Juno News - Tamara Lich： The fight for freedom isn’t over

00:00:00.000 And welcome to Straight Up with Mark Petroni. I am your host.

00:00:08.460 For all the talk by Liberals over the years about electric vehicles being the future of

00:00:13.640 transportation in Canada, well, even they now are forced to admit that the commercial viability of

00:00:20.600 EVs is in doubt. After the announcement yesterday about the closure of GM's electric van plant in

00:00:27.140 Ingersoll, Ontario, Industry Minister Melanie Jolie admits EVs have been a hard sell.

00:00:32.560 When it comes to GM, they decided to let go their bright drop, which was an EV vehicle that was

00:00:40.240 not going well commercially. That's a decision they took. Of course, we'll hold them to account

00:00:45.680 for any support we've given them to develop that model. But at the same time, we are creating

00:00:52.540 a response group to make sure that we're bringing a new model.

00:00:56.960 Well, just 9% of new vehicles sold in Canada happen to be EVs. And so they are a hard sell.

00:01:06.120 Three years ago, there were all sorts of monies spent in the way of half a billion dollars spent

00:01:11.040 to retool that Ingersoll plant. And as we all see now, it turned out to be in failure because that

00:01:18.620 plant has been closed and the workers have been let go. Ontario Premier Doug Ford finally

00:01:24.360 got President Trump's attention on the tariff issue. Trump commented on ads aired on American

00:01:30.560 network television in which the voice of Ronald Reagan, the former president, can be heard

00:01:35.320 criticizing the use of tariffs.

00:01:37.040 I even see foreign countries now that we are doing very well with taking ads. Don't go with 1.00

00:01:44.340 tariffs. They're taking ads. I saw an ad last night from Canada. If I was Canada, I'd take

00:01:49.000 that same ad also. But they're actually on television taking ads. But I do believe that everybody's

00:01:56.900 too smart for that.

00:01:57.780 Right. Trump says he may distribute some of those tariff revenues to Americans in the form

00:02:03.660 of rebates. Doug Ford, meantime, says Reagan Republicans in the United States could turn

00:02:09.600 on Trump if the administration doesn't backpedal on tariffs.

00:02:13.060 I heard that the president heard our ad. I'm sure he wasn't too happy, but it's real because

00:02:18.620 it was coming from the best president the country's ever seen, Ronald Reagan. So it is. It's very

00:02:25.500 effective. It's probably one of the best ads I've ever seen. And it's coming from Ronald Reagan's

00:02:30.420 voice. And it's going to be focused on right across the country, but also in Republican

00:02:37.080 held areas. Because what I feel, the Reagan Republicans are going to be fighting with a

00:02:42.820 MAGA group. And let's hope Reagan Republicans win.

00:02:47.380 Those ads, by the way, cost taxpayers $75 million. Now, most of us know that Canadians went to the

00:02:54.420 polls in a federal election just last April. But with a budget about to be tabled November

00:03:00.320 the 4th and talk of a huge deficit, is it possible the Liberals minority government may not be able

00:03:06.760 to muster up the votes they need to get that budget passed in the House of Commons? Well, unlikely,

00:03:13.440 but not impossible. In fact, the Liberals themselves are expressing concern they won't have the support

00:03:19.420 from either the Conservative Party or the Bloc. The Bloc Québécois, who, without having even read

00:03:25.040 the budget, eliminate the possibility that they will support it. And the Conservatives making

00:03:30.260 just ludicrous demands with respect to the budget. It sounds like you're worried about maybe Canada

00:03:34.460 going to another election. Is that a realistic possibility that Canadians can expect? We have a

00:03:39.320 minority government, but we believe we have a mandate. And when I see opposition parties not

00:03:46.160 ruling out the possibility of voting for the budget, that's starting to worry me. But I think it's them

00:03:52.500 that are misreading the mood of Canadians. If an election is necessary, we would obviously,

00:03:58.280 reluctantly, because we don't think Canadians want an election, but an election there will be.

