Tamara Lich speaks to CHAT News when the convoy came through Medicine Hat on Jan. 24, 2022. (CHAT News File Photo)

By Canadian Press

Ottawa convoy organizer Tamara Lich seeks review of judge’s decision to deny her bail

Mar 2, 2022 | 3:11 PM

OTTAWA — Tamara Lich, one of the most prominent organizers of the Ottawa convoy, says the judge who denied her bail was biased against her cause and has asked the court to review the decision.

Lich was arrested Feb. 17 and charged with counselling mischief, the day before police moved in to disperse crowds in downtown Ottawa using powers invoked under the federal Emergencies Act.

Ontario Court Justice Julie Bourgeois denied Lich bail on Feb. 22.

In court Wednesday, Lich’s lawyer filed an affidavit on her behalf that said had she known Bourgeois was a Liberal candidate in the 2011 federal election, she would have asked the justice to recuse herself from the case.

“Had I had that information beforehand, I would have felt uncomfortable with the situation,” Lich told the court Wednesday.

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While protests in downtown Ottawa were mainly aimed at COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates, demonstrators also took aim at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal party.

Lich’s lawyer, Diane Magas, also argued that Bourgeois repeatedly referred to the impact of the protest on “our community,” in her decision to keep Lich in jail.

“If a justice feels impacted in our community, in her community, in my submission she should not sit. There should be an out-of-town judge,” Magas told the court.

Fellow protest organizer Chris Barber, who travelled by convoy from Alberta to Ottawa with Lich, was arrested the same day as her and charged with mischief, counselling to commit mischief, disobeying a court order, and obstructing police.

He was granted bail on Feb. 18 by the same justice who initially ordered Lich to remain in custody.

Wednesday’s bail review hearing was delayed slightly as hundreds of spectators attempted to log into the video conference carrying the proceedings, and flooded the chat with messages of support.

Other key figures in the Ottawa protest, Pat King and Daniel Bulford, were denied bail for charges related to their role in the protests over the risk they would reoffend.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2022.