MONTREAL — The basic right to free speech and assembly were at the heart of the defense in the frame-up criminal trials of Pat King, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, the most prominent spokespersons for the three-week 2022 “Freedom Convoy” protest in Ottawa, Canada’s capital. Truck drivers initiated the action, demanding the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeal job-threatening COVID-19 mandates.
The demonstration was broken up by thousands of heavily armed police after Trudeau invoked, for the first time ever, the draconian Emergencies Act. King was arrested four days later. He then spent nine months in jail without ever having been convicted of any charges. He was only released after a court imposed heavily repressive bail conditions designed to gag him and break his resistance.
Lich and Barber were arrested and charged as “co-accused,” facing numerous criminal charges, which could result in sentences of up to 10 years in prison. Their unprecedented judge-only yearlong trial ended Sept. 13 last year.
On Feb. 19 King was sentenced by Justice Charles Hackland to three months house arrest, 12 months probation, and 100 hours of community service, factoring in the nine months King already spent behind bars. Last November Hackland had found King guilty of mischief, and “counseling” protesters to obstruct a police officer. He was acquitted on three other charges.
Government prosecutors had called for the maximum allowable sentence of 10 years.
Hackland rejected the state’s urging, saying, “An overly severe sentence of imprisonment, in the context of legitimate constitutionally protected activity could have the effect of creating a chill of fear of participation in political expression.”
This amounts to an admission that King’s actions were nothing more than an exercise of free speech. It reflects the pressure of the broad working-class support for the truckers’ protest and opposition to the Emergencies Act.
Following the hearing, King was unable to comment to the news media because his bail conditions bar him from speaking to the press.
Lich and Barber have faced similar government mistreatment since their arrest. At one bail hearing, the government had Lich brought into court in shackles to give the appearance she was a dangerous criminal. The judge angrily ordered them removed.
The verdict in their case is expected to be handed down by an Ontario judge March 12.
Repeal the Emergencies Act!
The government’s use of the Emergencies Act was challenged in court by the Canadian Constitution Foundation, backed by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and other organizations.
Federal Court Justice Richard Mosely ruled in favor of the challenge in January 2024, saying there was in fact no national public order emergency during the convoy protest. He held Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act was unconstitutional, a violation of the right to free speech.
The government appealed the ruling and a three-judge federal appeals court in Ottawa heard arguments in the case Feb. 4-5. No timetable has been set for a decision.
“Justice Mosely’s ruling should be upheld,” Katy LeRougetel, one of the Communist League’s candidates in upcoming federal elections, told the Militant Feb. 28. “In fact, the Emergencies Act should be repealed. It’s a threat to the union movement, as the Ontario Public Service Employees Union has said. The right to strike and to protest could be targeted by governments across Canada using the act.
“The use of the Emergencies Act by Ottawa set the stage for the use of federal labor laws to order striking port, rail and postal workers back to work over the last year,” she said.