Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich talks to reporters in Ottawa on Feb. 14,
2022, a few days before her arrest. Her second bail review began Thursday and
continues in court Friday. (Frédéric Pepin/Radio-Canada)
Tamara Lich admitted in court Thursday
that accepting an award for organizing the Freedom Convoy "is related" to
the convoy, but testified she doesn't believe she violated a bail condition
not to support anything related to the protest that occupied some downtown
Ottawa streets for weeks.
She made the comments on the first day of her second bail
review in Ottawa's Superior Court, a proceeding peppered with tense,
dramatic exchanges between Crown prosecutor Moiz Karimjee and Justice Kevin
Phillips.
Lich, who is charged
jointly with fellow convoy organizer Chris Barber, is accused
of mischief, counselling mischief, obstructing police, counselling to
obstruct police, counselling intimidation, and intimidation by blocking and
obstructing one or more highways in relation to the protest.
She has
been out on bail since March 7, bound by another Superior Court
justice's order not to "verbally, in writing, financially, or by any other
means, support anything related to the Freedom Convoy," and to stay out of
Ontario, among other conditions.
Lich emailed to say she'd be honoured to accept
During examination by defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon on
Thursday, Lich testified via a Zoom video link from Alberta that she wants
her bail conditions changed to allow her to visit Ottawa. The reasons are
subject to a court-ordered publication ban and cannot be disclosed.
She also testified she would "love to attend" an event in
Toronto in June to accept a freedom award, "however I won't be breaching my
bail conditions in order to do so."
On March 28, a charity called the Justice Centre for
Constitutional Freedoms emailed Lich to notify her she'd been selected
for its 2022 George Jonas Freedom Award, she told court.
The email, which she read aloud, said the honour was being
given "in recognition of your leadership role in the Freedom Convoy."
Tamara Lich is receiving an award from the
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms for her work to help
organize the Freedom Convoy protest that occupied some downtown
Ottawa streets for weeks earlier this year. (jccf.ca)
The award
announcement on the centre's website states Lich "took the
initiative to help organize a peaceful protest and serve as one of
its leaders. The resulting peaceful protest in Ottawa awakened many
Canadians to the injustice of Charter-violating lockdowns and
mandatory vaccination policies."
It also states she "suffered for the cause of freedom
by spending 18 days unjustly jailed, and exemplifies courage,
determination and perseverance."
The day after receiving the email, Lich emailed back
to say she was "honoured" to accept. She didn't inquire about
whether it would be OK, she testified under cross examination by
Karimjee.
Asked whether by accepting the award she was
supporting something related to the convoy, Lich said, "I guess,
yeah. I guess so.
"I don't feel that this is a breach. I don't feel
that that's what the recognition is for. ... I feel that the
recognition is for inspiring Canadians to hold the government to
account to the rule of law and to uphold their Charter rights,"
she continued.
"I guess it is related, because of what happened,"
she added.
Crown asks judge to recuse himself
Just before a 15-minute late afternoon break,
Phillips told court Karimjee's decorum surprised him, and asked
Karimjee to "contemplate that."
When court reconvened Karimjee said he was just
"doing my job" and began to list some of his problems with the
justice's remarks and rulings, including that Phillips had earlier
refused to allow the email notifying Lich about her award to be
submitted to court.
Phillips interrupted. "I'm not interested in an
argument," the justice told the Crown. "Proceed with your cross
examination."
"No, I'm not arguing with you —" Karimjee began.
"I don't want to engage in this,"
Phillips interrupted again. "Proceed with your cross examination. I
don't want to hear from you. I want you to cross examine the
witness. Proceed, please."
"Your honour, I frankly need to consider whether I
need to bring a mistrial application given your honour's comments,"
Karimjee replied.
"I'm asking you to cross examine the witness, Mr.
Karimjee," Phillips said.
"No your honour, it's more than that," Karimjee
replied. "... This is a significant case. ... When confronted with
things that I believe to be improper, I'm not going to remain
silent."
"Have you got a question for the witness?" Phillips
asked after a long pause.
"I am asking your honour to recuse yourself,"
Karimjee replied.
"That request is denied. Go ahead with your cross
examination," Phillips said, and Karimjee promptly continued
questioning Lich.
Off to a rocky start from the get-go
Proceedings had gotten off to a rocky start hours
earlier.
