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The February 2022 protests, dubbed the Freedom Convoy, were
sparked by a Canadian government vaccine mandate for truck
drivers crossing the U.S.-Canada border.
Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of protesters clogged the streets
of the capital, Ottawa, and besieged Parliament Hill for three
weeks in early 2022, demonstrating against vaccine mandates for
truckers and other precautions and condemning then Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.
In finding the two guilty of mischief, Ontario Court Justice
Heather Perkins-McVey said the evidence shows that the two
routinely encouraged people to join or remain at the protest,
despite knowing the adverse effect it was having on downtown
residents and businesses.
The defense argued that Lich and Barber called for a peaceful
protest and blamed any disorder on police and city officials.
Perkins-McVey found Lich and Barber not guilty of intimidation,
counselling someone to commit intimidation, obstructing police
and counselling someone to obstruct police.
Barber also was found guilty of counselling to disobey a court
order for telling people to ignore an injunction issued by a
judge directing convoy participants to stop honking their truck
horns in downtown Ottawa.
The truckers’ convoy gridlocked downtown streets around
Parliament Hill, with area residents complaining about the fumes
from diesel engines running non-stop, and unrelenting noise from
constant honking of horns and music from parties.
Truckers also blockaded U.S.-Canada border crossings in protest.
Trudeau’s government ultimately invoked the Emergencies Act to
try and bring an end to the protests. Ottawa Police brought in
hundreds of officers from forces across Canada.
The Freedom Convoy shook Canada’s reputation for civility,
inspired convoys in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands and
interrupted economic trade.
For almost a week the busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing
between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit was blocked. It carries
more than 25% of trade between the countries, who are each
other’s largest trading partners.
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