SOME ORGANIZERS

Starting on November 1st, we began hearing testimony from the convoy organizers. Once again I was surprised by what came out. As the convoy protest was taking place, I knew only about what appeared to me to be confusing and often contradictory reporting. And to have watched or read the news was to be convinced that these folks were not your neighbours or coworkers; instead, these were a tiny extremist fringe with a worldview deranged by both the well of hatred in their hearts and all of the worst misinformation to be found in the darkest corners of the internet. More than that, and perhaps worse, it was broadly speculated and asserted that these miscreants were manipulated and backed by agents of a malignant foreign powers attempting to undermine democracy.

(NOTE: When CBC, the PM or a party leader, a city councillor or mayor, or a law professor makes such a claim on television or Twitter, one unsupported by any evidence or even a reasoned argument, it is NOT a form of bigotry or xenophobia and is in no way meant to incite more of the same. Such an instance is not racist fearmongering but merely a benign public service announcement, no more provocative that a traffic report. And, of course, this is paired with demands from these same authorities that even implying the pandemic virus originated in a certain country is a vile form of hatred and ignorance – even if all available evidence points to that country and we even have the very research proposals, for doing the very work at the very virology lab in question, that would deliver us this very virus. This is where we live.)

The Prime Minister drove home this same vilifying message, offering that “Canadians are not represented by this very troubling, small but very vocal minority of Canadians who are lashing out at science, at government, at society, at mandates, and public health advice.” NDP leader Jagmeet Singh explained to Canadians and the world that “It is clear that this is not a protest; this is an act to try to overthrow the government, and it is getting funded by foreign interference and we need to investigate and stop that – stop the flow of that foreign interference, particularly coming from the States.” University of Ottawa criminology professor Dr. Michael Kempa declared to his CBC audience that we were seeing dangerous radicals aiming to replace our democratic system with a far-right authoritarian regime (and that the military needed to be brought in to put them down.) The chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board, Diane Deans, reported at the time that citizens “cannot: go to work or open their businesses, they cannot sleep, walk, shop, go to medical appointments, or enjoy their neighbourhood.” She called the truckers and other protesters mercenaries and insisted they were engaged in both a “siege” of her city and coordinated nation-wide “insurrection.” And if you weren’t in Ottawa or didn’t view hours of live footage from the streets, the above is likely the impression you had of these street hockey playing, bouncy castle playing, sauna basking, dance music spinning, food and beverage gifting protesters up until the sitting of this commission.

As I've learned, the trucker convoy’s various fundraising campaigns and social media pages all clearly stated their intentions and concerns. Broadly, they wanted to see an end to mandates they saw as infringing on people’s rights and ability to earn a livelihood, in a whole variety of ways, and particularly to see the end of the seemingly absurd vaccine passport system. The many other individuals and groups who also attended, or started their own local protest, had a wide range of other related (or entirely unrelated) concerns and demands. This seems clear. So there was no unified “protest” but instead many thousands of people who shared in a feeling of disapproval of federal, provincial, and/or municipal handling of the pandemic.

Still, if you're like me and weren't tuned in to the protest channels at the time, you probably missed the bit where organizers used every medium and forum to vehemently reject any threats or violence toward anyone. Before even setting out, in a video to 300,000 Facebook followers of the event, Tamara Lich offered, “As you know, we are on our way to Ottawa to hold a peaceful protest. I just want to put it out there that nobody in this convoy will be inciting violence or uttering threats. That is not what we’re here to do.” She went further, adding “If you see anybody trying to associate themselves with us that is acting in that way, you need to get their truck number and their licence plate and report it to the police or get it to us and we’ll report it to police.”

All of the above is important because if, like me, you weren't tracking the convoy or receiving their communications and, like me, you only heard what others were saying about it then you won’t know that all of those earlier statements from authorities (and prepared and presented by our finest journalists at our finest media establishments) have all been resoundingly debunked. If you only took the nuggets given to you by those same local and national news sources and the authorities they presented, and you didn't watch two hundred hours of examination and cross-examination yourself, you will never understand that effectively every witness (even those testifying as antagonists to or victims of the convoy) has shattered the popular narrative. Particularly critical have been police and intelligence officials, whose situation reports show all of that bloviating as nothing more than politically-motivated misinformation and fearmongering aimed at discrediting an uncommonly popular and peaceful, organic, grassroots movement of Canadians seeking to be heard. (And I present you this perspective as someone who disagreed with these people at the time, and wrote about that, and who still largely disagrees with many of their beliefs and assertions.)

