The Decibel - The first criminal trial for ‘Freedom Convoy’ leaders

Episode Date: September 11, 2023

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were at the forefront of the convoy protest that rolled into Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2022. As leaders, they encouraged supporters blocking the downtown to both ‘hold the line’ and protest peacefully. On Feb. 17, 2022, they were arrested. Now they are standing trial for their actions.Kristy Kirkup is a parliamentary reporter for the Globe and she went to the first week of their trial. She explains why this trial is expected to uncover new details about the convoy protest and catches us up on what happened in the opening days.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail]

So I'm standing outside the Ottawa Courthouse where I'm here to cover the fourth day of the Tamara Leach and Chris Barber criminal trial. There are a few supporters that are gathered outside of the courthouse. There's a large Canadian flag and some supporters who have kind of congregated and are showing up each day. So I'm just going to go in and open the door. Christy Kirkup is a parliamentary reporter for The Globe. And all of last week, she was covering the trial of Tamara Leach and Chris Barber. They're among the leaders of the convoy that paralyzed downtown Ottawa last year for 26 days. And they're now facing charges for their role in the protests.

They're not the only convoy protesters who were arrested. In total, Ottawa police ended up laying over 500 criminal charges against 140 people in the Freedom Convoy. Another leader, Pat King, has also been charged. But this is the first time anyone involved in the convoy protests has been judged in a criminal court for the convoy. So today, Christy will catch us up on what happened during the trial's first week. I'm Mainika Raman-Wilms, and this is The Decibel from The Globe and Mail. Christy, thank you so much for being here today. Thanks for having me.

So I thought just to start, it might actually be good to give people a little refresher here. So can you just remind us, who are Tamara Leach and Chris Bar remind us who are Tamara Leach and Chris Barber? Well, Tamara Leach and Chris Barber are really the key architects of the Ottawa Trucker Convoy that came to Ottawa at the end of January in 2022. And they have always maintained that they were engaged in a peaceful protest that saw big rig trucks essentially become entrenched in Ottawa's downtown core for more than three weeks time. Of course, a lot of people in Ottawa disagree with their suggestion that this was a peaceful protest. And in fact, their demonstration ended up sparking one of the largest police operations in Canadian history, where we saw officers have to move in on protesters and remove them from the streets. And that was in February of 2022. So

they are really the kind of key organizers of the so-called Freedom Convoy that, you know, has really become kind of this key moment, I would say, in history, really, in Ottawa. Yeah. Yeah. And of course, you were in Ottawa at the time. I was in Ottawa at the time. I remember that. Of course, the horn honking, that was a big thing that we were talking about for a long time. It was really a kind of a strange time to be in the city. And Christy, you said that these two were some of the architects of these protests. Can you give us a little bit more detail, I guess, like what exactly was their role in these protests? So Tamara Leach has been involved in kind of Wexit politics, if you will.

She's based in Medicine Hat, Alberta. And kind of her main role at the beginning of the convoy operation was setting up a GoFundMe page that ended up raising right out of the gate some $10 million. Ultimately, GoFundMe ended up shutting down their campaign. And then the platform has said that they returned all the money to donors. But she was essentially a key fundraising facilitator, if you will. And that was really necessary, right? Because this, it was, I recall, actually, a conversation that you and I had when the trucks were on their way to Ottawa, we knew

that something big was coming. And I think at the time, you and I talked about the GoFundMe page, with all the millions that had been raised. And that was, I think, a key signal early on that this was really going to be an exceptional protest that was coming to Ottawa. They had money, a lot of money. And Chris Barber, well, you know, I think he's a commercial truck driver himself. He's from Swift Current, Saskatchewan. And this came up in the course of the inquiry commission that looked at the trucker convoy. You know, he's kind of open about the fact that he

likes to stir the pot, that he's essentially an online troll. And he was recording himself and kind of, I think the Crown would argue, egging people on. He was saying, you know, get to Ottawa, flood the city. I don't care how many. And there were a lot of swear words that followed, you know, how many people come to ottawa and he was saying keep it peaceful but he was calling on on people to come and then later on and this came up um in court as well a tiktok video where he was calling on people to um or suggesting they should you know honk their horns after a court injunction had been issued to stop the blaring of those horns. So I would say he was kind of instrumental in the trucker movement, if you will, to kind of reach out to people because he had such a big online following.

Right. Yeah. So as you're saying, so these are two really some of the central figures behind these protests and this movement. How did they meet, Christy? Do we know how these two ended up talking, I guess, to start? Yeah, so this came up in the Inquiry Commission and essentially how it is documented based on the witnesses that they talked to is that, you know, there were some other people who were expressing some sentiments about what was going on during COVID-19, about mandates. Of course, there's Pat King, who is another kind of key figure in the story. And that, you know, Pat King had set up a Facebook Live. And this was kind of a meeting place, if you will, for people like Mr. Barber and Ms. Leach to kind of come together. So, Christy, as you mentioned, the public inquiry. So we've actually heard a lot about the situation in the last few months. There's there's a lot that came out in that public inquiry.

