Tamara Lich and Chris Barber appeared in court Thursday for the third day of trial for their roles in the Freedom Convoy, which rolled into Ottawa late January 2022. Court wrapped early, a few minutes after 3pm EST, due to counsels taking an extended break to discuss redactions. . Chris BarberChris Barber .The Freedom Convoy organizers are charged with mischief, intimidation, obstructing a police officer and counseling to commit the same offenses. .The entire day was spent viewing social media footage collected by the fourth witness of the trial, Sergeant Joanne Pilotte of the Ontario Police Services (OPS) homicide unit, who, alongside Detective Chris Benson, fellow homicide investigator and lead investigator of the convoy demonstration, collected the footage from the alleged TikTok account of Chris Barber..The court viewed several social media videos from the alleged account, @BigRed19755, dated between February 3 and 10 2022, in which Barber can be heard commenting on the scenes in the downtown core and expressing his concerns with what he had seen going on in Canada over the course of the pandemic..Barber is also heard emphasizing that those coming to protest should remain peaceful. .“Rumours of riot police on their way,” Barber said. “1,800 to 3,000 riot police. If we go dark, that means their operation is being deployed.”.Barber told other protestors if that happens, “come to Ottawa and flood this city” and join in on “the world’s largest peaceful gathering,” adding he hoped to see “five million people” come out. .A Twitter post from Aedan Helmer, of the Ottawa Citizen, present in the courtroom, reads, “Barber asking Ottawa residents to pressure local government. Decries govt ‘tyranny’ and ‘division.' ‘The pressure needs to be put on somebody else.’”.Barber comments he hoped Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would talk to them rather than just “hurling insults”..He pans the camera to the convoy demonstrators, who are cooking, playing road hockey and shoveling snow, while their kids play in bouncy castles. “Ottawa, Canada… watch this!” he says in the video..“We’re representing so many Canadians,” Barber comments in another video, while discussing the death of a close friend. “We have to win this. There’s no option for going home without answers.”.“Peace is the only option.”.The TikTok account also shows the infamous jerry can incident — when protestors and local residents were forbidden to bring gasoline cans to the truckers, the downtown core exploded with pedestrians carrying empty jerry cans to throw the police off their scent. .Barber can be heard asking a protestor in the video, “Is that a jerry can?”.“No, it’s a p*** jug,” the man replies, explaining the washrooms are all closed and he is “holding the line”. .In another video, a loud horn can be heard honking and Barber is heard referencing the civil lawsuit and honking injunction. .“Shut up!” he yells at the honking trucker, then jokes, “am I doing my part?” He is heard in another video apologizing to people for the rise in horn honking. .Further footage shows some people trying to light a Canadian flag on fire but the truckers stopped them, discussions of logistics such as food and washrooms and slow rolls because they can’t fit everybody downtown. .“If anyone tries to burn a Canadian flag,” Barber says, “we’re gonna put it out.” He elaborated that they “love Canada” and will not tolerate such behaviour..In one video, which appears to be the basis of Barber’s charge of counselling to breach a court order, he tells his followers if police come in a mass force, to hit the horn..Barber also appears to reference a speech Trudeau made during that time about the protest being made up of anti-vaxxers, revealing that he himself is double-vaxxed with a booster shot..“This is not about vaccinations. This is about mandates,” he says. “I led the way here” and stated he wished to have a conversation with the Liberal government. .In one video Barber appears with Lich and the duo address rumours that she had “skipped town”, when rather she was “trapped downtown in meetings.”.“Be patient with us,” Barber pleads..Pilotte’s testimony follows that of Detective Isabelle Cyr of the Police Liaison Team (PLT), the team negotiating with the truckers, whose testimony was put on hold due to disclosure issues..Cyr had said she first reached out to defendant Chris Barber before the Freedom Convoy arrived in Ottawa in January 2022 to get “concrete information.” The communications were passed on to Freedom Convoyer Chris Garrah, and Cyr described the amount of information coming in as “overwhelming.” .Thursday’s trial was a voir dire, or a trial within a trial, which is a separate hearing where the justice determines whether evidence, meaning the videos, is admissible and if it can be entered into evidence for the trial..The trial is set to resume Friday morning, with Pilotte continuing on the stand.