00:04:04.060 Now, the NDP's interim leader, Don Davies, insists his party is not afraid of going to the polls again,

00:04:11.080 having an election, regardless of the fact that we just had one in April. Mind you, how many times

00:04:17.800 have we heard that from the NDP? Well, in the eyes of many Canadians, Tamara Litch, the Freedom Convoy

00:04:24.900 organizer, is kind of a folk hero. I'm not overplaying this. I mean, amongst many Canadians,

00:04:33.080 she's a star, a symbol of resistance against the federal government's overreach during the pandemic.

00:04:37.780 She endured years of legal action by the feds. She was eventually found guilty of mischief and

00:04:44.520 handed an 18-month conditional sentence, 12 months at home, with limited outings per week,

00:04:49.980 followed by six months under a 10 p.m. curfew. Really happy to have Tamara on the show. Welcome. 1.00

00:04:57.060 Thanks so much for having me.

00:04:59.800 Well, Tamara, you're under house arrest now. 1.00

00:05:01.840 How are things going for you? How's life after everything that's happened to you?

00:05:09.740 Well, it's a bit ironic because what seems to have happened here is we've done a 180.

00:05:17.180 Before the sentencing, I was essentially free to go wherever I wanted and do whatever I wanted to do,

00:05:23.080 obviously, depending on under the conditions that I was under. But I couldn't speak.

00:05:27.760 I was gagged through my bail conditions and, of course, with the trial hanging over our heads.

00:05:33.180 So now it's kind of the opposite. Now I can say whatever I want, but I can't go anywhere.

00:05:38.040 But, you know, I'm settling in. My daughter and my grandson's live with us. So, I mean,

00:05:43.160 it's nice to have those type of cellmates. It's just basically getting into a bit of a routine.

00:05:47.800 And I plan to use this time wisely. I start French classes tomorrow. I've got my gym just about set up

00:05:55.600 and ready to go. And I've got a long list of books to read. So I think, you know, it's not ideal,

00:06:02.320 but it is what it is. And I'm just glad I'm not in a jail cell, really.

00:06:07.220 Well, we're coming up to the colder weather. I mean, there's that. So you're inside. And,

00:06:13.440 you know, you could use that time to do a bunch of things that you maybe always wanted to do,

00:06:18.600 but didn't have the time. And so let me ask you, I mean, you said that the muzzle is off,

00:06:24.220 essentially. You're allowed to speak. What have you been wanting to say all this time that you've

00:06:30.240 been prevented from saying? And maybe you could talk a little bit about some of the things that

00:06:33.840 you'd like to get off your mind, off your chest. Well, it's mostly, I guess, things that had to do

00:06:41.540 with the convoy and what went on down at the protest site itself. There's a lot of evidence

00:06:47.520 that never came out during the trial or the POEC. And so we started a show, myself and Chris Barber,

00:06:55.220 and we'll have Thomas Tomarazzo and Danny Bulford on regularly to try and get that story out and get,

00:07:02.020 you know, there's a lot of things that the mainstream media never reported on. And so I just

00:07:07.540 feel like I have a lot more freedom to say the things that I want to say or to tell the story

00:07:13.000 itself. What's the number one thing that you're going to be wanting to talk about, do you think?

00:07:19.860 Give us a scoop. Oh, boy. There's so many. Our relationship with the police officers that were

00:07:25.500 on the ground, the public liaison teams that we were dealing with, the day that myself, Chris,

00:07:31.060 the road captains and the lawyers all headed down to Sussex and Rideau to try and move some trucks

00:07:35.900 well before the letter with the mayor, the former mayor of Ottawa. So a lot of that stuff never made

00:07:46.520 it into the mainstream news. I really want to get into talking about the rumors. Of course, you heard

00:07:52.840 that we were stealing money from the homeless, that we desecrated the Terry Fox statue, that we were

00:07:59.940 urinating on our war memorial, that we tried to burn down an apartment building. So these things

00:08:05.860 get reported in the mainstream media. And then, of course, when they do a little retraction, it's so

00:08:10.360 tiny that you'd need a magnifying glass to even read it. So there's a lot of things like that, that

00:08:15.420 Canadians still believe. I mean, Canadians, there's Canadians that actually believe I am a domestic

00:08:19.680 terrorist because of the reporting that was done by our legacy media and the politicians that we

00:08:25.600 elected to represent us, standing up in the house of commons and blatantly lying.

