Right Blend Profile picture
Reporting with the right perspective on Canada and beyond
6 subscribers
Apr 26 29 tweets 5 min read
The CBC and other so-called mainstream news manipulate Canadians every day

They are partisan but unlike me, they disguise their partisan label to appear neutral. It's dishonest and dirty

I'll give you some hypothetical examples to show you how they do it 🧵: Image In the first hypothetical, Pierre Poilievre makes a campaign stop at an ice cream shop. He is asked by the owner of the store to go behind the counter and make an ice cream cone for a customer in front of the cameras.
Nov 22, 2024 40 tweets 17 min read
1/ PAT KING VERDICT thread 2/ Courtroom 32 is a much smaller room and it is completely full of supporters, fake news propagandists and cranks
Aug 26, 2024 28 tweets 19 min read
1/ The trial of Canadian Armed Forces veteran Jeff Evely is about to begin. Mr Evely is charged with mischief for allegations during the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa in 2022.

The trial was delayed this morning by a couple hours and moved to a different courtroom because there was a number of bookings at the same time.

I have to leave shortly for personal business. I'm not sure how much of this I'm going to tweet about but I intend to observe as much as possible.

The judge says she's aware there are some Charter materials before the court.

Defence lawyer Mr Fleury [sp?] says there is a form 1 notice, notice of constitutional question, and book of authorities in 3 volumes.

The judge says she has them all. She hasn't had an opportunity to read the cases. She's taken a look at form 1 and constitutional question. She's ready to get started.

The crown says before we begin, the crown won't be proceeding on count 1. Proceeding on other 2 counts.

The arraignment. Charged with on or about Feb 19 2022 ... did willfully obstruct... interfere with enjoyment of property under 430... [and] did obstruct officer in execution of duty...

The crown elect to proceeds summarily. Evely pleads not guilty. 2/ Crown says there is an agreed statement of fact. Deals with background of what Freedom Convoy entails. 3 crown witnesses who will be addressing the events leading up to Evely's arrest.

The evidence from the crown will consist of 6 videos, 4 of which originate from Mr Evely's social media. 1 is open source video from Feb 18 and 1 is drone footage from Feb 18 from OPS. Crown evidence.

1st evidence Cpl[sp?] Meulen [sp?]. An order excluding witnesses.
Aug 23, 2024 60 tweets 31 min read
1/ Shockingly, today is day 44 in the longest mischief trial in Canadian history. Follow this thread for my coverage of the trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber from the courtroom.

As a Canadian, do you support this extremely lengthy and expensive prosecution of the alleged Freedom Convoy leaders for mischief charges?

I don't. I believe this is a fundamental miscarriage of justice on the behalf of the prosecution in this case and the vast majority of Convoy and Covid "Quarantine Act" cases. It's political.

It was, perhaps optimistically, expected that today might be the last day of trial. It's looking like that won't be the case. We still need to listen to Lawrence Greenspon of the defence for Tamara Lich, and then the crown gets a reply to the defence's closing arguments.

So far, the defence has done a very good job casting doubt on the crown's circumstantial, questionable, and honestly fairly weak evidence. The outcome of this case largely balances on horns and whatever "hold the line" means, as well as pronouns like "we."

It's not a slam dunk by any objective review. It's also fair and reasonable to conclude that the vigor with which this case and others like it have been pursued, and the decisions prosecutors have made, are political. 2/ We're a little over 20 minutes late this morning.

Magas explains Ms Younes is in court elsewhere but we're prepared to continue without her.

Mr Granger rises.

He passes 4 transcripts where the phrase hold the line is used by Lich for context.
Aug 15, 2024 37 tweets 31 min read
1/ Today is day 41 of the trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber. The crown finished their closing arguments yesterday (finally) - and I'm using the word argument generously. One such argument being that someone was wearing the same hoodie as Tamara, therefore she must be guilty!

