Ottawa organizer Tamara Lich denied bail as court cases reveal who was behind the protests

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This article was published 22/02/2022 (1074 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA—One of the most prominent organizers of the so-called Freedom Convoy remains in jail after she was denied bail on Tuesday, while the racist statements of another protest leader were aired in court as a Crown lawyer argued his release from police custody would “make a mockery” of Canada’s justice system.

Tamara Lich, 49, will stay behind bars for at least another week after Ontario Court Justice Julie Bourgeois delivered a scathing decision to deny her release.

The ruling comes as a tense political debate rages over the Liberal government’s unprecedented invocation of the Emergencies Act to respond to the series of border blockades aligned with the convoy’s weeks-long occupation around Parliament Hill, since cleared as police arrested hundreds of protesters. As some of the most high-profile of them start to appear in court, more information is emerging about who was behind the convoy demonstrations that gripped the capital in recent weeks.

In Lich’s case Tuesday, the judge outlined evidence that the Alberta woman was a key organizer and fundraiser for the demonstration that brought opponents of pandemic health measures to the streets of downtown Ottawa last month, and that Lich repeatedly urged them to “hold the line” in the streets of Canada’s capital.

Bourgeois concluded there was a “substantial” chance Lich would commit more alleged crimes if she was released, and that her continued detention was necessary to preserve confidence in the justice system.

Lich, who was arrested on Feb. 17, is charged with counselling to commit mischief.

“I am satisfied there is evidence that your actions and participation in this offending behaviour had the result of causing or contributing to the serious impact on the physical, mental and financial health and well-being of our community,” Bourgeois told Lich in an Ottawa courtroom Tuesday morning.

“You are certainly facing a potentially lengthy term of imprisonment.”

Daniel Brown, a Toronto defence lawyer and vice-president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, said it is “exceedingly rare” for someone charged with mischief to be denied bail. But this case, he added, is not just a run-of-the-mill mischief charge, and involves allegations of urging people to continue the occupation around Parliament Hill.

“I don’t think we can judge the outcome of this case on the charge that (Lich) is facing, but rather on the seriousness of the behaviour that she was engaged in over the last several weeks,” Brown said.

Throughout her decision, Bourgeois raised questions about Lich’s credibility in light of her testimony during a bail hearing on Saturday.

“I found your testimony to be guarded and your attitude almost obstructive,” Bourgeois said, noting Lich needed to be “significantly pressed for answers” about her personal finances.

Bourgeois questioned the reliability of Lich’s proposed surety, her husband Dwayne, who told the court on Saturday that he took a private plane from Alberta to Ottawa but would only say that a man named “Joseph” had arranged the flight.

Bourgeois said this evasiveness was “disturbing, secretive and mysterious.”

Lich sat behind glass in the prisoners’ box, wearing a black hoodie and a medical mask, as the judge read her decision.

Later Tuesday, another convoy organizer appeared in court for a bail hearing. Patrick King, a far-right influencer with a sizable online following, livestreamed his arrest on Friday after he urged protesters to lie to get past police checkpoints in downtown Ottawa, and warned tow-truck drivers helping police clear the blockades that he would find out who they were.

King, 44, is charged with mischief, counselling to commit mischief, counselling to disobey a court order, and counselling to obstruct police.

He is seeking bail. His surety, a woman from Alberta named Kerry Komix, told the court she is willing to take out at least $50,000 in home equity on her $105,000 home to secure King’s release.

Crown lawyer Moiz Karimjee questioned Komix for roughly two hours in a wide-ranging cross-examination that touched on her relationship with King, her sympathies for the convoy’s cause, her familiarity with King’s online persona and her personal finances.

Komix said she has known King for the past four weeks, since a convoy of vehicles left Alberta bound for Ottawa. Karimjee then played a series of videos, including one titled “violent and racist rants,” in which King is seen referencing “bullets” and how a police officer would get shot.

King also is seen advancing a baseless racist conspiracy theory, alleging the existence of a drive to “depopulate the Anglo-Saxon race” because “they are the ones with the strongest bloodlines.”

Komix said she didn’t know about those comments until the video was played, and defended King as a person who “loves every race.” For example, she said King’s girlfriend has “biracial children.”

Karimjee also questioned Komix about a video that appears to be seeking donations through a cryptocurrency for truckers participating in the convoy demonstrations. The video listed King and Komix as organizers of the initiative, labelling Komix a “freedom fighter.”

Karimjee argued this showed Komix shared King’s stance on the protests, and that she could not be trusted to ensure he adheres to any bail conditions if he is released. Karimjee argued King’s statements during the occupation show a risk he would break the law again and that the allegations against him are so serious — amounting to what Karimjee described as organizing the historic “occupation of the capital of Canada” — that his release would “make a mockery” of the justice system.

“Clearly the court can conclude she does not know the accused, and her being proposed as a surety is like one thief being tasked to supervise another burglar,” Karimjee said, noting the Crown would seek a “significant” prison term for King’s alleged crimes.

King’s lawyer rejected the Crown’s position and argued it would actually be a perversion of the justice system to deny King bail. W. Calvin Rosemond argued Komix is a reliable surety who is willing to post a significant amount of money, and said that King’s online statements — while possibly reprehensible — should have no bearing on whether he is released from jail.

Rosemond also questioned whether it made sense to detain King for possibly months before his trial, when he could potentially be jailed for less time than that if he pleaded guilty right now. And he argued that, during a pandemic, King would be at higher risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 in prison than he would be at Komix’s house.

Rosemond added the Crown has presented no evidence to show King occupied Ottawa streets himself, or that his statements online resulted in people lying to police or breaking the law.

“We can’t be jailing him for things that other people are doing,” Rosemond said.

King remains in custody. A decision on whether he will be granted bail is expected Friday.

Alex Ballingall is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @aballinga