The Freedom Convoy trial has disgraced Canada’s justice system

In a disgraceful conclusion to a disgraceful trial, Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber have been sentenced to 12 months of house arrest and 6 months of curfew (with credit for the 49 days Lich has already spent in jail) – plus 100 hours of community service.

An ironic addendum. For in the packed courtroom on October 7, there was likely not one person who has served the community with greater generosity than the two defendants.

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, organizers of the most successful protest in Canadian history, kept their cool, kept the peace and brought national unity, patriotism and common sense back to Canada after the pandemic – this, despite the sustained efforts of the most aggressively controlling, divisive government the nation has ever had. They achieved this under intense pressure and at great personal cost.

They’re national heroes, and the persecution waged against them is destroying trust in the Canadian judicial system, though the judge involved does not seem to realize it. Justice Perkins-McVey said in court that if she discharged the defendants, it would “undermine confidence in the administration of justice”.

But it’s quite the opposite. Though left-leaning outlets have portrayed the sentence as light, compared to the outrageous seven and eight years of jail time demanded by the Crown, any conviction and sentencing of the obviously innocent Lich and Barber only serves to confirm that Canadians with the wrong political views will not receive equal treatment before the law.

We all know that in Canada, axe-wielding saboteurs, railway blockaders, rioters, traffic disruptors and violent protestors have escaped without so much as arrest, as long as the government views their cause with complaisance.

Can you believe that Lich was convicted for saying things like “hold the line”, “stay united” and “don’t give in to fear”? Dangerous words indeed. And Barber? He was convicted for telling truckers not to honk unless their trucks were raided – this was defiance of the court order against honking. Three weeks of protesting, all recorded on thousands of devices, and those were the only charges that could be made to stick? It’s a good thing they didn’t try jaywalking.

Thankfully, Lich’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, says they are seriously considering an appeal of her conviction, on grounds that “constitutionally protected freedom of speech which encourages peaceful assembly should always prevail over any rights to the enjoyment of property”.

There was another ironic moment at the sentencing. The judge announced, “Politics has no place inside this courtroom” – yet the trial has been widely viewed as nothing more than the political vengeance of Doug Ford and the Ontario government.

If it weren’t for politics, Lich and Barber would never have been arrested, let alone put through jail time, solitary confinement, loss of employment, years of drawn-out, costly legal proceedings, onerous bail conditions and emotional strain.

They inspired a movement that made the government look bad in the eyes of the world, they challenged its pandemic management and the government was forced to back down. Now the government wants to make an example of them – whatever the cost.

And the cost, so far, has been $21 million. That’s how much tax money Doug Ford and his government have spent to date on prosecuting Lich, Barber and others involved with the trucker protest. His targets are all working-class people of modest income. Many have lost their livelihoods because of the drawn-out legal proceedings against them.

The only way they have been able to afford a defense and cover the cost of travel to and from the Ottawa court, is through donations from the public. This means the public is paying twice – once as taxpayers, with money intended to pursue real criminals wasted on a political vendetta – and once again, voluntarily, to support the brave people who stood up to ask for an end to lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

This is the same public that already gave $24 million to the truckers to help them go to Ottawa and protest vaccine mandates and lockdowns: $24 million that never reached them, because politicians colluded with fundraising sites and banks to freeze the money, debank the protestors and doxx the donors, all without a court order. No criminal charges have been laid in Canada, to this writer’s knowledge, against the perpetrators of these deeds, though they damaged national institutions far more than any protest ever could.

Justice Perkins-McVey is right to be concerned about confidence in the administration of justice. Many Canadians share her concern. Sadly, her handling of this case has done little to dispel their fears.