Tamara Leach and Chris Barber are back in court fighting for their right to be seen publicly again. They are fighting to have their no contact order against the government lifted, and to be able to see each other again.
00:00:00.000Welcome back to another episode of Stand on Guard. I'm your host, David Crayton, and I have Tamara Leach with me today, and we'll be back in mere moments to discuss a variety of issues.
00:00:15.060So we are in a very precarious position in this country. We need political change, but we also need to resolve to resist.
00:00:30.000Yes, please like the station. Do what you can to support us. If you've already subscribed and you've got unsubscribed, please subscribe again. Facebook does that to people. I hear about that every day.
00:00:50.100And tell your friends and family to watch Stand on Guard. So nice to have you back here, Tamara. It's been, my God, it's been too many months and so much has happened.
00:01:01.100And I've gone through a hell of a great, a lot of personal difficulties. And my sister passed away a couple of months back, largely, I believe, because of COVID vaccines.
00:01:14.080And it's funny because I went out to the Freedom Convoy protest from day one. I knew it was historic. I knew there was a reason for me to be there to report on this when few other people were really reporting on it.
00:01:31.580They were just being talking heads and talking about how horrible this was, the mainstream media anyway.
00:01:37.660And I knew I had to go. But I tell you this, I, it was never personal for me in terms of how, how the vaccine potentially could act on people.
00:01:49.220And I'm being careful about this because we still aren't allowed to be completely honest about how safe and effective the vaccine really was.
00:01:59.680But when I lost my sister last November to pneumonia, and this was somebody who's marginally older than I was, not much. Certainly, I had no anticipation I'd lose her.
00:02:12.520And she died of pneumonia last November without any real warning. And she was gone so fast, I didn't even have a chance to get on a plane from Ottawa to see her in Vancouver.
00:02:24.100And it was that fast. And I woke up the day after. And I thought, this is real to me now. This is real because I hadn't lost anybody directly.
00:02:35.840And I fortunately, I thank God I took the damn vaccine. But I've had no ill health from it thus far. So I'm grateful for that. But it became personal for me.
00:02:47.920And my second thought after saying it's become personal, and I said, I said, thank God for people like Tamara Leach and Chris Barber who went out there and protested these mandates.
00:03:00.840Because it's not going to happen in the future. It's not going to happen. And as we were talking before this broadcast, just let the government try to do this again.
00:03:10.200And just let them try to lock down this country, to force us to take a vaccine that some people don't want to take.
00:03:18.400But let's just see them try it again, because I don't think they'll succeed.
00:03:23.540I don't think this is on again, I guess is the only way to put it.
00:03:27.360I think because of the protest that you, Chris, and others in the Freedom Convoy exhibited, I think you said to everybody out there, we can stop this in the future.
00:03:39.880We can stand up for our rights, and we can fight back. What do you think?
00:03:45.520I think you're right. I mean, I don't think that the government or, well, Canada, I mean, we're known for being, you know, very passive and polite people.
00:03:54.120And so I think it shocked a lot of people when the middle class, who rarely protest, all got up out of their homes and drove across the country to stand up against this.
00:04:05.820And I think we shocked a lot of people, especially our government.
00:04:10.580Yes, you certainly did shock the government.
00:04:14.160And they're coming back with name calling and everything else they did.
00:04:18.000But some good news lately, you can now be seen publicly with Chris Barber again, and I have a brief shot here.
00:04:28.260You retweeted Chris's post on X, so fantastic.
00:04:35.660Well, we had asked the Crown Prosecutor to drop our no contact order because the evidentiary portion of our trial is concluded.
00:04:43.860And, of course, the Crown Prosecutor didn't agree that that was a good idea.
00:04:47.000So we had to bring a motion before the judge, and she agreed that it was a breach of our charter rights to continue.
00:04:54.240I mean, conditions are only put in place, you know, in extreme cases or if there is a risk to reoffend or, you know, and especially in me and Chris's case, it was a matter of, you know, the evidence that could be presented after.
00:05:05.920But we rested our case, and we're so grateful that she ruled in that favor.
