By Rebel News | Created at 2025-04-03 15:31:06 | Updated at 2025-04-04 22:29:03
1 day ago
Rebel News publisher Ezra Levant is on the scene in Ottawa as Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich is set to receive a verdict in the longest-running mischief trial in Canadian history.
Lich was one of the most prominent faces of the peaceful anti-mandate protests that took Ottawa by storm during early 2022. The Freedom Convoy organizer has pleaded not guilty to mischief, intimidation, obstruction and other charges.
"I know what I was advocating for. And I know the message that I was trying to get across, which was peace and love and unity and respecting the rule of law. Follow the rules. And don't be jerks, basically," Lich told the CBC.
Follow along below for live updates:
The judge rehearses some of the therapy sessions of different people "witnessing" the trucks.
"Dear Diary".
Nothing connected to Tamara Lich. Just whiny bureaucrats who were mad that some people were fed up with the lockdowns.
Judge: Mr. Ayotte admitted "the truckers were living up to their end of the bargain" in terms of moving when asked.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Judge: Mr. Ayotte admitted "the truckers were living up to their end of the bargain" in terms of moving when asked.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Here are my live-tweets from when Kim Ayotte was on the stand. He's like that "energy vampire" on the TV show What We Do in the Shadows.https://t.co/pbZeo5HXyl
It was hearing his testimony that made me realize, this isn't a real trial. It's:
* therapy for woke bureaucrats;
* a…
Oh my God. She's talking about Kim Ayotte now. He was a City of Ottawa emergency response bureaucrats. He testified for hours on one of the days I was at the trial. What a loser he is -- he would go "for walks" around the city and make "observations". But he didn't keep any…
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025So this was a massive police operation -- Ottawa Police, Ontario Provincial Police, and the Quebec Sûreté.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Judge moves on: Sergeant Pilotte was in charge of viewing the truckers Facebook pages. The crown admitted that much of that was "hearsay" and unreliable in other ways.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Inspector Lucas: "there was no physical violence".
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Inspector Lucas "admitted" that people started coming in from all places -- it wasn't particularly organized. And police had no clue what to do with hundreds of trucks coming in.
Lucas said the truckers were "cooperative" with police. "We want to balance the right to free speech…
Various individual citizens were also witnesses. (I should say, none of them witnesses Tamara Lich doing anything. That's what's so gross about this "criminal trial". Tamara Lich was the accused; but there was no evidence she did anything; none of the witnesses saw or interacted…
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025The judge is now listing the various witnesses who testified. Various police and government officials.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Judge: residents testified that people "suffered significant interference" with their lives.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Judge: witnesses said this disrupted transportation; that the noise of horn-honking made it difficult to sleep or work.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Judge: trucks came from across Canada; police directed trucks where to park. (This is very important -- the police were intimately involved with the decisions of where the trucks could go.)
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Judge: some people and their vehicles were part of the convoy, some were curious onlookers; some were in Ottawa to protest but were unaffiliated.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Judge: this was a grassroots movement.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Judge: crown says the accused transformed their conduct into a criminal act, and that violated the rights of others.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Judge: prosecutors concedes political demonstrations are valid.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Judge: the crown conceded that Lich and Barber came to Ottawa with the best of intentions; the crown acknowledged that politics and free speech are not on trial (but that the defendants crossed the line).
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025The judge takes a 15-minute recess in which to set up the Zoom call. I'll be back then.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025The judge says the ruling is 105 pages long. She says she'll read an "abbreviated version" of the ruling. She asks, in jest, "who wants to hear the long version"? And one hand in the gallery goes up.
She says she'll release the complete version later.
The judge says she's going to go through the case and she doesn't want "emotional outbursts" from the gallery.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025The judge warns that cell phone have to be turned off or they'll be seized if they ring.
The judge also says any t-shirts that show support for Tamara Lich have those shirts be turned inside-out. (I haven't seen those, but I've seen some pro-trucker merch.)
The judge is back, with the lawyers. The judge says there are three people who want to join the proceedings by video link (Zoom) including one family member, and one member of the legal team who just had a baby -- those requests were granted.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025Correction: there are more than six lawyers -- I forgot to count the lawyers for Chris Barber, Tamara's co-accused. I'll try to count again, and I think I may have undercounted the prosecution's lawyers, too. There may be ten lawyers here. And a judge. And clerks. And a ton of…
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025There is another matter that was just dealt with in a different case. That's over now. Perkins-McVey has said she wants to see all lawyers in her chambers.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025The courtroom is packed. Six lawyers. A huge contingent of journalists, especially from the mainstream media. And lots of Tamara Lichs supporters.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025The judge is Justice Heather E. Perkins-McVey. She is a fairly senior judge and, in my observation, has been quite attentive throughout this marathon trial. My one criticism is that she has allowed the prosecution to abuse the court's time, by bringing in countless irrelevant…
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 3, 2025I'm in Ottawa for judgement day in the case of R. v. Tamara Lich, the longest-running mischief trial in Canadian history.
Tamara was the "spiritual leader" of the trucker convoy in 2022, and the regime has been tormenting her ever since -- including 49 days in prison. Last week…
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