Freedom Convoy protest organiser Tamara Lich has been denied bail by a Canadian judge who claimed that she was unconvinced that Lich would abide by bail conditions and go home.
Lich, who was arrested last Thursday and charged with several offences relating to mischief, was denied bail by Ontario Superior Court Justice Julie Bourgeois on Tuesday morning, who claimed that she did not believe Lich would go home to Alberta when ordered, or stop her alleged illegal activities.
“This community has already been impacted enough by some of the criminal activity and blockades you took part in and even led,” judge Bourgeois said and added, “you have had plenty of opportunity to remove yourself and even others from this criminal activity but obstinately chose not to and persistently counselled others not to either,” broadcaster CBC reports.
“In Canada, every citizen can certainly disagree with and protest against government decisions but it needs to be done in a democratic fashion in abidance with the laws that have been established democratically,” the judge added and claimed she found Lich “almost obstructive.”
Bourgeois went on to note that Lich may face a large prison sentence if convicted on the charges against her, which include counselling to commit mischief. Lich is expected back in court on March 2nd.
Lich, who also claimed her bank account had been frozen prior to her arrest, is not the only Freedom Convoy organiser to be arrested by police in the last week.
Organiser Chris Barber was also arrested last Thursday but was granted bail the following day on the condition that he left the city of Ottawa within 24 hours of his release.
The arrests of the organisers came after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canadian history to clear the protests against Wuhan coronavirus restrictions, vaccine mandates and vaccine passports in downtown Ottawa last week.
Last weekend, police from multiple forces, including Ottawa Police, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), cleared the Ottawa protesters after three weeks of protests, arrested 191 people and laid a total of 391 charges against those who took part in the protests.
Despite the clearing of the Ottawa protest and the border blockades ending before the Emergencies Act was officially invoked, Prime Minister Trudeau defended the ongoing use of emergency powers on Monday.
“This state of emergency is not over. There continue to be real concerns about the coming days,” Trudeau said Monday.
Later in the evening, the Canadian parliament voted to approve the use of the Emergencies Act with 185 votes for the measure to 151 against.
The motion was supported by Trudeau’s Liberals and the far-left New Democrats (NDP), while the Conservatives and the separatist Bloc Quebecois opposed the emotion.
It is unclear exactly how long the government will keep the state of emergency in place, but the minister of emergency preparedness Bill Blair and minister of public safety Marco Mendicino indicated Monday evening the emergency declaration could be in place for at least a month or possibly longer.
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