The judge said it could have been from a sale. Not the homerun hit of logic the crown was hoping for, but it's not entirely their fault they can't make good arguments. The evidence sucks. There's nothing to work with. So that's why they're talking about hoodies. 🤣

On the other hand, the crown's decision to pursue this wasteful and ridiculous prosecution is extremely political. So it's hard to feel bad when they flop in court.

The defence will begin their closing arguments today. And unlikely the crown, the defence teams have a lot to work with to prove Tamara and Chris' innocence.

The wonderful Ms. Magas is up first for Chris Barber. 2/ There's a customary delay this morning. A big crowd is waiting outside of courtroom 5 to see the A team. The defence lawyers are beginning their closing arguments today.

There are 2 - possibly 3 - detractors. 🤣
Aug 13, 2024 36 tweets 30 min read
1/ Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are back in court ONCE AGAIN for the longest mischief trial in Canadian history. Follow this thread for my coverage from the courtroom.

Today is court day 39 of what was supposed to be a 14 day trial 🤣. Throughout the trial, the crown has tried to lay responsibility for the Freedom Convoy at the feet of Chris and Tamara.

They haven't been convincing with their evidence and theories.

This is a judge alone trial in the Ontario court of justice.

The trial has now moved onto closing arguments. There will be 3 days this week for arguments.

A principal issue for the crown is the Carter application. Carter is a legal argument that evidence against one coaccused, if it can be generously called that in this case, applies against the other coaccused.

In this case, the crown is trying to argue that the so-called evidence against Chris Barber should apply against Tamara Lich. IF the judge dismisses the Carter application, there would be virtually nothing on the table, so to speak, against Tamara (not that there's anything convincing anyways) and her aquittal would be nearly certainly guaranteed.

Let's hope so. 2/ We're delayed this morning. This is a tradition in this court. But I will say that the justice in Chris and Tamara's case has probably been the fairest I've seen anywhere.

Still though, the abuse of the process continues unabated. How can, in any universe, this case and it's expenditures be in the public interest? It's not in the public interest. This case isn't about justice. It's about getting Chris and Tamara.
Jul 23, 2024 31 tweets 36 min read
1/ We are now onto day 13 of Pat King's trial. Follow this thread for my coverage from the courtroom. It is currently the defence's case. Today was originally anticipated to be a partial day but I doubt that will be the case.

The defence intends to call several civilian witnesses and two police officers. The police are currently present in court.

We are delayed this morning. The defence had a delay.

The defence calls Cst Isabelle Cyr. She affirms. 2/ Cst Cyr has been employed with OPS nearly 22 years.

She was assigned to special events unit during the Freedom Convoy. She describes the special events unit. She says anyone organizing a demonstration has to coordinate with then.

Defence asks why have to? Cyr says it's recommended to ensure public safety. Defence asks but is it required? Cyr says it's not required for demonstrations but is advised.

Cyr asks to use her notes to refresh. Defence says hasn't been fully disclosed. Crown says they were. Judge grants permission to refresh with notes. Defence asks witness to tell court where they are refreshing so everyone can follow along.

Cyr attended a meeting with city partners where they decided trucks would park. Cyr testifies she was aware of the ingress maps but after that meeting. She shared them with Chris Garra [sp?] and Daniel Bulford.

Defence asks if she shared them with James? She did. Defence asks if she knows the last name? Crown agrees for defence to lead. Defence says Bauder. Witness agrees.
Jul 19, 2024 33 tweets 20 min read
1/ It's crown cross examination of Cst. Matthew Bickford. Crown asks about an encounter Bickford had with a frustrated business owner on Laurier. Business owner didn't like the sound or inability to get deliveries. Crown asks about horns he recalls there. He doesn't recall horns at that time at that place.

Crown keeps pushing about horns. Cst Bickford testifies that no matter where you went, there were horns. Some pickups rigged up with train horns - he doesn't know where or how he got them - rigged up to go off.

Now Feb 8 2022. A byward market restaurant owner expressed concerns to officer Bickford. The restaurant owner told the officer the Convoy was worse than Covid mandates [DOUBT]. Officer commented personal observations business was slower when asked by Crown if Market was "dead" during Convoy.

