Editor’s note: This post will be updated throughout the day Wednesday as the trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber resumes. Follow along with our live blog below once court begins mid-morning.Convoy protest organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are due back in court for their criminal trial this morning following a two-week break.
The defence has objected on the grounds that the eight witnesses — downtown residents and business owners, including Zexi Li, who is at the centre of a pending class-action lawsuit — would be giving “impact evidence” in their testimony. At the heart of the Crown’s case is whether Lich and Barber encouraged people to come to Ottawa and stay there, even as police ordered protesters to leave. The other question is whether doing so is considered illegal.The Crown hopes to establish that Barber and Lich worked together in lockstep, so that evidence against one of them will apply to both.Newsmakers 2022: The ‘Freedom Convoy’