OTTAWA – Tamara Lich, one of the main organizers of the “Freedom Convoy”, was arrested in Alberta for violating the conditions for her bail set by the court. This is what the Ottawa police say. The arrest was confirmed by Eric Granger, one of his lawyers who said he was awaiting further details. Keith Wilson, another lawyer who defended Lich posted on Twitter that “the heroine of the Freedom Convoy” was stopped by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Medicine Hat, Alberta, where she lives.
There are few details about the new arrest of Tamara Lich, many speculations even if the hypothesis that it may be related to her trip to Toronto to accept the George Jonas Freedom Award is gaining more and more strength.
A photo of Lich during the June 16 event with former military officer Tom Marazzo, who was among the leaders of the Ottawa demonstration against Covid-19 restrictions, has been posted on Facebook.
This is the second arrest for Lich. A judge initially denied the woman bail after her arrest during the massive protest that set the capital on fire in February for more than three weeks but Lich was released in March after a review of the court’s decision.
The woman, who was one of the first leaders of the Wexit movement, which later became the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta, was released with a long list of conditions to be met, including a ban on using all social media, an order not to organize any kind of protest and not to “give her support to anything related to the Freedom Convoy” and that of not having contact with many of the leaders who led the protest of truck drivers in Ottawa. “We are not aware of anything that may have resulted in her detention and we are surprised by this development, given the recent bail review hearing in Ontario, where Ms. Lich’s positive record for complying with her condition was one of the reasons why some of her condition was loose,” Attorney Granger wrote in an email.
Last month, Ontario Superior Court Judge Kevin Phillips ruled that Lich could remain free until his trial by not granting a request to send her back behind bars by the prosecutor that he “violated one of his bail conditions by accepting a reward for his leadership during the Ottawa protest.”
Phillips justified his decision by saying that since Lich had “followed her bail conditions and had already tried ‘prison’ her risk of recidivism was very low. In June, however, the leader of the Freedom Convoy came to Toronto to collect the award and concluded her speech by saying “Glory to freedom, glory to Canada”.
Meanwhile, Ottawa is preparing for another round of protests scheduled to begin in conjunction with Canada Day. The Veterans for Freedom – sister organization of the Freedom Convoy – will arrive in the capital to protest the remaining vaccination restrictions in place. Mayor Jim Watson and the city’s police reassure residents: “This time they won’t find us unprepared,” they say.
In the pic, Tamara Lich with the president of Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedom, John Carpay, and the chairman of Justice Centre, Jonathan Allen (photo credits Twitter Rupa Subramanya)