The Crown had been expected to argue that Lich
should be put back in jail for allegedly continuing to support the
Freedom Convoy, and Lich's defence team was expected to fight a bail
condition that she stay off social media entirely.
But instead the Crown asked the judge to rule on
whether a Superior Court justice has the authority to respond to
alleged errors of law by other Superior Court justices.
Karimjee argued that Phillips could deal only with
arguments about material changes in circumstances. Ruling on a
fellow justice's errors of law could result in counsel seeking bail
review after bail review until a justice gave them a favourable
ruling, Karimjee told court.
After a 20-minute recess Phillips rejected the
Crown's argument, opening up submissions to alleged errors of law as
well as material changes in circumstance. By then it was
"regrettably" 12:30 p.m. and hearing evidence had still not yet
begun, Phillips told court.
Judge says it's not his job to determine Lich
violated conditions
The Crown's first and only witness was Ottawa police
Sgt. Mahad Hassan, the file co-ordinator in the case. (Det. Chris
Benson is the lead investigator, but was busy testifying in a
homicide case, court heard.)
Hassan testified he believed the more expensive VIP
tickets to the Toronto freedom award event would give those
ticketholders "a chance to meet the VIPs that are featured on the
pamphlets" — in this case Lich and columnist Rex Murphy.
During cross examination by Greenspon, Hassan
admitted there was no mention that Lich would be in attendance.
While Karimjee was leading Hassan's evidence in
chief, Phillips bristled at the idea that he might be asked to
decide whether Lich violated her bail condition, instead of police.
"That's a task I'm unfamiliar with. I'm not usually a
police officer of release conditions. ... Are you trying to put me
in a position to find a breach here, to declare that she's broken
the law?" Phillips asked.
Karimjee responded that he's entitled to lead
evidence proving Lich violated the terms of her release, citing the
Criminal Code.
Lich arrested in February
Lich was arrested Feb. 17 and originally charged with
counselling to commit mischief, shortly before a major police
operation cleared protesters and vehicles from Ottawa streets.
She was
initially denied bail by Ontario Court Justice Julie Bourgeois,
who told court she found Lich to be guarded and "almost obstructive"
at times, and who wasn't convinced Lich would go home, stay home and
stop her alleged counselling.
Lich and her then lawyer Diane Magas appealed
Bourgeois' decision, leading
to her first bail review in the higher court in early March.
Tamara Lich appears at her earlier bail review
hearing on March 7, 2022, as Justice John Johnston looks
on. (Alexandra Newbould/The Canadian Press)
Superior Court Justice
John Johnston ruled in Lich's favour after
the one-day proceeding, saying she had been a "valued employee" in
Alberta and had lived a "crime free" life, and that the risk in Ottawa
had been minimized after police cleared streets.
Lich was released after
spending about 18 days in custody at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention
Centre. Other bail conditions included that she leave Ottawa within 24
hours, refrain from using social media, and have no contact with certain
co-organizers.
A surety for Lich — who
cannot be identified due to a court-ordered publication ban — put up a
$20,000 cash bond, while Lich herself put up an additional $5,000 cash
bond.
To be fair, I don't know a thing about Justice
John Johnson so bearing that in mind, I will start this commentary with Justice
John Johnston who was anointed to the judiciary of the Ontario Superior Court by
a corrupt group called the Judicial selection panel.
For decades this secretive group of government
appointed lowest forms of life, appoint "judges" who are almost without
exception the least suitable to be judges.
He practiced in Brockville, he came from a cess
pool of a law university called Queens which is a breeding ground for promotion
of hatred towards fathers, called "feminist law".
News articles have him associating with some of
the most disgusting names in law who to be fair, should not yet be associated
with Justice John Johnson. Its often hard in law not to mix with the vilest
examples of humanity that make up that toxic work place called Judges Chambers.
This story is interesting because its about
Justice John Johnson having to put up with one of the vilest lowest form of life
in the Ottawa Crown Attornies office MOIZ KARIMJEE.
Moize Karimjee is what you call a political
prosecutor who has is a pathological liar and a professional at obstruction of
justice.
This is the creep the government use to litigate
against "unrepresented litigants", he is notorious for fabricating evidence,
misleading judges, intimidation , terrorism, torture and murder.
Reality Check.
There is hardly a criminal lawyer or judge
in Ontario who does not know what a creep Moiz Karimjee is.
Moiz Karimjee is notorious for making outright
false statements, misleading the court and obstructing justice.