00:05:13.040We spent the weekend up at one of our lawyers' cabins for the May Long Weekend, and I remember I sent him a text message, and then it just hit me that I can actually just pick up the phone and call him now, you know, which was weird.
00:05:26.860It was really weird in the beginning that we couldn't speak to each other, but then it was weird now that we can.
00:05:40.760It just so happened that the morning that the judge ruled in our favor on this motion, Chris and his children were coming up here to pick up a truck.
00:05:48.900So they were in Medicine Hat that day, so we got together and had a great visit.
00:06:11.680Was the government imposed or police imposed time out?
00:06:16.420There's one thing I want to be able to do is to get the word out about how fundraising is going for you, and I suppose for Chris as well, but we're talking to you today about that.
00:06:30.920So are you short of funds for the legal expenses of this trial?
00:07:53.540Anyone who's been entangled with the law in any way knows this.
00:07:58.520Anyone who hasn't been, I don't think, really comprehends how expensive it is to go to court.
00:08:04.880And especially when, I mean, how would you have anticipated a mischief charge would go on this long?
00:08:12.860And it still boggles my mind because the last time I, you know, I talked to your lawyer was just after the last recess.
00:08:22.040And we spoke for quite a while outside of the courtroom.
00:08:25.620And, you know, he was quite confident of things going well, but saying things would come back for one last burst of activity in August, September.
00:08:37.020So I guess I'm imagining that hasn't, hasn't changed.
00:08:41.560You're still anticipating going back in August or September for the last nine days.
00:09:11.740It's usually a, you know, a fight at somebody's wedding results.
00:09:15.000I mean, stiff charge, you know, and this, I've, I've been saying that since day one, this should never have gone to trial.
00:09:22.080And certainly here we, you know, we're, we're, we're going to be nearing the anniversary of the beginning of this trial,
00:09:28.800because I remember it was the Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend when this thing began in 2023.
00:09:35.160And we're certainly probably going to lap that, which is incredible to me.
00:09:39.460But one of the burning questions I always had about this, do you have any idea of what happened to the funds that were raised through Give, Send, Go?
00:10:19.660Yeah, it's, it's locked up in an escrow.
00:10:21.500I think there's about $5.5 million that are locked up in an escrow seized by the government of Ontario.
00:10:27.240They have a seizure order on it, as well as a forfeiture order on it.
00:10:31.280So, I mean, the outcome of our criminal trial is definitely going to affect that.
00:10:36.880But we still have the civil suit, of course, hanging over our head that Paul Champ initiated.
00:10:42.640And so we'll, yeah, I mean, it's kind of in limbo.
00:10:46.420What would happen to it, I guess, if we ever do see that money is, you know, we may, we'll do what we said we were going to do.
00:10:54.180We've got registration forms from some of the truckers and people that were in Ottawa to reimburse them, as well as, you know, we always wanted to donate what was ever left over to the veterans.
00:12:16.920Like he's always in such good spirits and, and, you know, he's really at peace with everything.
00:12:22.200And, you know, he's doing well under the circumstances, but he shouldn't be in there to begin with.
00:12:28.660I mean, it seems that that whole trial now, I haven't been down there.
00:12:32.580I've actually tried to get down there to sit in a couple of days because obviously I'm well aware that what you read in the news is not necessarily what's really happening.
00:12:40.440And then of course there's a publication ban on it.
00:12:42.860So there, the information that's getting out is very limited, but there's a, there's not a lot of transparency with this case, which is concerning, especially in light of the fact that again, they're still in jail.
00:12:57.460No, that's, to me, it strikes me that they're, they're being treated like domestic terrorists, which of course is exactly how the Trudeau government envisioned them.
00:13:10.000That's how the Trudeau government envisioned you and the Freedom Convoy is domestic terrorists.
00:13:14.920And it's, it boggles the mind that they are still being treated in this manner.
00:13:20.180It's, it's beyond anything, any democratic country should ever have to endure.
00:13:24.800But all we can do is continue to support them, but they, the legal system has definitely treated them in a, on a tier that no other people, you know, who were charged with similar offenses would ever have been treated this way.
00:13:42.100It's, it's, it is astounding to me that this has been allowed, but we, we will see where this ends up.
