I don’t use the word ‘egregious’ often….. but we are about to see one of the most egregious events in Canadian history.

‘Egregious’ – used to mean ‘distinguished, noticeable’ but somewhere along the way it’s meaning expanded. Now, it means something that is extraordinary because is it so bad or offensive. The Cambridge Dictionary is short and succinct when it comes to defining ‘egregious’, – ‘extremely bad in a way that is very noticeable’.

The Trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber

What better word is there to use regarding the trials of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber? The Freedom Convoy – the largest, most successful, spontaneous peaceful protest in Canadian history. Canadians of every walk and ilk came to Ottawa – the capital of Canada – to stand up for their rights. And they did it peacefully. Truly amazing that the biggest negative impact anyone could define was the inconvenience faced by some who lived in the area around the Parliamentary precinct – the buildings that house the seat, the foundation, the heart of the Canadian legislative system. What better place to let your views be known than at the center of where the politicians do their business? The most remarkable feature was that there was disruption, but no destruction accompanying the Convoy. Although it had no defined leadership the participants worked not to destroy but to protest peacefully. The images of bouncy castles and BBQs cooking for protesters and locals embarrassed the Prime Minister, who refused to meet. Local police and government were embarrassed by their inability to move the protesters out and perhaps by the fact that the crime rate dropped in the time the protesters were there.

The Crackdown

As the protesters were beginning to disband, Trudeau’s crew made a decision – a radical decision - to impose the Emergency Act. It is clear now, looking at the time line and events, that the only reasons it was invoked were, one, to allow the government to seize bank accounts of participants in order to punish them and, two, to give an clearer path to arresting those who had participated in the Convoy. This unprecedented move fit the agenda of the federal government, which could now do what was illegal the day before. It gave the local authorities and media the feeling something was being done and it justified the excessive force that the police used to move the protesters out.

Remember, this was being done after the protesters had reached agreement to begin to leave and as the border blockades were already being removed.

After it was over, the government needed to justify its excesses and failures. The entirely predictable Rouleau Report gave Trudeau some pretense of cover, but the main desire of the government has been to punish those who dared to challenge Trudeau.

The War Against Citizens

There is a term, ‘lawfare’ – it basically means using the legal system to destroy your opponent. It means you have more financial resources, more legal resources, more tools and capacity to manipulate the system than your opponent. And so you can wage legal warfare on them until they are either forced to surrender or are destroyed by the system itself. The guiding principle behind ‘lawfare’ is not justice, but vengeance.

When it is government that commits to ‘lawfare’, the result is horrendous.

Let’s put the pieces together.

Trudeau was embarrassed as government and law enforcement was outmaneuvered at every point.

He overreacted with the Emergency Order and was further embarrassed internationally.

It dawned on them that the government has unlimited power.

Financially…. it has unlimited resources – limited only by the depth of your, the Canadian taxpayers, pockets.There is no limit to what can be spent on legal representation or intervention. The capacity for delays, legal harassment and legal meddling is unlimited. And so we have spent 18 months with the government slow to pro……………..

Legally, government has law enforcement under its administration – the connections are direct and political. It is very useful and common for police to multiply and stack charges for offenders, so as to give something to bargain with later, if not completely bury supposed offenders in legal processes.

On a personal level, the legal profession is not without its participants, including prosecutors, who chomp at the bit for a high profile case. ………

Timewise, the government has all the time in the world – it can delay forever if necessary. It can use the time to build a case from nothing – all it takes is a desire to do so……..Delay fits in the communications strategy too. A longer time frame allows for creation of narratives that favor the government’s goals. For government, media messaging is unlimited. It helps if the government has a financial connection to media outlets as it does in Canada..

Competence is not key – the weight of government with its resources pressing down on individual citizens who must raise their own funding often achieves it’s goal before the trial ever takes place.

How has this played out over the last 18 months?.

The ‘charges’ – there are a myriad of them – laughable charges, but ones that the government can use to pursue their agenda and which each force the defendant’s to spend resources addressing. It is clear that after there has been a three week long protest and the most the police can come up with is ‘mischief’ and ‘counselling to commit mischief’, that you are making a laughing stock of the justice system. These are charges that are brought up against kids who throw a rock through a window.

Fascinating that it took the government machinery a month to gear up -  more than an month after the initial charges were filed, the police and prosecutors came up with a whole other group of equally suspect charges – another ‘mischief’ charge, an intimidation charge (obviously those laying the charges had not met the defendants), obstructing a highway and obstructing a police officer, as well as five counts of counselling others to commit those same charges.

Bizarre charges and a clear indication that they were scrambling to try to find something, anything.  This charade has continued up to today.

The question the media should interested in is, ‘What about all these charges? Over the last 18 months what has the prosecution tried to bargain down to? That would show just how serious they are. Suppose they had come numerous times and said they would drop all the other charges if the defendants would just plead guilty to a single charge of mischief. Would that indicate how much of a joke this whole process had actually been??? Media – take it up, see what you can find out.

It's not just the weak set of charges that make this whole scenario unacceptable.

There was the use of the system to unfairly imprison defendants – We saw this again and again. Long periods in prison for no clear legal reason but which served a political purpose – to try to make this appear to be a serious matter.

Further, ‘lawfare’ extended to the use of the system to unfairly restrict defendant’s right to speech and association. It allowed the government to regularly manipulate the messaging while prohibiting the defendants from being any part of the conversation.

Terms of release were so bizarre and extensive that living normal lives meant that defendants would be likely to break them.

And there is the use of time – delaying court, holding back specifics of the charges, holding back necessary information – 18 months of games played because the government has little to buld on and can afford to waste your money as it seeks its own ‘revenge’.

To the present ...

All of this has led up to where we are now…… and the use of the word ‘egregious’.

It is a joke, unless you are one of the defendants.

Then it is life threatening. Under pressure for 18 months as this federal government has played with individual Canadians, like a cat with a mouse. It’s not about justice, it’s about revenge

We know the court case will be a circus. It’s the only option open to the government. Try to load up as many sad anecdotes as possible, so that the accumulation convinces someone that the law was broken.

We will hear from experts who are more politically connected than expert in anything.

Opinions instead of facts.

Excuses instead of the truth.

Personal angst instead of evidence.

All this will be backed up by a phony justification provided by a faulty Inquiry.

Is it possible for average Canadians to win a battle like this?

It is if we all step up. Funding for the defence is being done through the Democracy Fund through direct e-transfer or a donation. Two ordinary citizens, average Canadians, who were thrown into an extraordinary situation and contributed in ways that should make us all applaud. Building, not tearing. Loving, not hating. Respectful, not destructive. Peacemakers who deserve our support.

Now subjected to a show trials, unlike anything we have seen in Canada in our lifetime, all starting for Tamara Lich and Chris Barber on Tuesday September 7, 2023.

Canadians can see the pettiness and the power of a government that is out of touch and driven not by justice, but by revenge.

The folks need your support.