00:08:32.020 You must have felt so powerless. I mean, at the time, you were able to speak to people,

00:08:37.440 but the media has a big megaphone. The legacy media, even today, you know, despite its diminished

00:08:44.140 capacity to get their message across because fewer people are tuning in. But during that time,

00:08:50.160 people did tune in to see what was going on with this convoy. And I don't know if you remember,

00:08:55.020 but you were the first interview I did. And I was the first interview person you talked

00:09:00.500 to. I do remember. I do remember. Do you remember that? We had you on the air.

00:09:04.440 Yes, I do. And I was so terrified because I just don't do this stuff, right? And now I've

00:09:10.920 done, what, a million interviews, but I'll never forget that more.

00:09:15.320 So now you've got this long process ahead of you of trying to rehabilitate the image that

00:09:22.240 you're some kind of domestic terrorist, you know, and correct the record amongst, I guess,

00:09:29.880 a lot of people in the East. I mean, I'm thinking, I'm guessing here, maybe people in your community, 0.86

00:09:34.220 they know who you are and they know that you're not the type of person who would be anywhere,

00:09:40.420 you know, anything considering a domestic terror terrorist. And so how does that process begin

00:09:46.880 of fixing, rehabilitating yourself, your image? Have you given much thought to that?

00:09:54.760 Well, not really, because I don't really care what other people think. I mean, I guess to a

00:09:59.900 certain degree I do. But I mean, I was raised, my dad told me when I was very young that, you know,

00:10:06.220 10% of the population is just never going to like you just because, and that's okay.

00:10:10.460 I'm not here to please people. I know who I am. I am confident in who I am. And that's good enough

00:10:21.140 for me. My family loves me and I've got great friends. So I think hopefully as the years go by

00:10:27.360 and time goes on, people will understand the motivations behind the Freedom Convoy, why we

00:10:33.380 did what we did. I mean, that's one of the most glaringly obvious omissions in the trial and the

00:10:39.520 inquiry both is that sure, we can talk about the Freedom Convoy and all the violence, the felt

00:10:46.620 perceived violence that didn't exist. But, oh, shoot, I just lost my train of thought. Sorry about

00:10:53.320 that. That's all right. I mean, it was a global phenomenon. You know, I mean, you had people

00:11:00.140 all over the world messaging you and wishing you well. I mean, you inspired people and you

00:11:09.240 continue to inspire people. I guess I would ask, however, now that it's kind of over and you're

00:11:15.420 serving your sentence, any regrets at all? No. About that whole thing? I have no regrets and I'm

00:11:23.640 going to tell you why. Shortly before the sentencing hearing, I met with my lawyer in Ottawa and he was a

00:11:32.180 little concerned that, of course, during the sentencing hearing, the judge will always ask if the accused has

00:11:38.040 anything to say. And I think he was a little bit worried that I might have something to say, which

00:11:42.740 I don't know why. I said, Lawrence, I'm always going to be disrespectful. I'm never going to be, you know,

00:11:47.600 disparaging and rude. However, you know, he kind of laughed and he was talking about, well, she's going

00:11:54.380 to want to hear about remorse. And I said, I said, I cannot stand up in front of the judge and apologize

00:12:00.720 for my actions because it would be dishonest and disingenuous. I said, Lawrence, who do I apologize

00:12:07.500 to? Should I apologize to the thousands of Canadians who I still hear from today who stopped planning

00:12:15.660 their suicides because of what we did? Do I apologize to the Canadians that had lost their jobs and were 1.00

00:12:24.180 were allowed to go back to work? Do I apologize to the Canadians that can now go to the hospital to 1.00

00:12:30.680 kiss their dying grandmother or their mother? I mean, who do I apologize to? And so, no, I'm not

00:12:38.000 remorseful. I pled not guilty after all. So, you know, I acknowledge that the people, some people in

00:12:44.640 Ottawa were felt disrupted and they felt afraid. But let's be honest, the politicians and the media were

00:12:51.140 already crafting that narrative before we even left here. But about the time that we had our

00:12:56.840 interview, Mark, there is text messages between the public safety office and the PMO talking about

00:13:02.460 how to frame this as a January 6th style insurrectionist or insurrection. So, I mean, we didn't

00:13:10.780 have a chance. You know, the former mayor of Ottawa was on the TV telling citizens of Ottawa that basically

00:13:18.860 we were just an angry mob with pitchforks and torches, you know, which was obviously never the

00:13:24.500 case. We were just like regular, ordinary, working class Canadians. So, yeah, I mean, it's disappointing

00:13:32.680 that that's how the federal government and the media chose to portray us. I think they both lost

00:13:40.940 the plot. And I think they both lost a chance to truly unite Canadians across the country who were

00:13:48.920 simply there to ask for a conversation. And please, sir, can we have our rights and freedoms back?

