Tears, outbursts and monologues: Judge struggles to keep Emergencies Act inquiry on track as ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizers testify
Bauder #Bauder
OTTAWA—A judge who gave the floor to key “Freedom Convoy” organizers to vent about personality conflicts, power struggles and fights over who controlled millions raised for their cause wrestled to keep Thursday’s hearing on track, as witnesses broke into tears recounting their frustrations — and their pride — about what they achieved in last winter’s blockades.
Justice Paul Rouleau repeatedly asked witnesses to focus on the questions asked, after two individuals digressed on lengthy tangents in their answers.
James Bauder, the founder of Canada Unity and author of a missive demanding the governor general and Senate work around the elected government to lift COVID-19 health measures, said he was told by “God” to start the convoy and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of “treason.” He cried multiple times about how he believes the convoy was a worldwide beacon of “love and unity.”
A convoy lawyer later asked Bauder to elaborate on his “feelings” about being involved in the convoy, drawing an objection from Paul Champ, a lawyer for a coalition of Ottawa residents and businesses. Champ had earlier complained to Rouleau that city residents and business owners had only been given two hours to present their evidence on the harms they suffered, while the convoy leaders were being given a platform all week.
Rouleau has repeatedly declined this week to clear the hearing room when pro-convoy supporters burst into applause, saying he is being “patient” and giving witnesses time to be heard. He ordered the removal of only one observer, who yelled after Champ’s objection.
On Thursday, the judge again chided Champ, who objected that he did not have enough time to ask Bauder about hateful and bigoted online comments, while the convoy’s legal team was giving Bauder rein to talk about his “feelings.”
Visibly irritated, the judge eventually let Champ question Bauder on his hatred for Trudeau, whom the trucker admitted he dismissively calls “Justine.”
Tamara Lich, who set up the convoy’s main fundraising campaigns that eventually raised more than $20 million, tearfully testified about why she was so angry at Trudeau over his “divisive” rhetoric, and federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates. She said she and her husband had lost their jobs, but clarified her job in administration at an oil and gas services company ended when the company closed due to pandemic restrictions and a “downturn” in the energy sector last year.
As the arbiter of their fundraising, Lich — who laughingly described herself as the “mother hen” of the protest organizers — told the inquiry she was repeatedly hounded by protest participants who wanted money or had ideas about what to do with it.
“Everybody wanted to know about the money,” Lich said. “I just felt like the vultures were circling … It was very overwhelming.”
Thursday’s evidence built on other testimony at the inquiry this week that portrayed the power struggles that erupted during the convoy’s occupation of Ottawa.
Bauder was the subject of substantial internal criticism, as other convoy participants felt his so-called “memorandum of understanding” distracted and detracted from the main message of opposition to vaccination mandates. On Wednesday, a lawyer who represents Lich and other convoy organizers dismissed the memorandum as “legal nonsense.”
Bauder defended it in a long and at times contradictory response, explaining first that he didn’t want to replace the government, then saying he thought a coalition of opposition parties would be good.
Benjamin Dichter, another convoy participant who was originally part of Lich’s group of organizers, told the inquiry he was suspicious of Bauder, lawyer Keith Wilson and another lawyer who arrived a week into the protest occupation.
“You realize there’s something going on and these people are well-connected,” Dichter said, alluding to how Wilson helped negotiate a failed arrangement to move protest trucks out of residential areas more than two weeks into the occupation.
Dichter, who was in charge of convoy communications, had received emails from Wilson outlining the deal, but took to social media after it became public to falsely describe it as “fake news.”
On Thursday, he insisted to the inquiry he was never informed of a final deal, and questioned the wisdom of agreeing to consolidate protest trucks closer to Parliament Hill, as the arrangement called for, stating it would be easier for police to “kettle” protesters if they were concentrated in the same area.
Instead of pursuing the goal of pushing the federal government to end COVID-19 health measures, Dichter said he believed Wilson was intent on “ending the protests and getting people out of the city as quickly as possible.”
Dichter also falsely claimed that protesters’ honking stopped after the first couple days of the protest, downplayed the impact of the noise and disruption he admitted had taken place, and kept insisting the horns were minimal even when challenged about why the title of his upcoming book about the protests is called “Honking for Freedom.”
The federal government invoked the Emergenceis Act on Feb. 14 to deal with the convoy protests, which included the Ottawa occupation and border blockades across the country last winter. While critics argue the move that created special police powers was unnecessary, the government insists it was a “last resort” to deal with an economically damaging and dangerous national emergency.
Tonda MacCharles is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @tondamacc SHARE:
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