So I guess I wonder why is why is this trial important to watch when we already know so much about what happened during these protests? I think this is important to talk about because I think that, of course, there was a tremendous amount of attention when demonstrators, again, had brought the city of Ottawa to a standstill. Then because the federal government decided to invoke the never-before- used Emergencies Act, then the commission led by Justice Rouleau had to happen. And we saw witnesses, including Tamara Leach and Chris Barber appear during the course of that process. And now what we are seeing with Tamara Leach and Chris Barber is it's a criminal trial.

It will determine their fate. This is about, you know, what happens next for them. I think it's really interesting. But before this trial began, Manika, she was doing some travel. She was actually kind of on a book tour because she wrote a book called Hold the Line, which, by the way, those three words are going to be very critical in this criminal trial. So she and Chris Barber face charges of mischief, intimidation and obstruction of police and also charges of counseling other people to engage in those same crimes. So that's actually what they're charged with then.

So the criminal charges that both of them are facing, that's the six charges then. That's right. And Chris Barber also faces an additional charge that relates to essentially the TikTok video that I just mentioned earlier about calling for people to blare the horns after the courting junction. So his additional charge relates to that. But, you know, Tamara Leach's Hold the Line book for, you know, she has a lot of kind of loyal fans and she's been going out and kind of explaining her role as the architect

in all of this. And, you know, the Crown believes that she crossed the line. So they're trying to make that case to the judge, Justice Heather Perkins McVeigh. This is going to determine whether she goes to jail or she's able to kind of proceed living her life. But as she's out on, you know,

again, she's not living a normal life. I don't, I'm not trying to say that, but she's not behind bars right now. She has been doing a book tour before her criminal trial, and this is going to determine what happens next for her. So let's actually talk about the charges here, Christy. So you said each of them, Leach and Barber, are facing charges of mischief, obstructing police, and intimidation, and one charge of counseling for each of those three charges. So counseling other people, essentially. And the interesting thing here is that they're being tried together, which is kind of a strange thing, right? This isn't common. Do we know why they're not having separate trials? Yeah, so essentially, this is a

decision that was taken by the Crown. So while it's not something that maybe we see all the time, it's not tremendously unusual. It just depends on essentially what the evidentiary base for the Crown's case is. And in this case, the Crown decided to take the decision to, you know, have them be on trial together. OK. And so essentially, it's kind of the idea like the Crown hopes to establish that they worked together in lockstep in a way, I guess. Is that kind of the idea behind this? Big time. That is something that I would say is going to be a major feature of the rest of the trial, is that these two were essentially working in tandem with one another. And I should point out there is separately, Manika, a proposed class action lawsuit to the tune of some $300 million on the part of Ottawa residents and businesses that have expressed that they suffered harm as a result of what happened. So the reason I mentioned it is because Tamara Leach and Chris Barber are also named in that proposed class action lawsuit

as well. We'll be back in a moment. Let's focus a little bit on how this case is being approached, Christy, because you've been in court there all last week watching how things are going. Each side was giving its opening statements last week. Did the prosecution say how it intends to prove that Leach and Barber actually behaved criminally? Well, going back to the whole notion of the hold the line, those three words being central to the Crown's case, you know, some of the videos that we have seen in court, the Crown asked for some additional videos to be entered into evidence, some seven videos where you could hear that after Tamara Leach and Chris Barber had been arrested, that there were people in the crowd calling out, hold the line, hold the line. That is key, I think,

to those counseling charges that I mentioned. You know, and this was said in the opening statement from Crown Prosecutor Tim Radcliffe, that they held tremendous, essentially power and influence over the location of protesters. And, you know, one of our colleagues here at the Globe, Marika Walsh, right before Tamara Leach was arrested, you know, she was speaking right near Parliament Hill. And, you know, essentially, she told Marika when, you know, she kind of asked her like about the message, you know, should she be arrested? And someone behind her said, hold the line. And then Tamara Leach said, yeah, hold the line and then walked away.

And so what's your response then if you do get arrested, if you're the next person that police do arrest? I'd love it if you'd speak louder. She wants to know what my response would be if I get arrested. What's the response? Hold the line! Hold the line! This is going to be fundamental for the Crown, that they really had a lot of say. And that is why the Crown believes that people, you know, dug in and refused to leave.

