OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Freedom Convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber will begin their sentencing hearing next week after earlier this year being found guilty of mischief in their roles in the 2022 convoy.
From July 23 to July 25, 2025, both Lich and Barber will be at a hearing in which Justice Heather Perkins-McVey will go over their case. She is then expected to deliver her final verdict in August.
Lich noted on X that she is “hopeful we will have the sentencing by mid to late August.”
“The Crown is seeking 2 years in a federal penitentiary for each of us and will be arguing a forfeiture order to seize and destroy Big Red,” she said.
On July 23, Barber will learn whether or not his stay of proceedings request will be granted.
In April, Lich and Chris Barber were found guilty of mischief for their roles as leaders of the 2022 protest and as social media influencers. The conviction after a nearly two-year trial came despite the non-violent nature of the popular movement.
TDF also noted that the full 108-page judgment of Justice Perkins-McVey’s ruling is now available online.
As for Barber, his initial sentencing was further delayed. The delay in his case follows a recent update in which he announced that the Crown wants to jail him for two years in addition to seizing the truck he used in the protest. As such, his legal team has asked for a stay of proceedings for the time being.
The Lich and Barber trial concluded in September 2024, more than a year after it began. It was originally scheduled to last 16 days.
Lich and Barber were initially arrested on February 17, 2022, meaning their legal battle has lasted longer than three years.
Despite the peaceful nature of the Freedom Convoy, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act to clear out protesters, an action a federal judge has since said was “not justified.” During the clearout, an elderly lady was trampled by a police horse and many who donated to the cause had their bank accounts frozen.
The actions taken by the Trudeau government were publicly supported by Mark Carney at the time, who won re-election on April 28 and is slated to form a minority government.