BARBER - TRUCKING COMPANY OWNER/OPERATOR

Christopher Barber is a 46-year-old resident of Swift Current, Saskatchewan and a truck driver who owns a trucking business specializing in moving agricultural equipment. He was one of the original organizers of what came to be called the “Freedom Convoy.” Barber became motivated after being approached by another cross-border trucker who, like many, was going to lose her job when the federal government changed their years-long policy of vaccine and quarantine exemption for truckers. In early January of 2022, Barber used his social media accounts to voice his growing concern about the policy change he considered to be his final straw.

Barber was asked by lawyers how the COVID mandates affected him personally. He noted that when the new federal mandate came into effect on January 15th, requiring drivers to be fully vaccinated to cross the border, a significant number of drivers stopped working and much freight started backing up on both sides of the border, causing a serious problem for everyone. He offered that the government estimated a loss of just 10% of cross-border truckers. Barber rejected that, testifying that from his vantage the number was closer to 35 or 40%. He explained that he and other truckers had continued to operate throughout the pandemic; but he noted how, at the best of times, their lives had been made quite difficult. He suggested that, for those on the road and far from home, restaurants, gas stations, and even washrooms being closed was a real problem (and a curious one when you consider trucker's solitude and essential service.) He said that, after sixteen years of operation as a small independent business, with just three trucks, he felt the combination of mandates being imposed made things needlessly challenging for him and people in his business. He suggested this final straw would likely result in him losing customers to those big carriers with hundreds of trucks and drivers.

The commission has transcripts of videos streamed and posted on social media in which Barber and other organizers share their grievances. They talk about governments at all levels flip flopping on their policies and the chaotic nonsense of that, particularly for business owners and independent operators. They talk about truckers being unable to find a shower, lodging, or food just because they don’t want what they consider to be a misrepresented, government-mandated vaccine. They talk about the vaccine passport being a silly and unlawful imposition. They use the phrase “my body, my choice” and talk about the unvaccinated being treated like parasites and about public officials treating, and thereby encouraging others to treat, their neighbours (essential workers like truckers) as despicable ‘others.’ They talk about how the last leader of a country to use this type of rhetoric was a certain moustachioed chancellor of Germany, and call Trudeau "blackface Hitler."

Barber explained that organizing the convoy happened very quickly and organically. He said, “we had people in every province that stepped up.” Walking through the sequence of events, Barber noted that he was put in contact with Tamara Lich, another organizer, around January 13th. He said that she started a Facebook page and Twitter account for “Freedom Convoy 2022” and in less than two weeks they had scores of followers, millions in donations, and several hundred trucks were on their way to Ottawa.

Barber was asked about his own and the convoy’s connections to other protests. “So is it fair to say that, from your perspective, blocking ports of entry or impeding traffic at any port of entry – whether that’s in Windsor or in Sarnia – was not an objective of the convoy organizers?” he was asked. His response was “Yeah, we had nothing to do with Windsor. … It wasn’t the same thing as what we were doing here.” Trying to understand his and others' motivations, the commission counsel noted a TikTok video posted by Barber during the Ottawa protest. Barber is quoted as saying “the last thing we need is a January 6th style insurrection.” When asked about that, Barber replied:

I believed the federal government was backed into a corner, not wanting to speak to us. And I personally believed that that was the only way out of it for them: to demonize us. … And so I pushed out the message constantly, daily: peace, love, community…”

Despite this kind of messaging by himself and other organizers, Barber noted the ever-growing police presence. He said, “We had daily meetings with police, whether it be OPP or OPS, and everything was positive. But it seemed like the police presence built on a daily basis.”

