Tamara Lich is Métis and a grandmother.
ctvnews.ca: 'Freedom Convoy' leader Tamara Lich released from custody
globalnews.ca: RCMP gave banks police info on Ottawa protesters with list of accounts to freezeQuote:
March 7, 2022
An Ontario judge ruled Monday that the previous judge who denied Lich bail made errors in law. The Alberta resident was released on $25,000 in bonds and must leave Ottawa within 24 hours and Ontario within 72 hours.
Lich was arrested Feb. 17 and remained in custody after initially being denied bail. Lich spearheaded a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the convoy, which was shut down after raising more than $10 million. The Medicine Hat, Alta. native is charged with counselling to commit mischief.
Justice John Johnston said in his decision that in denying Lich bail two weeks ago, Justice Julie Bourgeous erred when weighing the seriousness of Lich's charges by comparing them to the seriousness of the impact of the "Freedom Convoy" and not to other criminal code offences.
Lich, 49, Johnston noted, had lived a "pro-social" life prior to these charges and had no criminal record, suggesting that these factors may be grounds for a lighter sentence, should Lich be convicted. Johnston was concerned that Lich could spend more time in pre-trial custody than a sentence might deliver...
Lich is also prohibited from accessing or using social media, or having anyone use it on her behalf. She also cannot attend or engage in any future protests of COVID-19 mandates. Lich's surety must have easy and regular access to her electronic devices to ensure this. She is also prohibited from being in contact with several other organizers or leaders of the convoy movement.
During last week's bail review, an argument was put forward in regard to the previous judge who denied Lich bail. Lich argued that had she known of Justice Julie Bourgeois's unsuccessful run as a federal Liberal Party candidate in 2011, she would have asked Bourgeois recuse herself because the "Freedom Convoy" was a protest against the current Liberal government.
Quote:
March 7, 2022
The RCMP told MPs Monday that it only gave the names of people directly involved in Ottawa protests to banks to freeze their accounts, and not supporters who donated to the so-called Freedom Convoy.
The lists of protesters given to banks included personal details from the police database, such as whether protesters had been suspected of other crimes, had witnessed crimes or had other “dealings” with the police, as well as personal information such as age and height.
RCMP Supt. Denis Beaudoin told the House of Commons finance committee that banks, building societies and other institutions were sent “different types of information” from the police database on protesters, depending on what was in their files...
Angelina Mason of the Canadian Bankers Association said the RCMP, when it identified people involved in the protests, gave the banks “a high-level description of what they thought the activities were” in Ottawa.
The RCMP told the committee that around 257 accounts of people and businesses involved in the protests had been frozen by financial institutions.
Assistant RCMP Commissioner Michel Arcand said the accounts were frozen to encourage protesters in Ottawa to leave and to discourage others from joining the protests.
He said the special measures in the Emergencies Act freezing accounts were useful and “did encourage people to leave.”..
The Emergencies Act was in force from Feb. 15 to 23. It was invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the first time in Canada’s history to deal with the protests.
The act imposed a legal obligation on banks to freeze the accounts of protesters named by the RCMP.
All those who had their accounts frozen under the emergency laws have now had them unfrozen, according to Mason, though some related to court orders may still be frozen.
She said that banks were likely to retain information in their files that an individual’s account had been frozen. However, it was up to individual banks how to deal with their customers.