00:13:50.380And I, unfortunately, I, it doesn't, doesn't bode well.
00:14:01.180And as, as have you, and so many people associated with this.
00:14:05.480And, and I think there's been people who have been put on trial very quietly while you and Chris have been on trial and have been really bypassed by any media attention.
00:14:18.460And it's just, and it's just, and that's exactly the way the Trudeau government wants it, of course, because they, it doesn't want full revelation.
00:14:27.400How many people have suffered as a result of this who are going through the legal process?
00:14:51.180And this, this sets a horrible precedent, a legal precedent for, for any Canadian in the future that, that could be charged with mischief and would have to endure this, this sort of thing.
00:15:08.280I just put this, put this by Justin Trudeau's latest obsession.
00:15:12.880And of course, trying, trying for political survival.
00:15:17.640He's been accusing Pierre Polyev of, of, of wanting to endanger the Charter of Rights.
00:15:22.520And by using that notwithstanding clause, because Polyev made a remark at a, at a, at a meeting he was at with police chiefs, where he would like to toughen up some of the criminal sentencing for real criminal.
00:15:45.180And in terms of, it might require some reference to the notwithstanding clause.
00:15:50.660But so Trudeau has been coming out and saying, Polyev and the conservatives want to knock down the Charter of Rights, want to completely obliterate the Charter of Rights.
00:15:59.420And he's called it like a, uh, a la carte Charter of Rights.
00:16:27.260Trudeau is also considering a censorship bill called the Online Harms Act, which will make any speech he deems to be hateful, essentially illegal and beyond, and potentially liable for life imprisonment.
00:16:49.620Do you find the hypocrisy of this man to be continually astounding, that he can accuse his adversaries, his political opponents, of being actually what he is?
00:17:02.660He's the guy that has scrapped the Charter of Rights in Canada.
00:17:05.800He's the guy that violates our basic freedoms.
00:17:08.920He's the guy that really doesn't care for individual freedom or democracy.
00:17:13.080But he projects that on everybody else.
00:17:19.800Well, we know that he loves to fear monger.
00:17:22.460And it's actually quite nauseating to watch him say stuff like that.
00:17:26.260You know, when these MPs and liberal MPs get up and talk about protecting the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, they literally trampled all over it.
00:17:33.480Literally trampled all over it without due process, without court orders from the judge.
00:17:42.360And so it's very frustrating to watch them try and paint this picture like they really care about Canadians and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms because they obviously don't.
00:17:53.860And so the pattern that I've seen with the Liberal Party in our case and in the case that you're talking about is it's just projection.
00:18:01.040You know, look at how they were accusing us of taking money from foreign entities when the Trudeau Foundation was taking money from Beijing.
00:18:09.620We were accused of being, you know, overtaken by the Russians and having foreign interference.
00:18:15.300Well, look at the Chinese interference.
00:18:18.360You know, everything that they accused us of doing is what they were doing.
00:19:29.180And there's also individuals who are motivated for violent extremism.
00:19:33.420And these individuals that they're targeting are parents who are opposed to gender ideology, indoctrination in the schools.
00:19:47.540And, of course, that's one of Trudeau's obsessions.
00:19:50.040He doesn't think parents should have a say in that.
00:19:52.000He doesn't think parents should even know if their 12-year-old wants to change their pronouns or their 12-year-old thinks they should have he or she should have a sex change operation.
00:21:17.380It's really anyone that sticks up for Canada.
00:21:19.400It's really anyone that actually sticks up for Canada.
00:21:23.200The Canada that we grew up in and sticks up for the Charter is painted as terrorists or misogynists or racists or, you know, like you just said, whatever the flavor of the week is.
00:21:34.960But I think this is ominous that CSIS is now essentially following Trudeau's advice.
00:21:43.340I don't think they got direct orders, too.
00:21:44.980I think they're following what they think Trudeau wants because Trudeau is not happy with CSIS because there's whistleblowers in CSIS who have revealed things that Trudeau did not want us to know.
00:21:56.240So he's gone after CSIS and CSIS is now fighting to keep their funding.
00:22:01.160I think that's all this is ever about.
