Not Good News for the Lich-Barber Trial, the Coutts Four or Others Charged in Freedom Convoy

Clearly the Crown’s prosecuting Freedom Convoy defendants are under orders to employ lawfare to crush these people

An Ontario Superior Court judge’s order to retry Freedom Convoy protester Allen Remley, is not good news for the Tamara Lich and Chris Barber who are still on trial facing charges of mischief, counselling mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation. The ruling could have implications for many others who participated in the protest and are still facing charges as well.

Remley was acquitted last year by Justice Heather Perkins-McVey who is also presiding over the Lich-Barber trial. Police had accused Remley of being involved in a ‘mobile gas station’ which amounted to a children's wagon filled with jerry cans, and he was also illegally parked. Perkins-Mcvey ruled that the Crown had failed to adequately prove that he was engaged in mischief during the protest. “Based on the evidence before me, the best we have is jerry cans in a wagon ten feet away with dozens of people milling about.” She maintained that in the absence of more evidence, doubts persist whether he was committing a crime or even shared the same aims or political beliefs as the protesters.

But Ontario Superior Court Justice Narissa Somji disagreed with Perkins-McVey’s verdict and has ordered a retrial for Remley. Somji concluded that Perkins-McVey didn’t adequately take the ‘context’ of  the protest into account. Somji agreed that simply being at the scene wasn’t enough to prove guilt, but found the decision didn’t take into account “the evidence as a whole, including evidence of the ongoing protest.” She further added, "That it goes beyond directly engaging in activities that directly blocks or prohibit people from using and enjoying property for its intended purpose.” 

Now, I am not a lawyer, but this seems like some pretty flimsy ‘grounds’ upon which to overturn an acquittal . This judge seems to be of the view that the ‘context’ of the protest needed to be taken into account, whatever that means. And this is particularly interesting, as it pertains to the Lich-Barber trial, as from the outset, despite the Crown’s efforts to do so, Justice Perkins-McVey, explicitly said on numerous occasions that it was not the Freedom Convoy that was on trial. Yet, Somji seems to think it should be. But can anyone guess who appointed Narissa Somji as Justice to the Superior Court? Why that would be the former Attorney General of the Trudeau government David Lametti, who was just recently demoted from his post and has since ‘retired’ as an Member of Parliament. Could that have anything to do with her overturning a colleagues verdict on a trial involving a protester from the convoy. As well, Remley is not the first person from the convoy who was acquitted to have their acquittal overturned by a superior court.

Justice Narissa Somji was appointed by David Lametti, former Justice Minister and Attorney General for the Trudeau government.

There seems to be a pattern going on in Canada’s justice system when it comes to the prosecution of protesters associated with the Freedom Convoy and that is to use any means to keep them tied up in the courts and/or make an example of them. Take the Lich-Barber trial for instance. First it took 18 months for their case to even get to court. Sixteen days were set aside for their trial, but the Crown – due to issues over late disclosure of evidence to the defence and poor preparation of witnesses, among other things — managed to take 23 days to present its case. The trial began in September of 2023 and is set to reconvene in March 2024.

Chris Barber (and wife) and Tamara Lich leaving court with their lawyers.

Allen Remley who thought he was a free man, now has to hire a lawyer again, to go back to court to defend himself again, after being acquitted, of a ridiculous charge of mischief in the first place.

70 year old Allen Remley, pictured in Africa performing missionary work.

Meanwhile, in Alberta, the Coutts Four – four men who have been in custody for almost two years had to wait almost six months to get a trial date of June 23, 2023. But due to pretrial motions, and again, late and non-disclosure of evidence to the defence by the Crown, and accuations of prosecutorial misconduct, that trial has been stalled, with a new trial date set for May of this year. These four men – Chris Carbert, Chris Lysak, Jerry Morin and Tony Olienick – who participated in the Coutts border blockade protest in support of the Freedom Convoy, were charged with conspiracy to commit murder of police following a series of raids by the RCMP in the Coutts area just before the Emergencie Act was invoked. There are nine other people in Alberta who were charged with mischief over $5000.00 or possession of a dangerous weapon as a result of those raids, who have trial dates coming.

James Sowery sentenced to ten months in prison.

They have a right to be concerned as to how their cases might go given the recent sentencing of James Sowery, who participated in the Coutts blockade protest. He was sentenced to 10 months in prison after being found guilty, by a jury, of assault with a weapon and dangerous driving, for what amounted to hitting a highway pylon at an RCMP checkpoint. The RCMP officer at that checkpoint accused Sowery of trying to hit him. The judge’s sentence, most notably, considered Sowery’s actions to be politically motivated for his opposition to COVID-19 mandate, and that a message of deterrence was need to be sent to like-minded individuals. So in other words, don’t protest government policies – even if they are bad policies or you will be punished. 

All of these people need lawyers, and lawyers cost money. Both Lich and Barber are having their legal fees funded through the Democracy Fund . The Coutts Four are also relying on crowdfunding through GiveSendGo, as well as funding raising initiatives through Political Prisoners of Alberta to help pay their legal fees. These cases, to date, have cost the accused thousands upon thousands of dollars. But, the government has a bottomless pit of money—taxpayers money—your money.

But this is the new method of punishment for those Freedom Convoy protesters who chose to challenge the Trudeau government – Lawfare. If they can’t convict them, or send them to jail — and even if they can — on top of that they can wear them down mentally, emotionally, physically and financially, because eventually their cash wells will run dry and they will be financially destroyed. As they say – the process is the punishment.

These people both challenged and embarrassed the Trudeau government, and Trudeau himself. His narcissism brings with it a very vindictive nature that he has diplayed numerous times as Prime Minister — former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Reybold can attest to that, as can many others. With the Liberals having a very firm hold on the courts, it is also on display now.

Many were hopeful that the Federal Court’s finding the Liberal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act on the convoy illegal, unconstitutional and infringed on Charters, might have an impact on those facing charges related to the convoy. How it might affect the zeitgeist in terms of how the Crown pursues those charges going forward. However, given Justice Somji’s overturning the aquittal of Allen Remley and the recent punitive sentencing of James Sowery, the ongoing persecution of the Coutts Four in denying them bail, and the Liberal’s decision to appeal the Federal Court’s ruling on the legality of their invocation of the Emergencies Act, my optimism on it dimishes daily, as still the majority of Canadians seem completely deaf, dumb and blind to the malcious nature of this government.