Counsel Miller asked, “And it’s fair to say, as Chief Sloly testified, at no time did any police officer or city official come and tell the protesters that they were illegally parked and illegally, unlawfully protesting and had to leave; is that fair?” Barber responded “Not to my knowledge…” He was asked about various figures and organizations connected to the protest and whether he heard or was any violence or anyone calling for violence. They also called up various convoy-related social media posts and newsletters. At the time, these provided protesters with things like the weather and news reports, an inspirational thought and daily cartoon, a CTV poll about the Emergencies Act, and list of the mandates being dropped in each province. Barber was asked if there was ever anything in the daily briefs calling for violence. Barber testified that there was not. And there does not appear to be anything of the sort, which is what you would expect given that these reports were prepared by Tom Quiggin (former military intelligence officer who worked with the RCMP, sat on the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, and is one of Canada's criminal and federal court experts on terrorism.) Barber was asked what he would have done if the city or police had provided the truckers and accompanying protesters with a court order requiring them to move their trucks from downtown or if anyone had at any point read the Riot Act. He testified that he imagined he and the convoy would have left. One can imagine that folks who cross the border every week for their livelihood don’t have their lives made easier by acquiring fresh charges of mischief, unlawful assembly, riot, or anti-government activity.

Barber was also asked about his perception of the convoy's disruption to downtown Ottawa. He was asked if he and other protesters visited any local businesses while in Ottawa. Echoing earlier testimony from business improvement association witnesses, Barber testified that the few businesses that were open were very busy. He recalled frequently attending the Tim Hortons, Iconic Cafe, and a shawarma shop. He was asked if he witnessed any of the threatening or assaultive behaviour of the sort widely reported. He testified that he had not. Miller asked, “Now I understand you heard a statement from the Prime Minister where he called unvaccinated Canadians racists and misogynists, and asked ‘should we tolerate these people?'” Barber was asked how he felt about such assertions. He responded with dismay that a leader would be so eagerly divisive, attempting to pit Canadians against one another.

WILSON - LAWYER

Keith Wilson, a lawyer from Alberta, was part of the legal team working with the convoy during their time in Ottawa and beyond. He was asked about when the protest became unlawful. Counsel for the commission put it to him that “...the blocking of municipal roads, the violation of noise by-laws and other forms of what might loosely be described as harassment…” was unlawful and challenging for police. Wilson responded that the protesters coordinated with Ottawa police, were told where to park, and then barricaded in place by police and city vehicles. Wilson also described a protest that was neither one-dimensional nor highly coordinated. He talked about witnessing citizens from all walks of life and all over Canada walking, mingling, waving signs, and shopping. He noted that others may have seen their lawful protest as an opportunity to breach by-laws, municipal ordinances, and provincial statutes. It was clear that a large swathe of the population had a spectrum of concerns related to the pandemic and thousands were eager to show up and make their grievances known. With regard to protest and the eventual invocation of the Emergencies Act, Wilson (lawyer) asserted that he understood that the Charter still applied and Canadian citizens remained free to walk downtown Ottawa, to peacefully assemble, to protest and decent, and to hold a sign in front of their Parliament.

Wilson described how a very broad group of people was labelled in the media as fascist, and how this resulted in protesters being terrorized by Antifa. Quiggin, the aforementioned intelligence expert who provided the protest with intelligence reports, described in those reports how the Prime Minister and NDP leader “have worked to create a political space where violence against the Freedom Convoy appears acceptable.” The reports describe how ideologically motivated violent actors intended to vandalize property and harass residents. These security reports included how these people would be dressed, that they would be in small groups, and gave dates for their intended actions. Wilson said the convoy team briefed executives at GoFundMe about these concerns, not wanting to have their fundraising efforts quashed for actions they did not participate in or condone. Wilson noted how Antifa was organizing on social media and would come down in groups at night and vandalize trucks, cut their air and gas lines, and slash people’s tires. He also spoke about how the convoy would call police and then the police would turn around and announce during their morning press conferences that ‘overnight there were three charges for property damage in the downtown core.’ Of course, this would be translated by the media and public as evidence of protesters terrorizing the residents of downtown Ottawa and not local vigilantes destroying the property of lawfully assembled, peaceful protesters (and doing so with no evidence of wrongdoing.)

Wilson was asked by Justice Rouleau, the commissioner running the inquiry, if any police service offered protesters any options for after the invocation of the Act, such as how to continue to protest in a manner that authorities would consider “lawful”. (Again, no one at any time had been arrested or charged with so little as unlawful assembly, never mind the criminal offence of inciting or engaging in a riot; and surely the Act didn’t curtail Canadians’ rights to lawful assembly and peaceful protest.) Wilson said, in their regular discussions with police liaisons, only zero-sum scenarios were ever on offer. Wilson also explained that, because the protest was so diverse and decentralized, that most of the thousands of protests were not truckers and were there on their own volition, and so no one labelled an organizer had the ability to communicate directly with never mind compel the whole group. It was said that on the busiest weekend 15,000 people were involved, yet only a few hundred trucks were ever present and those arrived in small groups from all over the country.

