The Crown on Monday morning stayed one of the charges filed against Tamara Lich, an organizer of the Freedom Convoy in winter 2022.
The prosecution announced to the court on Monday a stay of proceedings relating to the charge against Mme Lich for violating his bail conditions last summer.
The hearing on this breach of conditions was due to be heard in court next week, but the Crown stayed the charge on Monday, hoping to use some of that time to instead deal with the main charges against Ms.me Lich in this folder.
“Since the core of the case has lasted longer than expected, the Crown wants to prioritize it and ensure that it is dealt with in a timely manner,” prosecutor Siobhain Wetscher told the court.
After his first arrest in the final days of the demonstration in Ottawa, in the winter of 2022, Mr.me Lich spent more than two weeks in prison before being released on bail.
She was then allowed to return home to Alberta, but had to follow a long list of conditions, including being prohibited from communicating with other convoy organizers except through lawyers.
However, she was arrested in Alberta a few months later, the following summer, on a Canada-wide arrest warrant, after being photographed with one of her fellow organizers, Tom Marazzo, at a ceremony awards ceremony in Toronto hosted by the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms. The organization then awarded Mme Lich the “George Jonas Freedom Award”, in recognition of his contributions to “the advancement and preservation of freedom in our country.”
Following this new arrest, Mr.me Lich then spent another month in prison, before being released again.
His trial lawyer in Ottawa, Lawrence Greenspon, said the violation charge should never have been brought in the first place.
“If there had been a proper investigation before Tamara Lich was arrested, handcuffed, transported halfway across the country and then held in jail for 30 days, […] they would have realized that his then lawyers were present [à l’événement de Toronto] and therefore these charges should never have been brought,” he said outside the courtroom on Monday.
“Political prisoner”
In his book Hold the Line,Mme Lich detailed the event during which she and Mr. Marazzo were seated at the same table and she relates that she was accompanied at all times by lawyers from the organization. In the book, she also recounts her arrest and describes herself as a “political prisoner”.
Me Greenspon said Monday his client was relieved the charge was stayed. “She was hoping it would be one less thing she would have to answer to,” he said.
Mme Lich and his co-defendant, Chris Barber, are on trial for, among other things, committing mischief, counseling others to commit misdeeds and intimidation.
Me Greenspon believes that if Mme Lich was to be found guilty, the time she spent in prison after her second arrest should be factored into her sentence. “It’s part of the whole experience she had following the protest,” he argued.
The trial was originally scheduled to end on October 13, but was delayed due to postponements related to the disclosure of evidence and legal arguments over the admissibility of testimony and social media posts.
The Crown should call more witnesses before closing its case. Judge Heather Perkins-McVey said she expected the legal arguments in the case to be lengthy and complex.
Lawyers have struggled to set a date for the trial to continue, due to conflicting schedules and limited court time.
Mr. Barber’s lawyer, Diane Magas, has already warned that if the delays continue, she would consider filing a Jordan motion to have the main charges also stayed. In the Jordan decision, the Supreme Court ruled that everyone accused of a crime has the right to be tried within a reasonable time.
The Lich-Barber trial is expected to continue Thursday in Ottawa.