00:13:55.680 Yeah. Yeah, I think that movement did more to rip the mask off who this government really is than

00:14:01.660 anything else to me. After that, there was no denying who these people were. You had the declaration

00:14:06.120 of the Emergencies Act. You had the freezing of the bank accounts. I mean, after they did that,

00:14:11.380 you had the riot horses unleashed. On what? I mean, the only people hurt throughout that whole thing

00:14:16.260 were the people who were caught up when the riot horses were released, you know,

00:14:20.880 hit by canisters of tear gas. You know, it was horrible. I mean, throughout that whole episode,

00:14:28.900 the truckers... Go ahead. You want to weigh in on that?

00:14:30.940 It was terrible. Well, I was just going to say, and I mean, really, the most alarming thing of it all is

00:14:35.640 that they did invoke the Emergencies Act. And the best they got out of it was a mischief charge.

00:14:41.220 And that should be very concerning to every single Canadian in this country.

00:14:45.920 And we're still waiting. I mean, I think they had the hearings for the appeal,

00:14:50.160 the government appeal on Justice Mosley's decision. And oddly, that was in February. It's now the middle

00:14:56.700 of October and it's crickets. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they claimed at the time that police

00:15:04.840 had begged them to declare the Emergencies Act. Do you remember that, the minister at the time?

00:15:09.700 It turned out to be completely false. They were humiliated at every turn. And then they tried to

00:15:14.900 play the economic card. Do you remember? And people like Doug Ford were talking about potentially

00:15:21.180 hundreds of millions of dollars in lost economic activity. Then it was months later that we found

00:15:26.800 out when they crunched the numbers that it wasn't true. So much of what they accused you of was it

00:15:32.080 wasn't true. Listen, professional truck drivers and logistics. I was a logistics person. And that's

00:15:38.500 what I've done for the majority of my adult life. Well, just find another way. If there's a detour

00:15:44.980 and you have a load to get somewhere, you just find another way. And that's exactly what happened.

00:15:49.860 So yeah, it was grossly exaggerated just to try to make us all again, look like an angry mob. And

00:15:56.440 I guess that's the most disappointing thing, you know, is that we clearly weren't.

00:16:04.020 Talk about the support you got from around the world. I mean, we certainly had tens of thousands

00:16:08.680 of Canadians who were rooting for you every step of the way. But you had a lot of Americans.

00:16:12.880 And this got tons of coverage. You know, you had people in Europe, including members of the

00:16:19.780 European Parliament, you know, talk about talk about the truckers, the courage that you showed

00:16:26.500 the inspiration. I mean, that must fill you with a great deal of pride.

00:16:30.680 Oh, I mean, Chris and I try to acknowledge that all the time. We've been so lucky to have the support

00:16:36.680 that we have. And like you said, from all the all over the world, I spoke at the EU Parliament in

00:16:42.940 December. And it's funny when you get out of Canada, you know, when you're in here, I mean,

00:16:50.940 we know what's going on. And there's a lot of people that are very concerned for the future of

00:16:54.980 our nation. But I don't think you realize until you actually leave, how bad it really is. But the

00:17:02.540 support that we've had from all across the world has really helped us keep us going to I mean,

00:17:09.420 obviously, Chris and I both have a great sense of humor. I think we're both pretty lighthearted. But

00:17:14.460 there's times that this is really frustrating, especially when we're seeing criminals, violent

00:17:20.060 criminals, sexual offenders that are getting released on bail immediately. And there's they're

00:17:27.660 getting sentenced to nothing. There was a case, I believe, about six weeks ago, where a gentleman

00:17:32.540 who was caught trying to procure sex from an underage Canadian girl who got a conditional

00:17:40.700 discharge so that it wouldn't affect his immigration papers. There was no sexual assaults,

00:17:46.340 there was no violence, there was nobody getting beaten in the streets. And so the the two tier

00:17:52.500 double standard is is glaringly obvious. And I'm encouraged that Canadians see this because 1.00

00:17:58.740 I get messages, you know, and comments on my social media all the time that from people that are

00:18:03.540 recognizing the state of our, well, I don't call it a justice system anymore, Mark, I call it a legal

00:18:09.060 system because I don't think there's anything just about it anymore.

