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The prosecution in the trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber has focused this week on Ottawa residents who were supposedly aggrieved by the Freecom Convoy protests in Ottawa in January and February 2022.
Lich and Barber are charged with mischief, counseling others to commit mischief, intimidation, and obstructing police as leaders of the Freedom Convoy that polarized residents of Ottawa in 2022 and arguably began to roll back Covid mandates.
The people they have dug up as witnesses seem so detached from the regular folks who were really aggrieved by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s authoritarian Covid mandates that it is almost laughable to listen to the testimony.
But one of the prosecution’s prize witnesses Friday revealed her agenda when she admitted she was part of a $300 million class action suit leveled against the Freedom Convoy. Chantal Biro owns a number of high-end women’s clothing stores in Ottawa’s Market area. During her testimony Friday she complained about people standing outside the door of her primary business on Sussex St. and claimed to hear unceasing noise from the Convoy, although she said she was only at the store from “11 or 12 to five or six” while the truckers were in town.
She claimed to have smelled “unusual” scents in the downtown core that included “exhaust,” “weed” and “cigarette smoke.”
When questioned further about her motivation for testifying, Biro admitted to “participating” in the $300 million dollar class action suit being waged against the Freecom Convoy.
She even claimed that someone outside of her storefront door called her “f*cking c*nt.” She later said that this individual was a woman but did not provide a shred of evidence that she was a protester.
Despite her objection to the smells and noise of the Freedom Convoy, she said Friday that she had witnessed little else as she went from her home outside of the downtown area to a parking garage located on York St. to her primary shop.
She was asked by the defense counsel if she had seen any of the humanity of the Freedom Convoy protesters that has been so reported.
”Did I see people hugging? I don't recall,” she told the courtroom.
“Not from my point of view, did see it. I heard about them dancing but I do not personally see them dance.”
And “no, I didn't see children,” she said in response to a question as to whether she had watched the sons and daughters of the truckers playing on the streets. Some in bouncy castles that former Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson not only observed but described repeatedly with derision.
A Freedom Convoy demonstrator who was present at the trial suggested it was possible that Biro simply kept her door locked during much of the protest.
Though Biro says her sales were low during the protest, she was not asked whether those sales were also low during the Covid pandemic when Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Mayor Watson had Ottawa on lockdown.
This barrage of alleged grievances begs the question of how this all amounts to a hill of beans in this trial of two people alleged to be the ringmasters of the Freedom Convoy protest. Even if all these stories are true, how does it any way implicate Lich or Barber for somehow inciting this bad behavior? Every video shown by either the defense or prosecution – up to this point – has demonstrated how both Lich and Barber encouraged a peaceful protest, exhorted truckers and their supporters to obey the police and begged everyone to not disturb Ottawa residents because their disagreement was not with them.
This is clearly another diversion from a prosecution desperate to make a political point at the expense of justice.
Lich and Barber are charged with mischief, counseling others to commit mischief, intimidation, and obstructing police as leaders of the Freedom Convoy that polarized residents of Ottawa in 2022 and arguably began to roll back Covid mandates.
The people they have dug up as witnesses seem so detached from the regular folks who were really aggrieved by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s authoritarian Covid mandates that it is almost laughable to listen to the testimony.
But one of the prosecution’s prize witnesses Friday revealed her agenda when she admitted she was part of a $300 million class action suit leveled against the Freedom Convoy. Chantal Biro owns a number of high-end women’s clothing stores in Ottawa’s Market area. During her testimony Friday she complained about people standing outside the door of her primary business on Sussex St. and claimed to hear unceasing noise from the Convoy, although she said she was only at the store from “11 or 12 to five or six” while the truckers were in town.
She claimed to have smelled “unusual” scents in the downtown core that included “exhaust,” “weed” and “cigarette smoke.”
When questioned further about her motivation for testifying, Biro admitted to “participating” in the $300 million dollar class action suit being waged against the Freecom Convoy.
She even claimed that someone outside of her storefront door called her “f*cking c*nt.” She later said that this individual was a woman but did not provide a shred of evidence that she was a protester.
Despite her objection to the smells and noise of the Freedom Convoy, she said Friday that she had witnessed little else as she went from her home outside of the downtown area to a parking garage located on York St. to her primary shop.
She was asked by the defense counsel if she had seen any of the humanity of the Freedom Convoy protesters that has been so reported.
”Did I see people hugging? I don't recall,” she told the courtroom.
“Not from my point of view, did see it. I heard about them dancing but I do not personally see them dance.”
And “no, I didn't see children,” she said in response to a question as to whether she had watched the sons and daughters of the truckers playing on the streets. Some in bouncy castles that former Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson not only observed but described repeatedly with derision.
A Freedom Convoy demonstrator who was present at the trial suggested it was possible that Biro simply kept her door locked during much of the protest.
Though Biro says her sales were low during the protest, she was not asked whether those sales were also low during the Covid pandemic when Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Mayor Watson had Ottawa on lockdown.
This barrage of alleged grievances begs the question of how this all amounts to a hill of beans in this trial of two people alleged to be the ringmasters of the Freedom Convoy protest. Even if all these stories are true, how does it any way implicate Lich or Barber for somehow inciting this bad behavior? Every video shown by either the defense or prosecution – up to this point – has demonstrated how both Lich and Barber encouraged a peaceful protest, exhorted truckers and their supporters to obey the police and begged everyone to not disturb Ottawa residents because their disagreement was not with them.
This is clearly another diversion from a prosecution desperate to make a political point at the expense of justice.
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