charged with multiple offenses in 2022 including mischief, counseling mischief, counseling intimidation and obstructing police for taking part in and organizing the anti-mandate Freedom Convoy. As reported by LifeSiteNews at the time, despite the non-violent nature of the protest and the charges, Lich was jailed for weeks before granted bail.
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.
After the protest was 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.