Crown pushes. Defence objects- he can't prove that. Crown asks was market busier during massive lockdowns?

Judge says being in Covid could be reason. Really fair to ask the witness to opine on that?

Crown says he visited it during look down versus when it was on Feb 8.

Judge allows it.

Cst Bickford says can't give answer. Wouldn't be able to give answer in terms of difference

Crown brings up an example from officer where someone was able to leave the Convoy. Crown uses this to highlight someone was able to leave [to push back against defence argument that protesters were barriacaded] 2/ Feb 2 2022 morning. Crown notes Bickford noted that some trucks participating in "occupation" have small children on board. Crown asks why he used that word. Defence objects up to your honor to decide. Judge says no it's in his own notes.

Bickford testifies it would have felt like that. It was being occupied. Dt full of trucks and people with no intention to leave. And their were children.

Crown asks why noted children?

Bickford says fkr safety concern. Young children present. If any action is taken, it would have to be delicate. Saw newborn babies living in cars with parents.

Crown elaborates on PLT role and why he noted this. For superiors to know.
Jul 18, 2024 36 tweets 19 min read
1/ Danny Bulford resumes his testimony on day 10 of the Pat King trial

The crown asks if someone wanted to leave, they could negotiate that with police. Bulford agrees. Crown asks if Bulford was aware of anyone who wanted to leave but could not. Danny says no.

Danny Bulford testifies his observation was people wanted to stay until the mandates were dropped

Now the crown is asking about Bulford's interaction with King on the 18th. Bulford explains it was his second interaction with King, and it was early on the 17th. It lasted under 2 minutes. It was one of 2 interactions

The crown asks about the first interaction. It was earlier in the Convoy. Bulford testifies it was very brief. The crown asks if Danny identified King as a leader of the Convoy. Bulford answers [not really], but as a person with a large social media following.

The crown asks if Danny identified King as a road captain. Danny said he wasn't sure at the time.

The judge asks Danny to explain if he saw King as a leader or thought he was making decisions. Danny responds no. Bulford elaborates that those people [making decisions] were mostly named in the civil suit. The judge names Tamara and Chris, and Bulford seems to agree.

Bulford testifies more about his role. That he would keep doing it until the protesters decided to leave. That he was a conduit of information between police and protesters as people always do at protests 2/ Danny Bulford also testifies that leader is not a good term. The people involved in decisions, many named on the board of Freedom Corp - no one had control of the Convoy. Bulford didn't tell people what to do.

The crown asks if he now knew King was a leader after seeing POEC. Bulford begins to answer, but defence objects. Says he's being asked to piece something together despite saying multiple times he himself did not know King was a leader. Crown agrees.

Crown tries to ask Danny Bulford about a Freedom Convoy website. He said he never went on it. Defence says this isn't in evidence. Judge remarks he never knew about this website.

The crown asks the witness if information on the website about Pat King is his. Crown says won't read number to protect King's privacy. Defence says if it's even King. Crown reads out the number. The information is also listed beside Bauder
Jul 17, 2024 35 tweets 19 min read
1/ Pat King's defence lawyer Natasha Calvinho gives the defence's opening statement. It is the crown's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. She says that the defence has the right to remain silent, but in this case silence would be deafening.

She says defence will present evidence that proves there was no mischief, no counseling.

Defence argues context is key.

Defence says this case is very much political. She says we would not be here for this trial if not for disagreement of political views.

Pat King had a right to protest.

Court has not been given the full picture.

Defence says why Freedom Convoy came to Ottawa is important. Anticipates evidence will establish that before Convoy arrived police and city new Convoy would stay.

Police and city erected barricades before first trucks arrived. That context is important.

Trucks were told where to park and remain. They were given details of how to get in to city, but never given plans of how to mass egress.

Calvinho argues they were barricaded in. Context. 2/ Calvinho argues not all downtown residents were disturbed by the Convoy. She argues Mr King is not responsible for everything that happens. King's defence says if anyone failed citizens of Ottawa, it was all three levels of government, city, provincial, and federal. Not Mr. King or any other peaceful protester.