Relatedly, Wilson also spoke of all sorts of individuals and groups trying to attach themselves to the protest in order to access some of the tens of millions in donations they had received. He noted having repeated interactions with everyone from a self-styled “coven of witches” to QAnon conspiracy groups and testified that the main convoy leadership, including himself, Barber, and Lich, continually fended off folks attempting to manipulate them and get their hands on the fundraising money.

Wilson was questioned about the convoy’s activities in downtown Ottawa. The suggestion was that the convoy “never intended to rid the city core of the gridlock of 30-ton trucks…” Wilson responded, “There was no ‘gridlock’. I’ve described how I was able to travel freely.” He noted how, though they were continually negotiating with police and the mayor to shuffle trucks around the streets of downtown, not only did the police park them in these locations but everyone, all of these parties in negotiation, always intended to keep trucks on Wellington (the main drag in front of Parliament). Their protest, after all, was one of cross-border truckers feeling unreasonably impacted by federal mandates and unheard and unseen by their federal government. He also noted that, even during this inquiry, all these months after the last trucker rolled out, Wellington street remains barricaded and closed to traffic. Of course, this calls into question a primary grievance of the mayor, city council, the business improvement associations, and resident witnesses that three weeks of partial closure (always leaving a lane free for traffic and essential services) was an unreasonable and unprecedented burden that devastated people’s lives, businesses, and the broader local economy.

MARAZZO - FORMER COLLEGE COMPUTER SCIENCE INSTRUCTOR

Tom Marazzo retired from the Canadian Army after 25 years of service as an engineer. After earning a degree in software development and an MBA, he began working his local community college. He lost his teaching job in 2021 after emailing the president and the vice president of human resources, questioning the ethics and legality of the college’s COVID vaccine mandate.

Marazzo testified that he became involved with the convoy after growing increasingly concerned about the enactment of what he saw as often ridiculous or draconian policies by every level of government. He spoke of his growing fear. He noted, as a former soldier, witnessing things he never thought he would see in Canada. He referenced the lack of informed consent with regard to vaccines. He talked about senseless restrictions and about being able to buy a case of beer but not clothes for his child. He pointed to abuses of power and examples of authorities going too far, such as Toronto police attacking people and Calgary police pulling out their tazers on a kid playing street hockey; about the Prime Minister and Premiers vilifying Canadians.

Marazzo was asked about the protest being unlawful. The lawyer questioning him brought up the same document police brought around to protesters after the Emergencies Act was invoked. The notice offers that there will be “severe penalties” if they do not “cease unlawful activity” and remove their vehicles immediately from “unlawful protest sites.” The notice also highlights consequences for bringing a minor with you to an “unlawful protest site”; delivering fuel or supplies to an “unlawful demonstration”; as well as prohibitions against “interference with any critical infrastructure.” Like Wilson, Marazzo retorted that the protest he was involved with was peaceful and that when Justice McLean granted his injunction against honking he also affirmed that “the defendants and other persons remain at liberty to engage in a peaceful, lawful and safe protest.” Marazzo also noted that, in the din of conflicting information, misinformation, and raucous commentary, he was taking advice from their legal team, who confirmed that they were not “unlawful” so long as they continued to refrain from blocking borders or bridges, hospital or airports, and weren’t inviting folks to engage in unlawful activity or do anything of the sort themselves. He testified that the notice was posted to the elevator in his hotel and no police or any other official came to them with it or spelled out how he or anyone else was acting unlawfully or how they could continue to engage in their peaceful protest against government mandates.

Marazzo was asked about the consequences of the invocation and if he had any of his personal bank accounts frozen. He explained that everything, including a joint account he holds with his former spouse to whom he has been separated for more than a decade, was frozen for the duration of the Emergencies Act. He was asked what communication he had and with whom regarding the ceasing of his accounts. He said that no one at any time told him his accounts were going to be frozen, had been so, or when the freeze was lifted. Marazzo testified that if he hadn’t had cash on hand they wouldn’t have been able to purchase his son’s heart medication.