00:18:11.780 I mean, you talk about the two tier system when you see the protests, the pro Palestinian protests,

00:18:19.460 the anti Israel protests, pro Hamas protests that we have seen. We've seen Jewish neighborhoods 0.93

00:18:25.620 blockaded. We've seen Jewish businesses damaged throughout this whole episode. And how many of

00:18:32.820 those people ended up arrested and, you know, really persecuted or prosecuted to any great degree?

00:18:38.660 Very, very few that I can think of. And so they just get let off if they do anyways.

00:18:43.940 Yeah, I mean, I compare the treatment of those people with the way that you were treated,

00:18:49.620 you know, in a peaceful protest. It's just absolutely boggles the mind.

00:18:54.180 It does. And I have a great example for you. So in May, we traveled to Ottawa for about hearing,

00:19:01.940 was there their sentencing hearing? They're all kind of flowing into each other. However,

00:19:07.540 while we were there, there was an article that came out stating that there had been five pro-Palestinian

00:19:14.900 protesters charged, arrested and charged in 2024 by the same Crown prosecutor that sat

00:19:21.860 on our case in the beginning. His name is Moise Karimji. And Moise Karimji decided to drop all of

00:19:29.060 their charges. And they were charged with the exact same offenses as myself and Chris Barber. Exactly the

00:19:34.340 same. He decided to drop their charges because as so long as they wrote a letter of an apology

00:19:40.420 and made a donation to a charity. So oddly enough, that was never an option for us. I mean,

00:19:47.700 I was denied bail and left in jail for 18 days right after the convoy, then re-arrested on a breach

00:19:55.140 that turned out to be complete nonsense and spent another month in jail. I mean, these people aren't

00:20:00.260 spending any time in jail and they're actually on the streets calling for death to a certain sect of

00:20:04.740 society. You know, we didn't have smoke bombs. There was obviously, you know, some people had

00:20:09.860 some fireworks there, but we weren't blasting off smoke bombs. And yeah, I mean, the double standard

00:20:17.380 is absolutely ridiculous. But I mean, you nailed it right at the beginning. The problem is the federal 0.59

00:20:22.340 government fumbled this right from the beginning. And I remember Chris Barber said when we were on the

00:20:27.940 way to Ottawa in the convoy, he said, Trudeau is just mad because we embarrassed him. And I said,

00:20:34.020 no, Chris, we didn't. We just handed him the platform and he's embarrassing himself.

00:20:39.380 Yeah. They wanted to make an example out of you. I think you did put the fear of God into them. I'll

00:20:45.460 tell you that. With all those trucks headed for Ottawa, when you see, when I seem to remember the posts

00:20:51.780 by certain people, Jerry Butts and others wondering where you get, where are they getting their money from?

00:20:55.540 You know, you know, you really put the fear into them. But I go back to the fact that they really

00:21:03.540 hated you guys and wanted to make an example of you out of you so that this would never happen again.

00:21:08.980 I think this was they never said it, but it makes a lot of sense. Let's throw the book at her. Let's

00:21:15.380 find as much as we can on these people. Let's make their life a living hell. So that in case anybody ever 0.98

00:21:21.300 in the future thinks of trying the same thing, they'll know what's coming.