The first witness will be former RCMP officer Danny Bulford who resigned because of vaccine mandates. Bulford was instrumental in security and communicating with police. One of the best people to tell court what police told protesters to park etc, barricades placed, obstacles to leaving, what protesters were told and not told.
May 15, 2024 25 tweets 38 min read
1/ Follow this thread for my live reporting from the courtroom on Day 2 of Pat King's trial.

Pat King stands accused of 9 criminal charges that could carry a significant penitentiary sentence if he's convicted. Pat King became notorious for his activism during the Freedom Convoy, where the crown accuses King participated in the "mischief" of the Freedom Convoy and emerged as a leader of sorts during the protest.

Yesterday's proceedings were adjourned due to the defence lawyer, Natasha Calvinho, feeling unwell.

Supporters of Mr. King are in the court room, as well as the next crown witness, Vivian Leir.

Pat King is presumed innocent. 2/ Vivian Leir swears on the bible.

Crown begins their chief.

Crown: I'll have some questions for you this morning. I'll ask you to project your voice. If you dont hear or want me to rephrase let me know (okay) Understand you work at church (I do) which one (St Andrews) whereabouts (82 Kent, at corner of Wellington and Kent) and do you also reside in Ottawa (I do) And whats your role within the church (administrator. Take care of business side as well as supporting staff, volunteers, rentals) what's size of congregation (several hundreds) how long have you been working there (seven years)

Crown: What does a week look like at church (obviously, Sunday is our service. Now have 1 service on Sunday. Ongoing activities during week... choir also practices. Rentals. Various rentals. Could be from concerts to alcoholics anonymous in basement. Sometimes social gatherings... Tuesday concert series. Fairly busy. Always custodian on site) How many days during week do you work (5 right now) what hours (I work on site 9-12:30... [work remote afternoons and weekends?])

The crown asks Leir if January/Feb 22 sticks out. Vivian says Convoy. "Freedom people." Trucks parked on all sides of church. All through downtown area. Very challenging.
Nov 2, 2023 23 tweets 23 min read
1/ I am at the disciplinary hearing for Ottawa Police Service Detective Helen Grus. I'm not sure what day of the hearing this is, but I was here on Monday. Detective Grus is charged under the Police Services Act with 1 count of Discreditable Conduct for allegedly investigating a possible link between Covid 19 vaccination and the sudden death of infants in Ottawa.

The defence has highlighted detective Gru's excellent performance reviews. Further, testimony from prosecution witnesses repeatedly said detective Grus was a competent investigator with whom they did not have a negative working relationship. This paints the picture of detective Grus as an officer who follows the rules, gets along with others, and does their duty to investigate crimes thoroughly and properly.

The defence's strategy may be demonstrating that not only was detective's Gru's alleged investigation justified, but perhaps obligatory. Policing rules require officers to investigate potential criminality, no matter where and what it is. The process and patterns that led to detective Grus considering criminal negligence or any other potential criminal circumstances in the death of the infants is not only relevant but essential to these proceedings.

However, much of the evidence surrounding this has been objected to by the prosecution; the hearing officer at one point remarked that the hearing was not going to become a forum for theories about Covid 19 and Covid 19 vaccines. That's concerning. Detective Grus is charged with Discreditable Conduct for allegedly investigating a possible link between Covid 19 vaccines and harms to victims, and to discount the evidence and patterns that led her down that path means she cannot mount a proper defence.

It's like charging someone for not being able to finish a race while tying their legs to the starting pole. Bad example, but you get the picture.

This is a critical case. Will the truth, whatever it may be, take precedence over people's preconceived conclusions about Covid 19 and other controversial events, or will hive mind thinking rule the day and all dissidents be unjustly crushed? 2/ We're back in secession. The prosecution has an objection. The witness is out of the hearing for this.

Defence reads OPS policy. Personally owned devices... may be disclosed. Defence was told can't get Bochar's [texts] - have to go through telecom. Defence says this OPS policy gives authority to have full and proper defence. Documents have been authenticated by witness.

