Verdicts expected March 12 in criminal trial of ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizers

By The Canadian Press staff, The Canadian Press on January 6, 2025.

Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, right, make their way with counsel to the Public Order Emergency Commission in Ottawa on November 1, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA – An Ontario judge is slated to deliver verdicts March 12 in the criminal trial of ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizers Chris Barber and Tamara Lich.

Barber and Lich are co-accused of mischief, intimidation and counselling people to break the law for their roles in a 2022 demonstration that blocked Ottawa streets and infuriated residents.

The complex trial featured a huge body of evidence related to the three-week protest.

The Crown aimed to prove the two conspired to essentially hold residents hostage to the noise and blockades to pressure the government to change its COVID-19 public health policies.

The defence argued the two accused simply exercised their fundamental rights to assembly and expression as part of a legal protest.

The trial, which stretched out over the course of a year, wrapped up in September.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 6, 2025.