00:21:26.100 That's right. That's exactly right. Yeah. And don't forget right now, our trial is over,

00:21:31.620 but the Crown Prosecutor is still trying to seize Big Red. This is truck. And he all but said,

00:21:39.140 flat out in the summary dismissal hearing for the forfeiture application. The Crown Prosecutor all but

00:21:46.260 said, if this forfeiture application before the judge doesn't work, then they're going to go to

00:21:49.940 Saskatchewan and try getting that truck under that jurisdiction and failing that they're going to

00:21:54.740 exhaust all legal avenues. So I mean, we're talking, you know, they they they're vindictive and petty,

00:22:02.500 and they're definitely out to continue making an example of us. I mean, that's how Chris makes his living

00:22:09.300 is with his truck. But because of what it represents, and it's a symbol of hope for many,

00:22:18.260 many Canadians, and they want to quash that. But they didn't quash it. In fact, if you look,

00:22:25.620 you know, let me take you right back to what happened around the world since 2022. I mean,

00:22:31.780 we've had Trump return to office. You know, we've had a resurgence of populist movements

00:22:37.780 right through Europe, whether you're talking about the AFD in Germany or talking about the UK Reform

00:22:43.780 Party, you're talking about Marine Le Pen in France. I think Giorgio Maloney may have already been in

00:22:50.820 there in Italy. You look at what's what's happened in some of the Eastern European countries, you know,

00:22:56.340 Poland, and Hungary, of course. So you're starting to see conservative minded populist movements

00:23:02.980 getting into office, generating all sorts of support. And I think you could take it right back

00:23:09.700 to what happened with you guys. And what's what started there, I think, you know, what has transpired

00:23:18.580 over the years since that time, must make you feel like, you know what, we made a difference.

00:23:23.780 We made a difference. We absolutely made a difference. And that that became apparent fairly

00:23:29.860 early on, I think you remember that Aaron O'Toole was ousted as leader of the opposition.

00:23:35.300 During that time, they started to announce and I think before we even got to Ottawa that some of the

00:23:39.940 provinces were going to be dropping their mask mandates. I think it what it did was, it was the

00:23:47.620 beginning of the end of the nonsense. I mean, conservative minded people and a small C conservative, 0.57

00:23:56.180 conservative minded people just want to go to work and raise their families and pay their taxes

00:24:02.820 and live their lives. And, you know, we have governments in these Western countries that are,

00:24:08.820 for lack of a better word, becoming increasingly authoritarian. Pardon me,

00:24:14.340 we had our Minister of Public Safety, our current Minister of Public Safety who's hopefully googled

00:24:19.780 what an RPAL is by now, get tweet out yesterday or the day before that, you know, people that

00:24:26.580 question the integrity of our public institutions are dangerous and irresponsible. And I think it's

00:24:32.900 dangerous and irresponsible to insinuate that people that are questioning corruption and

00:24:37.620 wrongdoing or questionable practices within our public service institutions is irresponsible and

00:24:44.900 dangerous. And so I think it just exposed so much, I believe that it just exposed so much,

00:24:51.860 it definitely showed the nonsense of a lot of the mandates and the lockdowns that we were living under

00:24:57.460 at that time. I mean, the Convoy should have been the biggest mass super spreader event of all time,

00:25:02.580 and we should technically all be dead, according to the scientific data that was, you know, being

00:25:09.780 shoved down our throats from our mainstream media and our politicians. So it was a complete wake up call,

00:25:15.860 I think it gave a lot of people the courage to finally say something because I mean, let's face it,

00:25:21.780 for the last, well, definitely since COVID. And I and I would even venture to say since maybe the

00:25:28.340 beginning of our former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's tenure. I mean, criticizing anything that

00:25:34.820 they felt shouldn't be criticized, you were immediately smeared and cancelled. And they tried

00:25:41.700 the same thing with us. I mean, they started playing the race card, the racism card right at the beginning,

00:25:46.020 that we were just a bunch of racists in its textbook. They try to dismiss you, they try to mock you,

00:25:51.860 and when that doesn't work, then they come at you with heavy horses and trample you and throw you

00:25:57.300 in a jail cell. Yeah, I mean, there was that whole flag issue, the weird thing, I think it was a Nazi 0.58

00:26:04.980 flag, a swastika. There was the Confederate flag, somebody decided to, anything that they could do to

00:26:13.540 try and smear the movement. But basically, you touched on my next question, which is the state of

00:26:18.260 freedom in Canada right now, since that time, they're not stopping, they have the forces of

00:26:23.380 authoritarianism, they continue to do what they're doing, because they see that free speech essentially

00:26:29.300 allows people to speak their minds. And when people realize that there's a lot of people who feel

00:26:33.460 exactly what they do, then they get together and they protest or they oppose the government.

