Jail convoy organizer Tamara Lich again, Crown argues in Ottawa court

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OTTAWA — A Crown prosecutor argued on Thursday that Tamara Lich, an organizer of the “Freedom Convoy,” breached her bail situations by accepting an award for her management in the course of the Ottawa protest.

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A choose initially denied Lich bail after her arrest in the course of the large protest that overtook downtown Ottawa for greater than three weeks in February, however she was launched in March after a evaluate of the court docket resolution.

Lich and fellow protest organizer Chris Barber are collectively accused of mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation.

She was launched with an extended record of situations, together with a ban from all social media and an order to not “assist something associated to the Freedom Convoy.”

The Crown says Lich has violated one among her bail situations by agreeing to simply accept a “freedom award” from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a authorized advocacy group that supported the protest.

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The group deliberate to honour her at a gala celebration for uplifting “Canadians to train their Constitution rights and freedoms by collaborating actively within the democratic course of,” and main the “Freedom Convoy” protest in Ottawa.

That protest advanced right into a weeks-long demonstration that gridlocked the streets of Ottawa. The federal authorities ultimately invoked the Emergencies Act for the primary time in Canadian historical past in an effort to dislodge the contributors.

“Ms. Lich has suffered for the reason for freedom by spending 18 days unjustly jailed, and exemplifies braveness, dedication and perseverance,” the group wrote in an announcement on its web site, which the Crown included in its discover of utility.

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Lich informed the court docket she discovered she gained the award for her management function within the protest in an e mail on March 28, and responded that she’d be honoured to simply accept.

“You have been supporting one thing associated to the Freedom Convoy,” Crown counsel Moiz Karimjee charged when Lich took the stand by video convention.

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Lich informed the court docket, however stated she didn’t really feel it was a breach of her situations.

“I don’t really feel like that’s what the popularity is for. I really feel that the popularity is for uplifting Canadians to carry the federal government to account to the rule of regulation and to uphold their Constitution rights.”

She additionally informed the court docket “there isn’t a convoy anymore.”

Karimjee argued in court docket that Lich ought to return to jail to attend for her path.

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The web site stated Lich would attend the award dinner in Toronto on June 16, if a evaluate of her bail situations would permit her to attend, in addition to occasions in Vancouver and Calgary.

The Toronto occasion is anticipated to incorporate a keynote handle by columnist Rex Murphy.

Over the course of the arguments, the justice repeatedly admonished the Crown for his “decorum,” till Karimjee made the extraordinary request for Ontario Superior Courtroom Justice Kevin Phillips to recuse himself from the listening to.

“I frankly want to contemplate whether or not I have to carry a mistrial utility given Your Honour’s feedback,” Karimjee stated earlier than asking the choose to withdraw from the listening to, telling the court docket he was simply doing his job.

“That request is denied,” Phillips responded.

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Regardless of the tense trade between the Crown and the Justice Phillips, Lich appeared way more relaxed than throughout earlier hearings, when she had sat up straight together with her lands in her lap.

On Thursday, she appeared slouched in her chair together with her arm hanging over the again, sucking on lozenges to ease a sore throat.

Through the protest, Keith Wilson, a Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms lawyer, spoke on behalf of the convoy protesters at a information convention and described Lich as a consumer. He represented Lich and different members of the protest throughout civil proceedings in February that noticed an injunction positioned on the noise that protesters blasted from their vans day and evening within the early days of the demonstration.

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“Tamara Lich must be detained,” the Crown’s discover of utility concludes.

Lich’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, challenged the concept that the award gala was related with the protest. He stated the occasion doesn’t seem like a fundraiser for the protest motion.

Ottawa Sgt. Mahad Hassan informed the court docket Lich wasn’t arrested for the alleged breach, though police felt that they had the grounds, after a dialog with the Crown on Could 3.

The police and the Crown determined to take care of the problem on the scheduled bail evaluate listening to as an alternative.

In the meantime, Lich’s attorneys plan to argue that her bail situations are too restrictive and ought to be reconsidered.

Greenspon informed the court docket Thursday that the social media ban imposed on Lich was unnecessarily broad and has had a big impact on her life whereas she’s been out of custody.

He stated she needs to keep in touch together with her 94-year-old grandmother by social media and talk together with her family and friends.

The listening to is anticipated to proceed Friday.