Moize Karimjee plays tag team with the other
members of the least ethical members of the Crowns in Ontario.
Now to be fair, other Crowns also know what a
creep he is and do not stoop to his level, however, its a cult, the Crown's
office is a Culture of criminality where you don't "rat" on your co-workers.
If one of your co-workers fabricates evidence or
obstructs justice, then you turn a blind eye.
The Ottawa Crown normally get themselves out of "pickel"
by getting a "rubber stamp" judge appointed to the case.
So whats happening in this case.
They initially got Justice Julie Bourgeois which
was for the Crown, a gift.
Julie Bourgeois was formerly a Crown Attorney
which unfortunately means that most of the time that a "former crown" is going
to be a Rubber Stamp for the Crown. I'm speaking generally and know nothing
about Justice Julie Boureois.
Well the Government had a good run, they used
another lowest form of life Jason Neubauer who is perhaps the most famous
political prosecutor in Ottawa. Yes, this is the crown who prosecuted Mike
Duffy and others. Just put his name into CanLi and you will scratch the surface
but not the stories of terror hidden under the citations.
Mozie Karimjee is used to having judges do what
ever he wants. He makes it quite clear to the judges what he is seeking and its
blatantly obvious when he is attempting to do indirectly what is prohibited
directly.
Tamara Lich has delusions of grandeur, an
unshakeable belief in conservative matters. She is convinced that she is a
messiah to the cult of covid denial and any of the politically popular
conspiracy theories coming from the red neck camps of western Canada.
Covid denial and using force to get rid of Trudeau
without an election are all part of her delusional ideas that make her a threat
to national security.
To date, she has shown no remorse for anything
that she has done or been involved in. She claims she did not know anything she
did was illegal.
"The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms"
( JCCF ) is NOT recognized for being objective or impartial, in fact quite the
opposite. This is a Far Right group that cherry pick legal cases that suit their
political agenda. It appears to be a thinly disguised name to cover up the
backers of the "freedom convoy".
The bail conditions specifically prohibited her
from any contact with the "Freedom Convoy" and the JCCF is just another name for
the same people.
Rex Murphy is a well known conservative Anti-vaxer
and only confirms that the JCCF is just another name for the Freedom Convoy.
The Freedom Convoy is a group of far right wing,
people who who wish to use force to overthrow the government without an
election. Their plan was to stay in Ottawa until Trudeau resigned or more to the
point, until they forced him out of office , without any election. To be
blunt, this is a group who planned sedition. They don't believe in democratic
elections any more than Moize Karimjee or Jason Neubauer believe in the rule of
law or fundamental justice.
Lawrence Greenspan only takes on case for the
those who have buckets of cash. In this case, Tamara Lich has the backing of
some very rich people, the same people where flying people in business jets to
Ottawa to take part in the protest.
These suckers were told that all their hotel
expenses would be paid for by "the organizers" who in many cases received
nothing.
Tamara Lich now has the audacity to ask for her
bail conditions to be varied so she can engage in political lobbying on behalf
of the Freedom Convoy that her bail conditions prohibited her from having
contact with.
The Court hearing in front of Justice John Johnson
was a blatant example of Contempt of court.
This story does not contain a transcript but the
snapshot reveals that Moiz Karimjee was probably making arguments as to how and
why Tamara Lich was breaching her bail conditions which was NOT what the hearing
was about and which was way Justice John Johnson told Karimjee to get on with
it.
The Criminal Moiz Karimjee
This story makes it quite clear that Moiz Karimjee
was using the hearing to effectively have Justice John Johnson make a statement
that Tamara Lich had fresh offences when that process is usually done by the
Police.
Bear in mind that in Ottawa, the Ottawa Police are
notorious for laying criminal charges for political purposes and or NOT laying
criminal charges or DROPPING criminal charges for political reasons that suit
the Ottawa Police.
Together, the Ottawa Police and the Ottawa Crown's
office run a cesspool of criminality engaged in obstruction of justice, and at
times they both forget their underlying official mandates and in particular that
no one is above the law.
Both Ottawa Police and Ottawa Crown Attorneys have
a significant number who believe they are the law, that they are above the law.
In this case, the Ottawa Police have been
repeatedly shown their contempt for the law in not laying charges and it was
probably the refusal of the Ottawa Police to lay charges that caused Moiz
Karimjee to spit his soother.
