Former Ontario Independent MPP Randy Hillier (Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston) is free at last. After careful consideration and deliberation, Ontario Court of Justice (OCJ) Justice Heather Perkins-McVey agreed the Crown attorney failed to act properly in prosecuting charges from the Freedom Convoy against Hillier and had violated his rights, including by not having the case prosecuted within 30 months. “All criminal charges against me have been stayed and all bail conditions extinguished by Justice Perkins-McVey on November 14th, 2024,” said Hillier in a Friday blog post. “I have begun reviewing the 32-month record with the great team of volunteers to determine and evaluate the conduct and actions of the Ottawa Crown, Ottawa Police and other elected and administrative bodies that may have conducted this prosecution contrary to their legal obligations and determine if there are grounds for civil remedies.”For 32 months, Hillier had been prohibited by the OCJ from posting or commenting on the Freedom Convoy. He had been accused of nine criminal charges by Ottawa Police Service (OPS) Det. Akiva Geller. In 2022, the Crown sought a three-and-a-half year prison sentence to punish him for engaging in civil disobedience to protest against the Canadian government’s COVID-19 restrictions. The OCJ had imposed financial sureties on his family and restricted his freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and mobility rights as conditions for release in 2022. He alleged the actions by the Crown and OPS “were motivated by a political agenda that began two years earlier, in March of 2020, as I became the first elected Parliamentarian in Canada to oppose the foundational corruption of the ‘Pandemic.’”Hillier concluded by saying he wanted “to thank the many wonderful people who have prayed, supported me, and contributed to my defence and have been stalwart in defending our faith, freedom, and families during this dark period of corruption in Canada.” “God Bless you all!” he said. Perkins-McVey had said the case had been ongoing for 1,061 days, but certain delays would not be counted to the total.“This brings the total net delay to 31 months and 13 days,” she said. “The remaining delay is over the 30-month Jordan ceiling.” As a result, the application against Hillier’s charges was granted. Therefore, they were stayed. Hillier had been slapped with nine criminal charges and surrendered to the OPS in 2022..SELICK: Randy Hillier gets bail – but also gets silenced.He had been accumulating provincial charges for various No More Lockdowns protests he had organized and attended across Ontario, but sources have said many of them were being delayed and dropped by Crown attorneys who did not want to face a Charter challenge. However, criminal charges by the OPS were a different kettle of fish. The charges he faced were two counts of mischief/obstruct property exceeding $5,000, three counts of counselling to commit an indictable offence, three counts of obstructing/resisting a person aiding a peace officer, and one count of assault on a peace or public officer.
