Prosecutors drop bail violation charge against Freedom Convoy’s Tamara Lich

Crown prosecutors say they are staying one charge against Freedom Convoy personality Tamara Lich because the trial has consumed so much time already.

The charge was laid when Lich was rearrested in June 2022 after she attended a freedom of speech gala in Toronto and accepted the George Jonas Freedom Award. She was accused of communicating with Tom Marazzo, another prominent figure in the Freedom Convoy protest. 

Lich and Chris 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 trial began in mid-September but has become bogged down in minutiae as the Crown insisted upon reviewing hundreds of social media videos and hearing from various Ottawa residents who objected to the protest – Lich’s defense counsel, Lawrence Greenspon, has dismissed the testimony of these witnesses as “hearsay.”

Police did not charge Marazzo with any alleged offense. He was often the Convoy’s spokesman at Ottawa news conferences that were often hastily organized during the protest.

Lich’s second incarceration outraged supporters of the Freedom Convoy after Ottawa police issued a Canada-wide warrant for her arrest. Police put her into custody in Medicine Hat, Alta. and then flew her back to Ottawa. 

She was eventually released again on bail which included a $37,000 bond and stipulations that prevented her from speaking with protest organizers or even using social media.
 
The Crown announced its decision to stay the charges during a short court appearance Monday.
 
The trial resumes Thursday.