Chris Barber and Tamara Lich

On June 2 of this year, we were pleased to post good news about the acquittal of Harold Jonker, a trucking company owner maliciously charged with criminal offenses for peacefully participating in Canada’s 2022 Freedom Convoy. We noted at that time that two Convoy leaders, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, had not been as lucky.

Lich and Barber were arrested several days after Canada’s federal government invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022. A federal court later pronounced the invocation of the Act unconstitutional. The day after the Lich and Barber arrests, police began brutalizing protesters.

Barber is a trucker and trucking company owner from Saskatchewan who has been described as a pillar of his community. A criminal record carries implications for his trucking business and notably for the ability to cross the U.S. border. Lich—a grandmother, former administrator in the energy sector, and former Governing Council member of the Maverick Party—is a Saskatchewan native who resides in Alberta. In 2019, Lich was involved in “Yellow Vest” and “United We Roll” protests opposing the federal government’s energy and environment policies.

After the prosecution stretched out the hearings over a one-year period, Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey found the two leaders guilty of the criminal charge of “mischief” last April; both await sentencing on October 7. Prosecutors want to put Lich and Barber behind bars for seven and eight years, respectively, and are also angling to confiscate Barber’s truck (that hearing is scheduled for September). Barber’s lawyer calls these punitive recommendations “excessive, abusive, and unconstitutional.”

To support the Freedom Convoy, Lich organized a GoFundMe crowdfund that reached $10 million. About 87% of the nearly 134,000 donors were in Canada, with another 14,000 U.S. donors. After GoFundMe froze the campaign and a second campaign on GiveSendGo received over 113,000 donations totaling over $9.7 million, the donations again were frozen. Notwithstanding a sensationalist headline about “envelopes of cash,” the CBC (the Crown corporation that serves as national public broadcaster) admitted in late 2022 that court orders had prevented convoy organizers from accessing the majority of the funds they raised.

We thank Lich and Barber for their leadership during events that have come to provide one of the most compelling examples of the dangers of financial transaction control.

You can support Barber by shopping at the CB Trucking online store (featuring, among other items, “Freedom over Fear” apparel).