Tribunal officer says time to take break. Prosecutor says not making submission on email they sent - just position of OPS. Going to be an issue in respect to public interest privilege in regard to... thinks tribunal needs to consider that. If talking about ongoing or historical [investigations?]. Investigative privilege, public interest privilege all going to be live issues.

Defence says reason we have regulatory offences to protect the public. When person charged with offence under act that regulates their profession, in public interest ---

Hearing officer says going to recess. 10 minutes, maybe a bit more.
Nov 1, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
1/ Tamara Lich and Chris Barber trial day 25 🧵. The crown's case was estimated to end 15 days ago and there's still no end in sight. The defense's case has yet to begin.

Yesterday, the defence got a pretty big win when the judge ordered the production of exhibits A and C to the court. After her inspection of the documents, Justice Perkins-McVey subsequently dismissed the crown's clearly irrelevant argument on exhibit A and ordered it disclosed to the defence.

The judge remarked that it could go to officer Bach's credibility and help assist answer questions she was unable to.

When it came to exhibit C, where solicitor client privilege is claimed in communications between two or more police officers, the judge said she would need more time to decide if privilege applies and only the most necessary redactions have been made. 2/ Crown says they requested followup disclosure from police after justice Perkins-McVey's orders yesterday and have yet to receive anything. Crown says Det Benson is working on something. Judge asks if it's going to trigger the necessity of another application.

Crown says they don't know what it is. Could address one issue with respect to cellphone chat exhibit 129 - discussed yesterday; no redactions required so passing up copies

...

Crown files articles of incorporation [for Freedom corp?] as next exhibit, exhibit 133

...
Oct 27, 2023 18 tweets 14 min read
1/ Tamara Lich and Chris Barber criminal trial day 23. Follow this thread for my courtroom reporting.

Day 22 was full of substantial legal arguments heavily relying on case law such as Stinchcombe and O'Connor.

The arguments surround the defense's request to receive technical instructions that were provided to OPS officer Bach. Defense requested this information following the revelation that Bach's work phone was completely wiped out sometime after convoy from an update.

The material given to defense in response to their request was nearly completely redacted, spawning the aforementioned legal arguments. The crown cited several reasons for these redactions, including "clearly irrelevant," "client solicitor privilege," and "litigation privilege." One of the defense's points of contention appears to be the claim of solicitor client privilege, even when there seems to be no solicitor present in some of the redacted emails, which appear to be between 2 or more Ottawa police officers.

Beside the heavy legal arguments, Justice Heather Perkins-McVey made several comments yesterday that may partially reveal some of her thinking so far. Justice Perkins-McVey stated that it was clear from the evidence in the trial [so far] that the convoy was not 1 group, as the crown has been arguing, but several groups [18 or possibly 20].

The ruling on the current legal arguments is expected to take some time. Justice Perkins-McVey indicated she may be ready to rule on the 3rd party application [I believe for the clearly irrelevant redactions] sometime next week. The solicitor client privilege redaction ruling, however, will take longer, she said. The judge also remarked about how it was unusual to have 2 PLT officers have their phones wiped [she used the word wiped]. Expanding on that, Justice Perkins-McVey asked if any of the other 15 [PLT officers] had their phones wiped?

Another interesting comment from Justice Perkins-McVey came during an exchange with the crown. The crown was arguing about how material is to be dealing with Mr. Barber's and Mrs. Lich's actions, and the judge said she disagree. She said the [crown's?] evidence has been talking about the convoy as whole, and from the evidence [so far?], it [the convoy] wasn't one team.

At another point, the crown was asking about what application the legal arguments could have relevance towards [I believe]. The judge suggested Jordan [not that she agrees with it] [for one]; she stated that the Signal chat being disclosed mid trial has caused delay. She added that clearly, officers were aware of Signal and if [non-disclosure] on purpose, it could be relevant to Jordan.

In the meantime, defense has indicated they are not prepared to continue cross of OPS officer Bach. It is possible we will here further legal arguments today, possibly to around or after noon, and potentially have another police witness take the stand to start their examination in chief.

