Tamara Lich admitted in court Thursday that accepting an award for organizing the Freedom Convoy “is related” to the convoy, but testified that she does not believe she violated a bail condition of not supporting anything related to the protest that took over some streets. from downtown Ottawa for weeks.
He made the comments on the first day of his second bail review in Ottawa Superior Court, a proceeding punctuated by tense and dramatic exchanges between prosecutor Moiz Karimjee and Judge Kevin Phillips.
Lich, who is charged jointly with fellow convoy organizer Chris Barber, is charged with mischief, mischief counseling, obstruction of police, counseling to obstruct police, intimidation of counseling, and intimidation by blocking and obstructing one or more roads in connection with the protest.
She has been out on bail since March 7, bound by another Superior Court judge’s order not to “support verbally, in writing, financially, or by any other means, anything related to the Freedom Convoy” and remain out. of Ontario, among other things. other conditions.
Lich sent an email to say that she would be honored to accept
During cross-examination by defense attorney Lawrence Greenspon on Thursday, Lich testified via Zoom video link from Alberta that he wants his bail conditions changed to allow him to visit Ottawa. The reasons are subject to a court-ordered publication ban and may not be disclosed.
He also testified that he “would love to attend” an event in Toronto in June to accept a freedom award, “however, I will not violate my bail conditions to do so.”
On March 28, a charity called the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms emailed Lich to notify her that she had been selected for its 2022 George Jonas Freedom Award, she told the court.
The email, which he read aloud, said the honor was given “in recognition of his leadership role in the Freedom Convoy.”
The announcement of the award on the center’s website states that Lich “took the initiative to help organize a peaceful protest and serve as one of its leaders. The resulting peaceful protest in Ottawa awakened many Canadians to the injustice of closures that violate the Charter and mandatory vaccination policies.”
It also states that she “suffered for the cause of freedom by spending 18 days unjustly imprisoned, and is an example of courage, determination and perseverance.”
The day after receiving the email, Lich responded to say she was “honored” to accept. She didn’t ask if she would be okay, she testified herself under Karimjee’s cross-examination.
When asked if by accepting the award he was endorsing anything related to the convoy, Lich said, “I guess so. I guess so.”
“I don’t feel like this is a violation. I don’t feel like the recognition is for that… I feel like the recognition is to inspire Canadians to hold government accountable to the rule of law and uphold their Charter rights,” continuous.
“I guess it’s related, because of what happened,” he added.
Crown asks judge to recuse himself
Just before a 15-minute break at the end of the afternoon, Phillips told the court that Karimjee’s decorum surprised him and asked Karimjee to “consider that.”
When the court reconvened, Karimjee said he was just “doing my job” and began listing some of his problems with the judge’s comments and rulings, including that Phillips had earlier refused to allow the email notifying Lich about his award was sent to court.
Phillips interrupted. “I am not interested in an argument,” the judge told the Crown. “Continue with your cross-examination.”
“No, I’m not arguing with you…” Karimjee began.
“I don’t want to get involved in this,” Phillips interrupted again. “Continue with your cross-examination. I don’t want to hear from you. I want you to cross-examine the witness. Please proceed.”
“Your honor, I frankly need to consider whether I need to file a request for a mistrial given your honor’s comments,” Karimjee replied.
“I ask that you question the witness, Mr. Karimjee,” Phillips said.
“No, your honor, it is more than that,” Karimjee replied. “…This is a significant case…When confronted with things that I think are inappropriate, I will not remain silent.”
“Do you have any questions for the witness?” Phillips asked after a long pause.
“I ask your honor to recuse yourself,” Karimjee replied.
“That request is denied. Continue your cross-examination,” Phillips said, and Karimjee continued to quickly question Lich.
A rough start from the start
The proceedings had gotten off to a rocky start hours earlier.
The Crown was expected to argue that Lich should go back to jail for allegedly continuing to support the Freedom Convoy, and Lich’s defense team was expected to fight the bail condition that she stay completely off social media.
But instead, the Crown asked the judge to rule on whether a High Court judge has the authority to respond to alleged errors of law made by other High Court judges.
Karimjee argued that Phillips could only deal with arguments about material changes in circumstances. Deciding on a fellow judge’s errors of law could result in the attorney requesting one bail review after another until a judge gives them a favorable ruling, Karimjee told the court.
After a 20-minute recess, Phillips rejected the Crown’s argument, opening the submissions to alleged errors of law, as well as material changes in circumstances. By then, it was “unfortunately” 12:30 pm and the evidentiary hearing had not yet started, Phillips told the court.
The judge says that it is not his job to determine that Lich violated the conditions
The Crown’s first and only witness was Ottawa Police Sgt. Mahad Hassan, the file coordinator on the case. (Detective Chris Benson is the lead investigator, but he was busy testifying in a murder case, the court heard.)
Hassan testified that he believed the more expensive VIP tickets to Toronto’s Freedom Award event would give ticket holders “a chance to meet the VIPs featured in the brochures,” in this case, Lich and columnist Rex Murphy.
During Greenspon’s cross-examination, Hassan admitted that there was no mention that Lich would attend.
As Karimjee conducted Hassan’s evidence in chief, Phillips bristled at the idea that he might be asked to decide whether Lich breached his bail condition, rather than the police.
“That’s a task I’m not familiar with. Usually, I’m not a condition of release police officer… Are you trying to put me in a position to find a loophole here, to declare that she broke the law?” ?” Phillips asked.
Karimjee responded that he has the right to present evidence showing that Lich violated the terms of his release, citing the Penal Code.
Lich arrested in February
Lich was arrested on February 17 and originally charged with consulting mischief, shortly before a major police operation removed protesters and vehicles from the streets of Ottawa.
He was initially denied bail by Ontario court judge Julie Bourgeois, who told the court she found Lich to be cautious and “almost obstructive” at times, and was not convinced Lich would go. home, stay home and leave his so-called counseling.
Lich and her then-lawyer Diane Magas appealed Bourgeois’ decision, leading to her first bail review in high court in early March.
Superior Court Judge John Johnston ruled in favor of Lich after the one-day proceeding, saying that she had been a “valued employee” in Alberta and had lived a “crime-free” life, and that the risk in Ottawa had been downplayed after police cleared the streets. .
Lich was released after spending about 18 days in custody at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Center. Other bail conditions included that he leave Ottawa within 24 hours, refrain from using social media and have no contact with certain co-organizers.
A surety for Lich, who cannot be identified due to a court-ordered publication ban, posted a $20,000 cash bond, while Lich herself posted an additional $5,000 cash bond.
Lich’s bail review continues Friday morning.
Reference-www.cbc.ca