Tamara Lich and Chris Barber — two major figures of the 2022 “Freedom Convoy” — will find out Tuesday if they will receive prison time after being found guilty of mischief earlier this year.
The pair are due in court in Ottawa for sentencing following sentencing hearings that were held in July.
Crown prosecutor Siobhain Wetscher previously asked Justice Heather Perkins-McVey to impose extraordinary sentences — eight years’ imprisonment for Barber and seven for Lich — arguing that such heavy penalties would reflect the profound impact the two had on the public during the protests they led in Ottawa.
That winter, Lich and Barber encouraged thousands of protesters to park their vehicles in the city’s downtown core, causing gridlock for weeks. They also raised millions of dollars to protest against the federal Liberal government’s COVID-19 mandates.
The federal government eventually invoked the Emergencies Act to clear the protests.
Lawyers for Lich and Barber called for an absolute discharge, with Barber’s lawyer Diane Magas saying an eight-year sentence would be “abusive.”
A discharge would mean no criminal record and no additional jail time for Lich, who has already been imprisoned for 19 days, plus another 30 for a breach of her bail conditions.
In July, Lich’s lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said his client enjoyed widespread public support.
“They stood up for thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of people, who believed that their human dignity and freedoms had been compromised by government-mandated vaccinations,” Greenspon said at the time.
Lich came to Ottawa with “the best of intentions,” he said.
Speaking on Monday, Greenspon told CBC he and Lich were “cautiously optimistic,” though he remained unsure of how the judge would rule.
“It’s very much up in the air,” he said, saying his client is “very much looking forward to having this ended.”