00:26:39.380 And of course, you've got these number of acts now being pushed by the government repeatedly,

00:26:45.460 even when the government falls and has to come back and retable these bills, these censorship bills,

00:26:50.820 like the Online Harms Act and the rest of them. I mean, it's like they fear freedom of speech and fear

00:26:57.220 freedom more than anything, don't they, at the end of the day? Yes, it's very true. It's very true.

00:27:04.180 Well, I'll tell you my thoughts, my personal thoughts. As we were going through the lockdowns,

00:27:10.740 I felt, and of course, I think it was C11 at that time, they were trying to push some bills through at

00:27:16.340 that time also. And I remember thinking like that they were that our actions during the convoy were just

00:27:24.340 going to expedite this process of trying to turn us into a very controlled population. And I think

00:27:31.700 that the convoy and the fallout has led them to try to get all these measures in place to take away

00:27:40.340 our freedoms under the guise of it's for your safety or it's for your own good or it's for the greater

00:27:46.100 good. And so I think that the freedom convoy, what really happened is that it caused them to want

00:27:51.940 to expedite these processes and get these measures in place. And it's terrifying. I mean, I, if they

00:28:00.020 all pass, I'll be in the gulags. They'll go through our tweets, they'll go through our Facebook posts,

00:28:06.100 they'll go through things that we've said publicly. And, and unfortunately, I mean, I don't, I don't know

00:28:11.380 who the hate committee is, like, I'm not sure who sits on the hate committee who gets to decide

00:28:16.260 what constitutes as hate or not. That would be interesting to know. But it's a very slippery

00:28:23.060 slope. Hate is an emotion. Hate is, it's an emotion. So how do you, how do you enforce

00:28:31.460 an emotion, an emotional reaction? So I think it's very concerning. And I think if these bills passed,

00:28:36.900 you will see some of us in even more trouble.

00:28:39.460 Dr. We're going to wrap things up. But first, I got to ask you, could there ever be

00:28:47.220 another convoy? Do you think like the one that you were part of? Once a lifetime, maybe?

00:28:53.860 Dr. I think so. And there's a few reasons for that. I think, number one, it was a perfect storm.

00:29:00.340 We'd just been through two years of some very heavy, dark, depressing times. The truck drivers

00:29:06.180 were not working. The catalyst for the Freedom Convoy was the cross-border vaccine mandate that

00:29:11.860 Trudeau and Trudeau was trying to implement. So a lot of them were out of work or at home not working.

00:29:18.500 So we had the resources as far as that goes. We had the support from the people that were in lockdown.

00:29:25.060 And not only that, Ottawa, you know, didn't, I don't think they expected this. I've heard since

00:29:30.820 from some insider friends of mine that they met for weeks after we left to make sure that if that

00:29:37.220 ever happens again, no trucks will be getting anywhere close to Ottawa. Like they've already

00:29:42.260 put these measures in place. So I think it was just a perfect storm. I think we were all at our

00:29:49.140 wit's end. We just wanted to get our lives back. And we had the resources because nobody was working.

00:29:54.420 Um, and so I don't think it could ever be recreated, uh, in, in the same manner anyways.

00:30:02.340 Okay. Well, I want to wish you the very best. I want to thank you for coming on the show to talk

00:30:06.820 to us. And, uh, if people want to support you in any way possible, how do they do that?

00:30:15.060 Uh, they can donate to the democracy fund. They're helping me with all of my legal fees,

00:30:19.860 uh, and that's a very charitable organization. So you will get a tax receipt. Um, you can check out

00:30:25.380 my story. I have a book out called hold the line, my story from the heart of the freedom convoy.

00:30:29.620 That's available on Amazon and, uh, just keep sending me your lovely messages and letters.

00:30:35.140 It really helps and always brightens my day.

00:30:38.660 Lovely to talk to you tomorrow. Thank you.

00:30:40.580 Likewise, likewise, Mark, long overdue. Thanks so much for having me.

00:30:43.860 Absolutely. You're welcome. And that is it for this edition of straight up with Mark Bertrani.

00:30:49.780 Appreciate you tuning in my friends. Let's do it again real soon. Shall we? Bye bye for now.

Juno News - October 22, 2025

Tamara Lich： The fight for freedom isn’t over

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