'Freedom Convoy' organizers were not in criminal cahoots: defence

Tamara Lich arrives at the courthouse in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA -

The legal team for "Freedom Convoy" organizer Tamara Lich says she wasn't part of any conspiracy to break the law when she helped organize a massive protest against pandemic restrictions in Ottawa.

The Crown alleges Lich and another organizer, Chris Barber, were in cahoots to block roads and disrupt locals in a bid to pressure the federal government to drop COVID-19 vaccine mandates in 2022.

The two are co-accused of mischief, intimidation and counselling others to break the law, and if the Crown's conspiracy argument holds up, the evidence against one of the organizers would apply to both of them.

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Lich's lawyer Eric Granger says the problem is that the goal they were conspiring to achieve -- the lifting of government vaccine mandates and restrictions -- is not inherently illegal.

He says that means the Crown must prove that the means they used to achieve their goal was illegal.

He argues there's little evidence linking Lich to any acts of mischief that played out during the protest, other than encouraging people to come to Ottawa to protest legally.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2024.