For several weeks in early 2022, thousands of patriotic and freedom-loving Canadians filled the streets of downtown Ottawa, protesting the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates — especially against cross-border truckers — and hoping to have them removed.
Co-organizing this group — this Freedom Convoy — was Tamara Lich, who, along with Chris Barber and others, became one of the movement’s main faces. Near the end of the three-week blockade, police arrested Lich and charged her with committing mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation.
As she was being cuffed, Lich said to those around her, “Hold the line.” That line has had ramifications for Lich and Barber, as Crown prosecutors have focused on that statement during the duo’s recent — and still ongoing — trial.
That line has been positive for Lich, though, as she used it as the title of a new book, “Hold The Line: My story from the heart of the Freedom Convoy.”
The Saskatchewan-born woman — who lived in Moose Jaw for several years — visited Cask 82 on April 23 during a book-signing tour to thank supporters and promote the movement from her perspective.
She will spend some time in Saskatchewan before heading to Toronto to participate in Rebel News-organized events. She and Barber then return to court this summer, while she plans to return to Saskatchewan — and Alberta — in the fall to continue the tour.
The book “came together beautifully” and is doing well for a Canadian publication, Lich said, and while she didn’t know how many copies had been sold since its release in April 2023, she knew that 15,000 people had purchased it by Christmas.
“I’m very happy with how it turned out,” she said, while commending the support from a ghostwriter and Rebel News.
Lich returns to court in mid-August for hopefully the final few days of her trial — it started in September 2023 — with the judge expected to review the case and render a decision.
“I think it’s very telling that it’s being dragged out so long … ,” she said.
For example, she noted that the men accused of stealing gold from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport were given bail immediately. Conversely, she spent 49 days in jail — 18 after her arrest and 31 in the summer of 2022 for allegedly breaching her bail conditions — without receiving due process.
“So, I think it’s very telling that there seems to be a two-tiered justice system here (in Canada) and it depends on what you’re protesting,” Lich said. “… if you’re protesting the policies of our federal government, they have an issue with it. But if you’re protesting anything else, they’re OK with it.”
She pointed to a recent case of 50 Newfoundland fishermen protesting Ottawa’s policies being met by “walls of police officers” as if they were “little terrorists.”
The courts imposed strict probationary conditions on Lich, with some still in place. For example, she has no-contact orders with Barber, Danny Boyle, Tom Marazzo, Pat King and others she doesn’t even know.
Meanwhile, she was only allowed back onto social media in December — a nearly two-year ban. However, she still faces restrictions like not talking about the Convoy, not liking posts about it, and not discussing other protests.
She must also let police or a surety check her devices for potential breaches.
“So yeah, it’s frustrating as a 51-year-old woman,” she chuckled.
Lich hoped people gained a better understanding from her book about the Freedom Convoy because the mainstream media — whose coverage was “terrible” and didn’t tell the whole story — crafted a negative narrative about the movement before it even reached Ottawa.
She noted that this event went international after the federal government froze people’s bank accounts — she met a waitress in Medicine Hat who lost her account for donating $10 — which is “really what woke a lot of people up, is when they went to such an extreme measure.”
“There was no court order from a judge (and) there was no due process. They just froze bank accounts,” Lich said.
Lich thought the Convoy was a special movement because thousands of Canadians lined highways to salute the Ottawa-bound fleet of trucks, offered hugs and comments of support, and thanked organizers for giving them hope since some thought of suicide.
“It was a pretty dark time here for a lot of people, so to know that they had a sense of hope and to know they felt a sense of pride to be Canadian was extremely meaningful,” she added.
“Hold The Line: My story from the heart of the Freedom Convoy” can be found on Amazon or www.theconvoybook.com.
