As Tamara Lich was led away from supporters in handcuffs on the snowy streets of Ottawa in 2022, she threw a single phrase over her shoulder.
“Hold the line,” said the petite figurehead of the “Freedom Convoy” movement as the officers at each of her elbows walked her to the waiting cruiser.
She was echoing the words shouted by of one of her supporters in a scene that was captured on video and circulated online the eve before hundreds of police moved in.
Officers spent the next two days dislodging protesters from the streets around Parliament Hill.
But that parting phrase, which would go on to become the title of Lich’s recently published book, is likely to be at the heart of her criminal trial.
Lich and follow convoy organizer Chris Barber are scheduled to stand trial in Ottawa starting Tuesday for their role in the three-week protest that overtook the streets around downtown and sparked a national emergency declaration.
In the final days of the demonstration, as police began to order people to leave, organizers and supporters used “hold the line” as a rallying cry, as words of encouragement and as a salutation.
Lich and Barber stand co-accused of mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation.
Several of the charges hinge on whether Lich and Barber encouraged protesters to defy police orders by remaining in Ottawa after authorities ordered everyone to clear the streets and, if they did, whether that was a criminal act.
“We do not expect this to be the trial of the ‘Freedom Convoy,”‘ Lich and Barber’s lawyers said in a joint statement Friday.
“The central issue will be whether the actions of two of the organizers of a peaceful protest should warrant criminal sanction.”
Lich told a federal inquiry last year that when she told supporters to “hold the line,” she wasn’t encouraging them to stay in the capital, but rather to “stay true to your values in the face of adversity.”
The trial is expected to last at least 16 days, and is likely to include hundreds of social media posts by Lich, Barber and others, including videos that were livestreamed throughout the protest. Organizers used the live videos to document their experience and share thoughts and updates to supporters.
The court will likely also consider Barber’s private text messages with Lich, which were obtained by Ottawa police and entered as evidence by the Crown during one of Lich’s bail hearings last year. There is a publication ban on any messages regarding anyone other than Lich and Barber.
The “Freedom Convoy” was born out of a conversation between Barber, who owns a Saskatchewan trucking business, and fellow trucker Brigitte Belton on the social media platform TikTok, who had both been venting online about COVID-19 public health measures in early 2022.
They specifically wanted to find a way to protest vaccine mandates that were coming into effect for truckers who crossed the U.S. border and would be forced to quarantine for 14 days if they were unvaccinated.
The idea quickly gained traction and attracted support from Lich, who lives in Alberta and served as founding board member of the fledgling Maverick Party. She was also a previous supporter of the “Yellow Vest” movement that protested federal oil-and-gas policies, but which the Canadian Anti-Hate Network says was co-opted by far-right and extreme anti-Muslim groups.
As the number of organizers and supporters grew, so did the aims of the protest. By the time they arrived in Ottawa, stated goals included opposing all pandemic public-health orders and, for some, overthrowing the elected government.
Lich and Baber rode in the same truck as they travelled to Ottawa.
Since their arrests, they have not been allowed to speak to each other without a lawyer present. Their communications have been facilitated through Keith Wilson, who served as counsel to organizers during the protest.
“Chris and I kinda started off this together as a team and we feel like we have to finish it as a team,” Lich told a crowd earlier this month at an event in Vernon, B.C., to promote her book.
The Crown hopes to establish that Barber and Lich worked together in lockstep, so that evidence against one of them will apply to both.
The demonstration in Ottawa gained international attention when demonstrators arrived in the thousands and refused to leave. Spinoff protests also blockaded several international border crossings between Canada and the U.S.
Big-rig trucks parked on downtown and residential roads, blocking traffic and blaring airhorns at all hours in what became a weeks-long winter block party, complete with fireworks, a live stage, bouncy castles and, famously, an outdoor hot tub.
Some local residents and politicians, meanwhile, described the protest as an “occupation” that left their community in a state of lawlessness. They lived with a constant chorus of airhorns, and some said they were afraid or unable to leave their homes.
Several businesses, including the nearby CF Rideau Centre mall, also shuttered their doors as a precaution.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2023.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
