Canada Wants 10 YEARS in PRISON for Trucker Convoy - What's Going on？
Episode Stats
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149.21747
Summary
Tamara Leach and Chris Barber have been charged with mischief for their role in the largest non-violent protest in Canada s history. They have been sentenced to seven and eight years in prison, respectively, for their part in the 2011 protest that blocked the nation s capital for three weeks.
Transcript
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This moment, right here, was the last flicker of real national pride in Canada.
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It gave hope for a better tomorrow to a lot of people, but it's all been going downhill ever since.
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Back in 2022, something incredible happened in Canada.
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Tens of thousands of Canadians stood up in the largest non-violent civil rights protest in the country's history.
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It was peaceful, it was powerful, and it was heard across the world.
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But instead of listening, the Canadian government cracked down.
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They enacted martial law on their own citizens, froze their bank accounts, seized their assets, and treated them like enemies of the state.
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All for demanding their freedoms back during the scamdemic of 2022.
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To this day, the two main organizers of the protests are still being dragged through the courts like political prisoners.
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The federal government is trying to make an example out of them to discourage any future dissent.
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So what's happening today with the Freedom Convoy?
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The Crown has finished sentencing submissions against Tamara Leach and Chris Barber,
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two leaders of the anti-COVID vaccine mandate protests which gridlocked Ottawa in 2022.
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Justice Heather Perkins McVeigh heard from the Crown prosecutor
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on why they're seeking an eight-year term for Barber and seven years for Leach.
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Assistant Crown Prosecutor Chavane Wetscher underlined the Crown isn't prosecuting the political beliefs or ideas of Leach or Barber,
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but for their actions in encouraging what the court has found constituted a mass mischief.
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Wetscher says the sentences sought are on the upper end of the scale,
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but argued that extraordinary harms caused by the protests require an extraordinary sentence,
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also saying there's no real precedence for this kind of case.
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During the trial, the court did find that Barber and Leach were considered leaders among portions of the protesters,
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but didn't have influence over every single protester or their actions.
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And the Crown admits that while the two may have come to Ottawa with good intentions
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and have the legal right to protest, the protest's scale and length was unprecedented.
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After that, Chris Barber's defence attorney, Diane Magus, argued that far worse protests
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that resulted in worse violence and worse property damage resulted in relatively short sentences
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and it would be a legal error to apply a lengthy jail term here.
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As an example, Magus pointed to the G20 protests in Toronto where stores were ransacked,
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police vehicles were attacked and people went with the explicit intent of committing violence and property damage,
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yet the longest G20 sentence came to 21 months.
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Magus noted that Barber and Leach explicitly advocated for non-violence during the convoy protest
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and Barber, in fact, attempted at one point to move trucks out of the downtown core,
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Magus arguing that this should be considered during sentencing.
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Sentencing submissions continue this afternoon.
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Remember, the two faces of the 2022 trucker convoy are still being put through Canada's so-called justice system.
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Yet they've endured one of the longest trials in recent Canadian history.
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Now, the federal government wants to lock them up for seven and eight years, respectively.
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Nearly a decade behind bars for organizing a mostly peaceful protest.
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The government's also trying to take away Chris Barber's livelihood.
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You might recall, Litch and Barber were two of the organizers of the convoy that rolled into Ottawa at the end of January in 2022.
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It rocked the nation's capital for three weeks and eventually ended with the Emergencies Act being invoked,
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with police dragging folks off, and with Barber and Litch being charged and then eventually convicted with mischief.
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But the Crown, in this case, has put forward sentencing recommendations of seven years for Litch and eight years for Barber.
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If you didn't think that this was already a politically motivated prosecution, well, think again.
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Now, I have to point out that nobody gets seven and eight years for mischief.
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This is a ridiculous request by the Crown Attorney's Office.
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In a so-called democracy, Tamara Leach and Chris Barber are being crushed by the full weight of the federal government.
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Not because they were violent, not because they broke things, but because they dared to speak out against government overreach.
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While actual violent protests erupt across the country, vandalism, arson, assaults, you name it,
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and those involved walk free with barely a slap on the wrist,
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the peaceful truckers are facing nearly a decade in prison?
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The government is trying to destroy their lives to make an example out of them.
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So ask yourself, if this is how Canada treats peaceful protesters, can you still call it a democracy?
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The government of the freedom convoy protesters justified?
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It was Canadians standing up for their rights against the totalitarian regimes that the government was trying to bring down upon them.
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All Trudeau had to do was come out and talk to the protesters,
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but no, he had to go hide underneath his desk and suck his thumb
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because he was too afraid to come and talk to the people.
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The other political leaders came out and talked to the protesters,
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Crown prosecutors in Ottawa are seeking an eight-year jail sentence for Chris Barber
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over his involvement in the peaceful freedom convoy protest that took place in Ottawa in 2022.
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The court is going to hear submissions from Crown prosecutors
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and from Chris Barber's lawyer on Wednesday, July 23rd and Thursday, July 24th.
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Even though this protest went on for three weeks,
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there was no vandalism, there was no violence, there was no uttering threats,
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there were no cars set on fire, there were no buildings set on fire,
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and it certainly did inconvenience some residents in Ottawa,
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but the protest would have ended a lot sooner if the Prime Minister had been willing to meet with the leaders
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I'm very grateful on behalf of the Justice Centre, on behalf of Chris Barber,
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The Justice Centre is paying for Chris Barber's legal defence.
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Thanks for your donations, and please continue to donate
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as we await the court's decision in the weeks ahead.
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Special thanks to those of you who have donated to this project.
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It is much appreciated, and it helps me continue making videos.