00:22:03.620It's all about keeping their funding and going after the political opponents of the regime.
00:22:09.520And so that's I put that out there because you guys were victims of that.
00:22:16.140You were completely smeared by Trudeau to the point of suggesting there were Nazis in the midst of the freedom convoy.
00:22:25.140And, of course, the only Nazi that surfaced during that time was the one Trudeau invited to the House of Commons for a standing ovation.
00:22:33.620And I always tell people that, especially my American friends, you know, because they always they always laugh about, yeah, where were the Nazis during the freedom convoy?
00:23:24.440We had evangelical Christians, Roman Catholics, lots of Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, people with no religion at all who came together and they said, I am Canadian.
00:23:37.780Freedom, stop trying to use identity politics to say that I have to vote in a certain way because of my ethnicity or my religion.
00:23:46.700I am going to make my own decisions about this.
00:23:49.380And I think that was that was a huge step forward for freedom.
00:23:53.280And a lot of people who were there and I was I was a master of ceremonies at the event in Ottawa.
00:23:58.660I had so many people come up to me and they said, this is Freedom Convoy, too, because we were inspired by what happened in Ottawa.
00:24:07.400And the Freedom Convoy, because people had the guts to say, I want to stand up for freedom.
00:24:12.420I don't care if somebody wants to smear me for doing that.
00:24:16.320I'm going to stand up for freedom and we're going to get together and we're going to be united.
00:24:19.980No matter what our ethnicity, no matter what our race, no matter what our religion, we are united as Canadians.
00:24:27.240And I think you started that with the Freedom Convoy.
00:24:32.260There's been division over the last six months because of foreign wars and other things.
00:24:38.400But the million person march is going to be meeting again in September.
00:24:43.400It's going to do it again this year to tell Trudeau and to tell Canadians that we are still united for freedom.
00:24:51.300And I think that's that's something that you have demonstrated through all you have gone through in terms of the of the judicial punishment,
00:25:01.360in terms of spending time without bail in prison, going through what you've gone through and continuing to speak out with with courage.
00:25:11.360And I I'm always reluctant to call you a Freedom Convoy leader because that's what the prosecution wants to describe you as.
00:25:21.620I call you a Freedom Convoy icon as well as long as well with Chris Barber,
00:25:27.420because you have become icons not just for a Freedom Convoy protest, which lives on.
00:25:32.260But for every Canadian who believes in individual liberty, in freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and freedom of religion and all those things that used to make up Canada.
00:25:44.220And I think will again because we're fighting back because your courage has inspired people.
00:25:51.160And I want you to know that because I hear that from so many people when I'm out there and they say,
00:25:57.700you know, it's it's great that you're covering this trial.
00:26:01.560It's great that you continue to cover what's happening to Tamara and Chris, because they inspired me.
00:26:09.220They I thought this country was a lost cause until they went out and they put their their reputations.
00:26:19.260They put their everything on the line for freedom.
00:26:22.500And if they can do that, I think I can do that, too.
00:26:25.820And I think this country is still worth fighting for.
00:26:27.860So I want you to know that you have left a legacy of freedom.
00:26:32.420And of course, it's not over yet with this trial.
00:26:34.900But when you win this thing and I believe you will.
00:26:38.660And I don't think there's going to be an appeal because I think your lawyer has has tied this up so well with no loose ends.
00:26:46.680That the prosecution is not going to have any room for an appeal.
00:26:52.140That might be wishful thinking, but I believe that I think you're going to win this.
00:26:57.460And I think you're going to walk away not just victorious in this court room, but you're going to walk away as an icon of Canadian freedom.
00:27:06.680And I think you are capable to do so much more with that in the future.
00:27:55.500Both Chris and I have excellent legal teams.
00:27:58.000And so fingers crossed that you're right and there is no appeal.
00:28:02.880Yeah, that's that would be a happy ending.
00:28:06.140If there's such a thing as a happy ending after all you've been through.
00:28:10.720But do you ever envision yourself getting involved in the political process, running for office at a municipal, provincial or federal level?
00:28:21.960I'm not asking for any particular political party.