I am totally unsure of the scheduled dates going forward. The crown's case was anticipated to take 10 days, and has gone on 23 days so far. The defense hasn't yet started their case, which was scheduled to take 6 days. 2/ We are in session.
Oct 20, 2023 10 tweets 7 min read
1/ Tamara Lich and Chris Barber criminal trial day 21. Yesterday we heard that Ottawa police PLT officer Nicole Bach had lost everything on her work cellphone shortly after Convoy 2022.

Officer Bach was the main police contact with Chris Barber. She testified she made an attempt to follow instructions from IT to "transpose" her phone data preceding an "update" but was unsuccessful.

Bach also testified that she had police Signal chats on her personal device. When asked by Magas why she did not disclose it, she testified that she believed that all material had been disclosed on her behalf already.

Another Ottawa police officer, officer Isabelle Cyr, previously testified that she was missing some phone texts from late January to February 9th. Officer Cyr was one of if not the main PLT information person. She testified during Convoy she was extremely overwhelmed and felt like she was doing the job of 20 people.

Interestingly, Greenspon, lawyer for Tamara Lich, has requested a delay in court this morning. The delay was originally supposed to be 10 minutes but has been extended to over 30 minutes long.

I am delayed getting to court this morning due to urgent other matter but am receiving information from a trusted source inside.

The two accused face a possible 10 year prison sentence if convicted. The trial has now gone 5 days longer than originally estimated. 2/ Court was briefly back in session. The defense requested more time. Defense suggested adjourning to noon. Court will break until noon. One of the crown attorneys was absent when court briefly reconvened, but everyone else was there.
Oct 19, 2023 31 tweets 26 min read
1/ Tamara Lich and Chris Barber criminal trial day 20. It has now been 4 court days longer than this trial was originally anticipated to take. We are starting later this morning, at 11:15, due to a request from Tamara's lawyer Greenspon as he had other business this morning. Follow this thread for my courtroom coverage.

Yesterday, we heard testimony from Ottawa police officer Isabelle Cyr, who testified that she felt extremely overwhelmed during the Freedom Convoy and that she was doing the job of 20 people. Cyr worked as a PLT, police liaison officer, and was one of the key points of contact for several (other) Convoy organizers - as well as the main information person for the OPS PLT.

We learned that Cyr is an officer who distributed maps and route information made by police to truckers showing them where to park in Ottawa and how to get there for the protest. Cyr did not recall hearing, despite the information being somehow available to Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) - that OPS INTERSEC believed the trucker protest was going to be a significant, potentially extended event (longer than 30 days).

We heard limited information yesterday about direct contact with Chris or Tamara. As always, remember that if convicted, the two accused Convoy leaders face a potential ten year jail sentence. The trial's schedule is unclear, and the crown expressed frustration yesterday at how dates they thought were reserved for this trial - which they say they worked with counsel teams to accommodate schedules across the region - were no longer.

There was discussion in court yesterday about potential trial dates as far away as December (20 & 21). The end is not in sight at this time. 2/ We are in session.
Oct 18, 2023 29 tweets 33 min read
1/ Tamara Lich and Chris Barber criminal trial day 19. The trial has now gone 3 days longer than it was originally scheduled to take with no conclusion in clear sight. Follow this thread for my updates from the courtroom.

The crown is still making their case, which was originally scheduled to take 10 days. The defense hasn't even started on their case.

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber stand accused of numerous crimes including mischief, counselling offenses, and others. They are presumed innocent.

If convicted, the pair faces a possible ten years in prison. So far, court testimony has focused heavily on the sound of horns and the smell of idling engines. There has been other accusations as well, but a/the "common theme" is the sound of horns.

Do you think the accused crime deserves the desired punishment? What about just having to attend this trial so far? What about the almost 2 years of having criminal charges over their heads? All the traveling, lawyer fees, and everything else. Is this case in the public interest, in your opinion? 2/ We are slightly delayed this morning. Justice Heather Perkins-McVey had another matter
Oct 17, 2023 20 tweets 18 min read
1/ Tamara Lich and Chris Barber criminal trial day 18. As always, follow this thread for my coverage of today's proceedings from the courtroom

The trial was originally scheduled to end 2 business days ago, on Friday. We still haven't finished the crown's case and it's unclear how much longer they will take. Additional trial days after this Friday are unclear.

