(Ottawa) Tamara Lich was president of the company created to manage donations to the “freedom convoy”, and some even considered her to be the president of the entire movement, we learned Wednesday at the trial of the resident of Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Recordings of several lengthy press conferences organized by spokespeople for the “freedom convoy” were played in the courtroom on Wednesday, the seventh day of the trial of Chris Barber and Tamara Lich, two protest organizers .
In one of them, Mme Lich identified herself as the organizer of the convoy, but another organizer, Ben Dichter, said she was actually its “chair.”
“She’s so modest,” he said.
A commission of inquiry that looked into the federal government’s use of the Emergency Measures Act to end the protest revealed last year that a core group of organizers had formed the company “Freedom Corp” to manage the donations received under the direction of their lawyer at the time, Keith Wilson. Mme Lich was listed as the company’s president.
Mr. Barber and Mr.me Lich are among the people who organized the protest in which hundreds of trucks traveled to Ottawa in the winter of 2022 to denounce COVID-19 health measures and call for the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
They both face charges of mischief, advising others to commit crimes, intimidation and obstructing the work of police officers due to their involvement in the demonstration that blocked the streets of the federal capital for three weeks.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Hundreds of trucks traveled to Ottawa in the winter of 2022 to denounce health measures related to COVID-19.
The press conferences presented Wednesday are among dozens of publications and messages on social networks that have been compiled by Sergeant Joanne Pilotte, of the Ottawa police, who has been on the stand for several days.
The Crown will ask the judge to use content found on social networks to “evaluate the range of the voice (of Mme Lich),” Crown attorney Tim Radcliffe said in court Wednesday.
The defense argues that these videos should not be admitted into evidence at the trial, which is being heard before a judge alone.
M’s lawyerme Lich, Lawrence Greenspon, planned to argue that much of the evidence from the “Freedom Convoy 2022” Facebook page is irrelevant to the charges.
Me Radcliffe, however, claimed that statements made by other users on the Facebook page help to situate M’s influence.me Lich and Mr. Barber on the movement.
Lawyers are expected to argue their position on the admissibility of Facebook’s evidence later in the trial.
Cross-examination
During cross-examination, Mr. Barber’s lawyer, Marwa Younes, presented the court with several videos from his client’s TikTok account, BigRed19755, in which he called on protesters to behave peacefully and respect the police.
In a video shot on 1er February, Mr. Barber urged protesters to remain peaceful. He said the last thing the protest needed was an insurrection inspired by the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
“It’s my biggest fear,” he can be heard saying.
Sergeant Pilotte clarified that she did not choose the videos to be uploaded as part of the investigation. She was directed to specific videos by the lead investigator, Chris Benson.
Mr. Barber did not appear in the videos that were played in court on Wednesday, but the Crown hopes to prove that the two accused worked so closely together that evidence against one of them would automatically apply to the ‘other.
The press conferences on February 6 and 9 were broadcast live on Facebook and feature Mme Lich and other prominent movement spokespeople responding to questions from independent media.
They explained how the gathering was putting pressure on different governments to change current health restrictions. They also expressed their expectations regarding possible police intervention and their distrust of traditional media.