`Freedom Convoy' organizer Lich set to speak in Nipawin
Tamara Lich, a co-leader of the 2022 `Freedom Convoy' protest movement that blocked access to provincial capitals and border crossings across Canada, will be in Nipawin this weekend.
The event at the Generations Event Centre in Nipawin will promote Lich's book, Hold the Line: My Story From the Heart of the Freedom Convoy, and raise money for Lich's legal defence.
She and Swift Current truck driver Chris Barber are currently on trial for charges stemming from the protest, ranging from mischief and obstructing police to counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation. Lich spent 49 days in jail after her arrest, while Barber was released.
The protest called for an end to vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the cross-border vaccine mandate, which affected unvaccinated truckers.
Lich and Barber were arrested on Feb. 17, 2022, days after the Canadian government enacted the Emergencies Act to put an end to a protest that began nearly a month earlier. In Ottawa, police arrested organizers and protesters, removed parked vehicles, and took down blockades.
The trial began in September 2023, but the proceedings have been hampered by legal wangling, technical delays, a lack of witness preparedness and issues around the disclosure of police evidence. Final arguments in the trial are expected to take place Aug. 13-15.
Lich, who lives in Medicine Hat, said in an interview on the Entreleadership Youtube channel in late 2023 that the “two years of the pandemic here and the lockdowns were really hard. It was very dark times here.”
She told host Dave Ramsey that she was sent a Tiktok video by Chris Barber, “who was calling for a Canada-wide shutdown on Jan. 23 of 2022” and she contacted Barber to offer to help him with her skills in logistics, administration and organization.
Born in Saskatoon, Lich was an early leader of Alberta's Wexit movement, as well as an organizer of the province's Maverick Party, renamed the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta. She also organized Yellow Vest protests in Canada.