The defence also has their own case to make. It was originally 10 days for the crown case, and 6 days for the defence case, for 16 days total. After these last two civilian (resident) witnesses, there are still more crown witnesses.

Earlier in the trial, the defence indicated that if the 8 civilian witnesses were allowed to testify against Chris and Tamara, they might call their own witnesses to testify about how great the Convoy was for them. It's unclear what the defence is thinking at this point. I personally think that the defence is handling these 8 civilian witnesses really well. It might not be necessary.

As always, remember that Tamara Lich and Chris Barber face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty in this trial. So far, we've heard testimony about horns, smells, "make-shift soup kitchens," people "wringing their fists," but no evidence that implicates Chris or Tamara in any crime that justifies that amount of time in jail, and even struggles to justify the trial itself. 2/ Paul Jorgenson is back on the stand. The crown has no further questions for the witness.

Granger rises

There is an exchange between Granger and Jorgenson about if he left Ottawa on Monday the 31st. Jorgenson is unsure if Monday was the 31st. It sounded like he wasn't sure if he left that day - but now clarifies he is sure he left town that day.

Granger asks Jorgenson about meeting an OPS detective and the crown on September first. They talked about a little bit about what to expect in court "at a high level."

Jorgenson testifies didn't go into detail about what they would talk about in court. Granger asks if they talked about his memories about the Convoy, and the period of time he left - the timing of when he left Ottawa. Granger says one of the things he told them he wasn't sure if he left the Sunday. Jorgenson says he since consulted his records and friends to verify.

Granger asks if back in September he wouldn't have known when he left? Jorgenson at the time he wouldn't have been able to give a calendar date - but now knows after consulting friends and family. Granger asks when he determined he left on Monday. Jorgenson said late September, after that meeting.
Oct 16, 2023 49 tweets 38 min read
1/ Tamara Lich and Chris Barber criminal trial day 17. Follow this thread for my coverage from the courtroom.

This trial was originally scheduled to end last friday. So far, we haven't even finished the Crown's case.

Tamara and Chris potentially face a 10 year sentence if convicted. The evidence we've seen doesn't support that possible sentence. I struggle to see if it justifies this proceeding at all. I feel as though the right to protest, in part, is on trial here.

Our rights NEED to matter all the time, not just when it's convenient or simple. Our rights are only as strong as we are upholding them. 2/ We are in session. Zexi Li takes the stand for the crown.
Oct 12, 2023 34 tweets 18 min read
1/ Sarah Gawman takes the stand for the crown, the first civilian witness of the 8 allowed to testify by Judge Heather Perkins-McVey's decision yesterday.

It's day 15 of the trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber: 2/ Gawman lived in a highrise at the time of the protest and worked parttime, commuting by walking. She testifies that there was incessant honking, fireworks, and drums, including after 8 pm.

Two objections so far. Judge Perkins-McVey remarked separately that the testimony is very general.

At one point, the witness said there were lots of vehicles coming in to Ottawa. The judge remarked there are always vehicles coming in.

3rd objection from Greenspon - saying testimony is more impact than observation. Crown says if we excuse the witness, they can explain. Gawman leaves the room. c I feel this will be a theme today.
Oct 11, 2023 23 tweets 11 min read
1/ Tamara Lich and Chris Barber trial day 14

Right now, we are delayed getting into court. The lawyers and the judge are discussing something without the public or the accused. Chris and Tamara are out here waiting with the rest of us. 2/ We are in session.

Crown rises and explains that the TV is now setup; it wasn't ready this morning. Judge asks if it is synced. Crown says only have the ability to play on the big TV. Mentions two technology experts, and there's a laugh: he humorously adds that it was Younes and Granger.

Judge explains sound system was not working and created the delay.