OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Freedom Convoy leader Chris Barber thanked Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis for “speaking up” in support of him and Canadians’ freedom rights after he and Tamara Lich were sentenced to a year of house arrest for their roles in the 2022 protests.
In an X post this week, Lewis said that Canadians must stay “vigilant” and hold the federal government “accountable” in light of Barber’s and Lich’s sentence.
“Tamara and Chris showed remarkable courage standing up to government overreach. Democracy depends on citizens willing to defend freedom when power becomes too concentrated,” Lewis wrote.
Barber re-posted on his X account Lewis’s commentary regarding his and Lich’s sentencing by writing, “Thank you for speaking up, @LeslynLewis.”
Lewis noted how she was thankful that Lich and Barber’s “long battle of legal uncertainty and government overreach” has come to an end.
“As power continues to centralize in Ottawa, civil society must remain vigilant and hold government accountable,” she wrote.
“Freedom is preserved not through silence, but through courage, conviction, and moral strength.”
Lewis blasted the fact that some $21 million of government spending on legal was burned through in the Fed’s case against Barber and Lich.
“It’s concerning that so much public time and resources were devoted to pursuing harsh penalties against peaceful protestors while real criminals continue to threaten Canadian communities,” she wrote.
“For instance, the government spent over $21 million on legal costs related to the Emergencies Act challenge, funds that could have been better utilized in addressing actual threats to public safety.”
On October 7, Ontario Justice Heather Perkins-McVey sentenced Lich and Barber to 18 months’ house arrest after they were convicted earlier in the year of “mischief.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews, the Canadian government was hoping to put Lich in jail for no less than seven years and Barber for eight years for their roles in the 2022 protests against COVID mandates.
Perkins-McVey said of Lich and Barber during the sentencing, “They came with the noblest of intent and did not advocate for violence.”
LifeSiteNews reported on how Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre offered his thoughts on the house arrest sentencing of Lich and Barber, wishing them a “peaceful” life while stopping short of blasting the sentence as his fellow MPs did.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Conservative MP Jeremy Patzer condemned the Freedom Convoy leaders’ trial as “political persecution.”
Specifically, Barber was handed an 18-month conditional sentence, with a concurrent three-month sentence for counseling disobedience of a court order that can be served in the community.
Lich was given 18 months’ less time, taking into account the 15 1/2 months she already spent in custody.
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.
