OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Canada’s top constitutional legal group filed a legal response to try and stop the federal government from seizing Freedom Convoy leader Chris Barber’s semi-truck known as “Big Red.”
In an update on Thursday, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) said that lawyers for Barber officially filed a formal legal response regarding the Crown wanting to take away his truck, a 2004 Kenworth worth over $150,000 that he needs for his trucking company.
“I’ve worked hard all my life as a trucker, and ‘Big Red’ is the heart of my business,” said Barber, as noted by the JCCF, regarding the planned seizure of his truck.
“Taking it away wouldn’t just be punishing me — it would take away my ability to provide for my family and employees.”
Constitutional lawyer Diane Magas, as noted by the JCCF, said Big Red “was never a tool of crime. It is a working truck, directed by the police on where to park and moved when they asked.”
“Seizing the very vehicle that Chris and his family rely on to earn a living would devastate a legitimate Canadian business,” she added.
The Crown is also looking to seize Barber’s truck, which he used in the convoy, arguing that it is an “offence-related property,” and claiming that it was used in connection with committing an offense.
The JCCF is asking that the Crown’s application to seize “Big Red” should be dismissed.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, the Canadian government is looking to put Freedom Convoy leader Tamara Lich in jail for no less than seven years and Barber for eight years for their roles in the 2022 protests against COVID mandates.
Also, the JCCF notes that Barber’s legal team has argued that the Ottawa police told him where to park his truck and, in fact, approved so-called “slow rolls” of his truck in the protests.
Magas noted that when it comes to the law, it “was never meant to strip Canadians of their livelihoods in such circumstances.”
Earlier this week, as reported by LifeSiteNews, Barber suggested he will need to obtain “security” for himself come his October 7 court date, to keep him safe from “crazy obsessed” people attacking him online.
The sentencing trial for Lich, the other Freedom Convoy leader, and Barber took place in July at a hearing. Earlier this year, they were found guilty of mischief in their roles in the 2022 convoy.
Both Lich and Barber were the main faces of the 2022 Freedom Convoy, which descended upon Ottawa demanding an end to all COVID mandates.
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled in their case for October 7 in Ottawa.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Lich recently said she has put her “trust” in Jesus regarding the outcome of her trial sentencing verdict.
In early 2022, the Freedom Convoy saw thousands of Canadians from coast to coast come to Ottawa to demand an end to COVID mandates in all forms. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government enacted the never-before-used Emergencies Act (EA) on February 14, 2022.
During the clear-out of protesters after the EA was put in place, one protester, an elderly lady, was trampled by a police horse, and one conservative female reporter was beaten by police and shot with a tear gas canister.
Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23.
