The chief justice was quoted as saying the FreedomConvoy protest was the “beginning of anarchy where certain people decided to take other citizens hostage, to take the law into their own hands.”
Sentence
Lich and Barber were found guilty of mischief in April 2025 for their roles in the 2022 FreedomConvoy protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions.
Emergencies Act
The FreedomConvoy saw hundreds of vehicles converge in Ottawa in the winter of 2022 to demand an end to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and later called for the end of other pandemic restrictions.
Conservative MP Dean Allison posted some of Gladu's past social media posts such as her support for the FreedomConvoy, adding, "I wonder what Gladu’s new party thinks of her views on this."
Barber and Tamara Lich, the main organizers of the 2022 FreedomConvoy protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other pandemic measures, were found guilty of mischief in April.
Crown prosecutors are attempting to seize and auction off Barber’s truck, “Big Red,” which he used to travel from Saskatchewan to Ottawa in early 2022 for the FreedomConvoy protest.
Rogan also criticized the federal government’s response to the 2022 FreedomConvoy protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions.
Keith Wilson, a lawyer who represented several FreedomConvoy organizers, appears as a witness before the Public Order Emergency Commission in Ottawa on Nov. 2, 2022.
However, two years after the FreedomConvoy protests, a Federal Court judge ruled that the Trudeau government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
During her second term as Privy Council clerk, Charette advised the Liberal government to invoke the Emergencies Act against FreedomConvoy protesters in downtown Ottawa, saying the protest presented “threats of serious violence.”
The Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal have ruled that the invocation of the act in 2022 to deal with the FreedomConvoy protest was not justified and breached Charter rights.
She also expressed support for the FreedomConvoy trucker protest against vaccine mandates in January 2022, saying in a social media post, “let those truckers roll.”
Government lawyers argued in court that two "fundamental errors" were made when a judge determined the invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the 2022 FreedomConvoy protest was unjustified.
Ottawa has spent $2.2 million in its lawsuit against groups seeking damages for the invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the FreedomConvoy, according to the federal government.
A judge is expected to issue a decision this morning in the criminal case against one of the most prominent figures of the 2022 FreedomConvoy in Ottawa.
In contrast, current Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner publicly opined in 2022 that the FreedomConvoy amounted to “anarchy” and “forced blows against the state,” which should be “denounced with force.”
As prime minister, I will unite our country for freedom,” Mr. Poilievre said.
The FreedomConvoy protest originated as a demonstration against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for truckers traversing the Canada-U.S. border.
FreedomConvoy organizer Tom Marazzo said in an interview.
"It's literally absurd that the defence doesn't get a chance to look at the evidence being used against them."
