An Ottawa judge has denied bail for Tamara Lich, an organizer of the Canadian Freedom Convoy, as she faces a “lengthy” prison sentence if convicted for “counselling to commit mischief.”
Lich organized the now-frozen GoFundMe campaign which raised over $10 million for the convoy, which traveled across Canada before remaining in Ottawa for three weeks to protest the government’s vaccine mandates for truckers, a movement which was quickly extended to express many more Canadian’s frustrations at vaccine and mask mandates in general.
Last weekend, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked emergency powers, police moved in to dismantle the protest, arresting over 100 people including Lich.
Justice Julie Bourgeois said Tuesday that she believed if Lich was released on bail, there was no guarantee she would not re-offend.
“This community has already been impacted enough by some of the criminal activity and blockades you took part in and even led,” the judge told Lich, as CBC reported.
“You have had plenty of opportunity to remove yourself and even others from this criminal activity but obstinately chose not to and persistently counselled others not to either.”
Bourgeois added that “In Canada, every citizen can certainly disagree with and protest against government decisions but it needs to be done in a democratic fashion in abidance with the laws that have been established democratically.”
Diane Magas, Lich’s attorney, said that she plans to appeal the judge’s decision to deny her client bail.
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