Freedom Convoy plagued with ‘power struggles,’ competing factions: organizer Chris Barber
Chris Barber #ChrisBarber
OTTAWA — The Freedom Convoy was plagued by internal “power struggles” that created fractures among organizers from the get-go and made the group virtually uncontrollable, according to public testimony from one of the “faces” of the movement Tuesday.
Christopher Barber was the first protest organizer to testify in front of the Public Order Emergency Commission on Tuesday. A few dozen convoy supporters clapped when Barber took the stand in the morning, earning them a mild rebuke from the commissioner.
He testified that he was “surprised” that Ottawa police allowed trucks to park on the street in front of Parliament at the onset of the protests and painted a picture of “peaceful” protests that contrasted starkly with previous testimony delivered by Ottawa officials, residents and police.
The commission is tasked with deciding if the federal government met the legal threshold when it invoked the unprecedented powers of the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 to address the Freedom Convoy protests across Canada.
Barber told the inquiry that there was no one organizer of the various convoys as they descended towards Ottawa, but a piecemeal group of mobilizers largely driven through social media who guided their own supporters.
That meant that fractures and “power struggles” appeared quickly amongst the various mobilizers, for example between Barber and controversial figure Pat King or the group “Canada Unity.” He said he never read the latter’s notorious “memorandum of understanding” that promised to overthrow the federal government.
“Organizations kind of came in, tried to set camp up and we found a way to keep it under control… It was a power struggle a lot of the time,” he told the commission. “We were so unorganized. For the most part we used whatever we could, whatever means, whatever tools we could find,” he added about the first days of the protest movement.
The commission released a timeline of the protest prepared by convoy organizers themselves that further detailed the disputes with King.
Even before it arrived in Ottawa, several convoy organizers wanted Pat King to avoid the protest. The timeline document includes an exchange between organizer Tamara Lich and King they had in Sudbury before the convoy went to Ottawa, in which Lich asks King not to go to Ottawa.
“You need to check your f–king ego and if you care about this movement at all you will not go into Ottawa,” Lich said according to the document.
Barber was asked about King’s comment on social media where he implied Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would “catch a bullet.” Barber said King told him his previous comments had been taken out of context.
The convoy’s document also include several security updates that Daniel Bulford, a convoy organizer and former RCMP officer, provided to police. The document says that on Feb. 6, Bulford told police about a possible bomb threat, that someone had been hired to place a bomb near a school, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario or a 417 overpass.
Barber currently faces charges of counselling mischief, counselling intimidation, counselling to obstruct police, intimidation and mischief for his role in the convoy. King also faces criminal charges linked to the protests.
Barber, who owns and operates a small trucking company out of Saskatchewan, said he was able to mobilize people angry at COVID-19 public health measures and mandates through popular social media pages, namely TikTok.
He admitted he was “unfortunately” an “internet troll,” which he defined as “an online troublemaker.” He described his social media posts about COVID-19 as “very angry.”
He admitted that his online trolling ways would frequently get his social media accounts suspended or banned, so he created many of them to get around bans and restrictions.
Many parts of Barber’s testimony are in stark contrast to previous evidence presented at the commission by Ottawa city officials and residents, as well as Ottawa Police Service (OPS) and OPP top brass.
For example, he said he saw “no” acts of violence during the convoy, although Ottawa police reported many instances of violent charges laid against protesters. Former OPS chief Peter Sloly described daily examples of “assaultive” behaviour during the “occupation.”
He also said he was never warned that the protest in Ottawa was illegal. But OPS posted a note on their website on Feb. 9 that the protest was “unlawful” and that all participants must immediately cease” or face charges.
Officers also distributed a letter to remaining protesters on Feb. 16 warning them they would face “severe penalties” if they did not pack up and leave the capital’s streets.
Barber described the constant stream of truck horns in the city as a “form of excitement” but admitted they “annoyed” him and he did “everything” in his power to stop them. But the commission lawyers showed his social media videos and memes he shared online that appeared to encourage the honking.
“Some of the things that the commission has heard is that there was excessive noise due to air horns. There was harassment and intimidating behaviour including people yelling racist or homophobic slurs, and that there was just a general disorder and unsafe conditions including open fires, propane tanks near buildings and cars,” commission lawyer John Mather said.
“I can honestly say I’ve never encountered a single episode of that,” Barber replied.