We see protests on Parliament Hill, and that's people's right and people go and protest. But again, the Crown is suggesting like this, and we heard this from then Mayor Jim Watson, that this, you know, evolved from being a protest into a siege. Those were words used by the mayor during the convoy, as well as, you know, members of the Ottawa police and the chief, then chief of the Ottawa police, Peter Slowly. Christy, I just want to ask you about the defense argument here, because the defense is arguing that what happened in Ottawa was within the bounds of freedom of assembly, that there was no violence. Has the prosecution given a sense of how it will actually

argue against that defense? You know, I think a big part of this that is also kind of interesting in the trial is there's a lot kind of in the online realm, if you will. There's a lot of text messages and things that they've been trying to get their hands on to present as evidence in court. There's social media. We now see those, again, kind of famous images, right, in the snow of police officers in their combat gear moving in.

You know, they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Tamara Leach and Chris Barber committed crimes. It's not like this happened and there wasn't anyone around to capture it on video, right? Like there's going to be a lot of video evidence, some five hours of video evidence. And this is what the court is working through right now. So, Christy, this trial is expected to last several weeks. More than 20 people are expected to be witnesses. The Crown says there's more than 100 exhibits that they're going to be bringing forward here. Trials are expensive and they can be long ordeals, too. And so I wonder, these defendants, Tamara Leach and

Chris Barber, how are they paying their legal bills for this? It's a really good question because essentially, I just want to point out that Tamara Leach is being represented by one of Ottawa's most prominent lawyers, Lawrence Greenspawn, who I think anyone who has been around the nation's capital would likely know his name because he's represented a lot of high profile clients. And there is an organization called the Democracy Fund that has been raising funds online specifically to pay Lawrence Greenspan. In fact, you see it right on their page that he costs about $300,000 and that, you know, he's he's worth every penny, they say. And so that's kind of been part of the the financial engine, if you will, to try and help Tamara Leach specifically. There's also the involvement of the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms that's based in Calgary. And they have been providing legal counsel for people in the class action, including Tamara Leaching and Chris Barber. And they are

still taking donations for Chris Barber's defense. You were, of course, in court all of last week watching the proceedings. I wonder, was there a moment or maybe a couple of moments that really stuck out to you from everything that you saw then? I think there's one kind of key moment that stands out for me from the first week. And that is when the judge essentially lost her patience. And she actually said very sternly, and I should say that I think we're getting the impression that the judge is certainly not going to take any nonsense. She's pretty matter of fact. And she said that she was very unhappy and she repeated it very unhappy at essentially the timing of the Crown's disclosure of text messages, because the defense had raised concerns about the fact that there were some, you know, 4,000 pages of text messages that were

being whittled down to, you know, about 2,000 pages, and that they have to be able to go through this. And the judge kind of heard this concern. And I'm paraphrasing here, but you know, I'm worried about the ability for, you know, the defense to be able to go through with their cross-examination if they're, you know, kind of getting an indication about what messages in a pile of 4,000 that the Crown is going to be focusing on. And Lawrence Greenspawn, Tamara Leach's lawyer, has essentially kind of raised the broader concern now about, you know, it's about timing of disclosure, but it's also about trial fairness. You mentioned the timeline for the trial, like,

Manika, the judge is already looking to set additional days. Like this is, they have only gotten through one witness. And you can tell that the judge is not happy. She actually called a recess and like said, like, I need essentially like like i need to take a second and walked out of the room because she was so yeah so i guess headline is things have not been going so well it hasn't been a smooth first week and things are snailing along so i have a feeling uh that you know this trial could last longer than expected. Though it sounds like tensions are extremely, extremely high there. Just lastly, Christy, what are you watching for here?

Like what new info might come out in the coming weeks? I find it fascinating when you, we've heard from, you know, Sergeant who was being asked about, you know, again, having to go online and download TikToks. And, you know, it's kind of like a trial in the social media age, right? Like having officers that had to go online and download these videos and the screen captures of Facebook and questions about the admissibility of that evidence. So there's that. I think there could potentially be some challenges in proving, you know, again, that the Crown is saying they crossed the line. They're going to have to show

it. You know, how are they going to try, at least, to point to specific examples? Because Greenspun, who is no stranger to talking to the media, so he'll often come out and like scrum with reporters after a day in court. He kind of like is saying like the evidence so far is just, you know, underscoring their point that this was that this was a peaceful protest. And so we'll see what else is coming. I would never make a prediction about what's going to happen, you know, in any subsequent days in a trial, the judge describing it as an organic process. That is what it is. You never know what's going to happen. So this trial is important because it is, again, what happens to these two key organizers who came to Ottawa and they believe were expressing their rights. And there's lots of other people who feel like they really, you know, went too far in their expression of that. This is certainly something

we're definitely going to be watching over the next few weeks. Christy, thank you so much for taking the time to come and speak with me today. Thank you. That's it for today. I'm Maina Karaman-Wells.

Our producers are Madeline White, Cheryl Sutherland, and Rachel Levy-McLaughlin. David Crosby edits the show. Adrian Chung is our senior producer, and Angela Pachenza is our executive editor. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.