Liberal Gov't of Canada Where Freedom of Speech and Protests are Protected -- Just Not Against the Gov't

"It is Mr. Barber's position that he followed the instruction of the police as to where to park Big Red and that he moved Big Red at the request of the police when it was safely feasible for him to do so; as such Big Red was not used in the commission of the offence of mischief."

Defence documents filed in Gov't suit

 

"It would amount to, in my opinion, cruel and  unusual punishment. [If the judge sentences Barber to prison time and he loses his truck], that would be a really harsh financial hardship for him and his family."

"[Taking his truck would be] totally out of proportion [to the mischief caused]."

"Now his son is also driving, and he has a couple of employees that sometimes drive it too, so it's a legitimate source of business for himself, his family and his employees. [Taking away Barber's truck would cause his family] extreme financial difficulties."

"That truck's been part of his family for over 20 years. His children grew up in that truck. One of his dogs died in the truck. He had wedding pictures by the side of the truck. So, that truck is part of the family. It was named Big Red by his children when they were younger." 

Lawyer Diane Magas  

Government of Canada

The Government of Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic prioritizes the health and safety of Canadians. We are committed to keeping our transportation sector, including employees and travellers, safe and secure.

Transport Canada has taken action in all modes to protect passengers and essential transportation workers while continuing to support the flow of critical goods and services during this unprecedented global crisis. 

Vaccination plays an important role in keeping each other and our transportation system safe and secure. That is why we are ensuring travellers and workers in the transportation sector are vaccinated against COVID-19.

Since October 30, employers in the federally-regulated air, rail and marine transportation sectors have been required to have vaccination policies in place for their employees.

The vaccine mandate that came into effect in October has helped to protect transportation workers from the impacts of Omicron by reducing the frequency and severity of the COVID-19 illness.

With vaccination rates at home and around the world increasing, and the epidemiological situation continuing to evolve, it is important that Canada’s border and travel related measures reflect the current global and domestic context.

 

During the height of the COVID pandemic, Canada's federal lockdown strategies and inoculation mandates infuriated many Canadians. In particular a mandate that all truckers, including long-haul be vaccinated in line with government orders. Non-compliance would result in the nullification of truckers' licenses; they would effectively be put out of commission, jobless. It might have made sense for drivers of buses or any other vehicles where the drivers came in contact with other people, but truckers sit alone in their rigs, delivering goods, seeing few other people other than at delivery ramps.

 

A coalition of dissenting truckers began a cross-Canada journey in a convoy of like-minded people, all seeking to protest the government's mandates on COVID-19 infection prevention in a joint agreement that the government had gone too far, impacting the lives of tens of thousands unnecessarily and their plan was to confront the government directly, as they headed to Ottawa. Once there, the convoy parked their vehicles in the downtown area close to Parliament Hill, asking to speak to the prime minister who soon made his contempt for them and their mission a matter of public display.

 

In the central downtown area where the convoy was parked, friction between residents and convoy participants soon arose; commotion, blocking access to local businesses, noise emanating from the honking of the horns of the rigs, all conspired to arouse resentment and anger in locals. Justin Trudeau refused to meet with or speak to the organizers, one of whom was trucker Chris Barber. The upshot of a standoff where the convoy invoked their right to peaceful assembly and protest and freedom of speech, and the municipality of Ottawa dealing with neighbourhood complaints came to a head when the Trudeau government invoked the modern version of the War Measures Act (Emergencies Act) enabling government to put an end to the convoy's presence.

Protesters participating in a cross-country truck convoy walk near Parliament Hill on January 29, 2022. (Adrian Wyld/CP)

 

Part and parcel of the Emergencies Act implementation was to bring court cases against two of the more prominent convoy organizers, Chris Barber and Tamara Lich. As for citizens who supported the convoy with donations, they were identified and their bank accounts frozen. Draconian measures were imposed by government on any individual or group or company that had been involved in support of the convoy and its protests. Dramatic persecutory actions belying the democratic nature of the country. The Crown seeks a 7-year sentence for Lich, and eight years for Barber. 

"I’ve worked hard all my life as a trucker, and ‘Big Red’ is the heart of my business."

"Taking it away wouldn’t just be punishing me — it would take away my ability to provide for my family and employees." 

"The Crown is trying to forfeit this truck and then destroy it," Chris Barber says. Photo by Courtesy Chris Barber // JUSTIN TANG / The Canadian Press

 

More recently Canadian cities have been witness to thousands of keffiyeh and mask-clad supporters of a terrorist-proscribed Palestinian group, Hamas, assembling time and again to block intersections, interfere with traffic, threaten Jewish Canadians, picket synagogues and Jewish parochial schools, vandalize Jewish businesses, call for a global Intifada, chant slogans calling for the destruction of Israel, intimidate and threaten those who disagree with them, and no government or police action has ever been taken. 

 

In those protests it is not uncommon to see the flags of Palestinian and Yemeni terrorist groups flown, even though these are recognized terrorist groups and are present on Canada's terror list, including Samidoun, which continues to have its headquarters in Vancouver, and continues its agitation, with the federal government looking the other way. Palestinian supporters have protested in front of the offices of Members of Parliament, they have interfered with public events and shut down special events, yet no official action is taken, even when pedestrian and vehicular traffic is blocked off for mass Islamic street prayers.

 

The long-standing persecution since 2022 of the convoy principals continues with a Crown forfeiture application to take the 2004 Kenworth long-haul truck valued at over $150,000 from the ownership of Swift Current, Saskatchewan trucker Chris Barber. Should Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey judge that the truck was used in the commission of mischief, the truck called Big Red would be seized. "The Crown is trying to forfeit this truck and then destroy it", states Mr. Barber, pointing out "It's been my home fore the better part of 22 years". Where the collar of his dog Buddy, hangs from the ceiling. "The dog travelled with me for the better part of 17 years".

 

Both Barber, 50, and Tamara Lich, both Freedom Convoy organizers, convicted of mischief under the argument that the protest was the cause of broad community harm, have had many court appearances during their prolonged trials. Any unaffected objective observer would come away from the charade of government upholding the law on civil disobedience with its determined persecution of these people bearing the indelible impression that this is a government bent on vengeance, not upholding the law, applied unevenly to suit the mood of the government apparatus. 

 

Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber outside the courthouse in Ottawa in a file photo. Photo by Justin Tang /The Canadian Press 

"There's a great divide between the two sides. There are citizens of Ottawa that really took it to heart and felt interfered with and still some have a hatred. He's got death threats."

"I've got emails from people that were very hateful to me as a lawyer for him. I've been a criminal lawyer for over 30 years, defended a lot of different types of crimes much worse than this, and never got that type of attention and hatred from regular people."

"Mr. Barber has to cross into the United States for his work purposes. [A criminal record might see him turned away at the border]."

Lawyer Diane Magas