CONVOY TRIAL DIARY: DAY ONE

A sign of hope from an unlikely place

Tamara and her lawyer Lawrence Greenspon

News coverage of the Lich/Barber trial hasn’t been terrible. A piece this morning from CBC — wich delivered some of the most dishonest coverage of the convoy, does a moderately fair recounting of what is to come. It is full of tone and bias — calling Lich and Barber infamous but if you wade through the swamp of obvious dislike and the self-serving style, it suggests the media might be turning away from the smears, while still hedging its bets.

Remember CBC got a ton wrong — arson, Russia, source of donations, mistakes they have quietly dropped. Evidence from the POEC destroyed those allegations and one wonders if the CBC is trying to get ahead of either a dropping of charges or an acquittal. The ramifications for the news media are huge.

When the highly anticipated trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber finally gets underway this week, there likely won't be much arguing about what happened or what roles the two infamous figures played during the 2022 "Freedom Convoy" protests in Ottawa. 

That winter, the two led thousands of trucks and other vehicles to the capital. They rallied the protesters, and told them to "hold the line" when police tried to break up the honking crowds. They also raised millions of dollars for the movement.

Through every turn, Lich and Barber stood as leaders — documenting themselves in a barrage of selfies, livestreams and social media posts. Lich even published a book in April about her experience. 

These facts won't be disputed. 

What will be, however, is whether what they did was criminal. The legal consequences of this trial's outcome will be the stuff of many disputes to come — both on the national political stage and in smaller gatherings between friends and family. 

Guilty or not, the judge's decision will almost certainly divide public opinion.

The Canadian Press did better with a piece they updated this morning.

The protest inspired similar demonstrations at several international border crossings and precipitated the first invocation of the federal Emergencies Act since the legislation was created in 1988.

Lich and Barber are co-accused, both charged with mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation.

The trial is expected to last at least 16 days.

Barber, who owns a trucking company in Saskatchewan, is also charged with counselling others to disobey a court order that banned loud honking in Ottawa's downtown core.

The trial must remain focused on the specific accusations again Lich and Barber, Lich's lawyer Lawrence Greenspon told the court during a pretrial hearing this summer.

It must not, he said, be a criminal trial of the convoy protest writ large.

Barber testified before a federal inquiry last year that the idea for the protest was initially born out of a conversation between him and another truck driver over the social media platform TikTok.

We are expecting a zoo at the courthouse so I am heading over early to get a seat inside. Everyone seems to be in good spirits but the seriousness of the day is lost on no one. There is a real possibility this could go south for Tamara and Chris as I learned long ago that one cannot count on what happens in a courtroom. But the media coverage seems to have settled down a bit.

There is a real sense here that a conviction would be bad for the country — divisive and harmful for years to come. We’ll see.

Stay critical.

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