(Ottawa) Social media messages and videos posted on the “Freedom Convoy 2022” Facebook page may ultimately be submitted as evidence at the trial of two of the main organizers of the protest in Ottawa in 2022.
Tamara Lich and Chris Barber face several charges related to their role in planning the major demonstration which brought together thousands of people in the federal capital for three weeks in the winter of 2022. The demonstrators wanted to protest against the health restrictions linked to COVID-19 and against the Liberal government.
The Crown wants to use these social media posts to demonstrate that the two co-accused conspired so closely together during the protest that evidence against one should automatically apply to the other.
The defense initially wanted to object to the admission of the Facebook content into evidence, saying that messages that were not written directly by the defendants themselves were not relevant to their trial.
But M’s lawyersme Lich and Mr. Barber now say they will make this argument piecemeal, but at the end of the trial, when they argue the conspiracy charge.
The court is expected to hear testimony from the City of Ottawa’s general manager of emergency services later Tuesday.