00:28:25.620But could you see yourself or do you envision yourself at any time in the future becoming politically involved?
00:28:30.560Or do you see there's something that you'd rather stay away from?
00:28:41.360I mean, I don't know what's in store for me once this is all over.
00:28:45.300Obviously, I follow politics very closely.
00:28:48.540And, I mean, I think people should get involved, myself included, right now because of the trial and stuff that's going on.
00:28:55.920Well, as you started out the show with today, David, I mean, there's a lot of vaccine injured people out there that need help.
00:29:04.320And so I kind of want to take that on and do whatever I can do to help them or get their stories out or see how we can raise funds for them, you know, because they're being left in the dark.
00:29:32.520She needs a vehicle that she can be transported in.
00:29:36.520And then not only that, but like you said, there's still a lot of people out there that are facing charges and persecution that people don't know about.
00:30:10.620I've worked in Parliament Hill for members of Parliament, and I don't miss it for a moment because I would much rather have the freedom to talk about politics from an objective viewpoint, from being not part of it, but watching it, observing it.
00:30:30.100Being able to criticize anybody in politics and not being tied to any one political party, any political movement, because it's a lot more fun.
00:30:40.640And I think in the end, it's a lot more edifying, not just for me, but for my audience and for people who can benefit from the experience I've had in that political process.
00:30:50.160As a journalist, as a journalist, as a staffer, as a military public affairs officer, especially in that latter category, I was always told what to say.
00:31:00.120I was always told how much truth I could deliver.
00:31:05.260I tried to give as much of the truth as I could, but I was always to some extent barred because there's a process you have to obey.
00:31:13.180And as an independent journalist now, I've never felt so free and so liberated and so able to talk about truth and to talk about this country as it really is and to talk about the political process as it really does develop.
00:31:27.120And I think you're going to be doing so much good outside of that process and in terms of raising money for people who need it and raising awareness of this country, the people in this country who really need to know how bad things can be.
00:31:45.620And for those who are those who are those who are disenchanted and those who are feeling the country has failed them, I think your story can be an inspiration and that your words can be a reason for them to continue to hope, to be optimistic, to fight back and to believe in Canada.
00:32:03.120And there have been moments, there have been times that I've lost faith in this country and I have lost my ability to be optimistic.
00:32:10.360but when i when i view your story and when i look at the work the freedom convoy achieved
00:32:16.980it gives me optimism and it keeps providing me with a reason to fight for this country and
00:32:24.960not to become bogged down in the political process so i hope you keep doing what you're
00:32:29.620doing tamara because what you're doing as i said is an inspiration for so many canadians who
00:32:35.020who need role models like you and chris barber and all of those people who participated in the
00:32:42.960freedom convoy trial and it's interesting you know and i'll let you go on this but
00:32:47.660when i used to see freedom convoy in the legacy media it was always in quotation marks
00:32:55.440because i didn't want to say it was freedom so-called we started calling it the so-called
00:33:00.260i'm actually seeing reporters for some mainstream media calling it the freedom convoy
00:33:12.000without quotation marks or and i'm saying i think we want a victory here because people are beginning
00:33:18.900to realize that it was about freedom and it was that these are courageous people who did everything
00:33:26.200they could to put canada first they never put themselves first it was never about ego this
00:33:32.220was about freedom and that's something i think so many canadians need to hear and we're not going
00:33:39.060to give up you're not going to give up chris is not going to give up and thank you for your work
00:33:45.400tamara and thank you for again appearing on this show and we're going to keep fighting and
00:33:49.940we'll see you in august and september when yes you will when this when when you're back in trial and
00:33:57.620we'll see you when the judge announces the verdict and i think it's going to be a happy verdict for
00:34:03.340for all of us so thank you again tamara it's always a pleasure talking to you and uh your your work
00:34:11.120will not go unnoticed or i hope unrewarded it needs to be recognized as a vital part of our current
00:34:21.140events and i believe canadian history well thank you so much for having me it's always lovely to see
00:34:26.960you david so uh you get back to your driveway where the people are working on it fortunately
00:34:33.860we didn't hear a noise so i'm so glad because it is very loud out there have a great day