CBC FINALLY covers the Freedom Convoy fairly… three years after the fact

"If Tamara Lich was the spark that ignited the convoy, Chris Barber was the wind keeping it moving," reports CBC News.

Alex Dhaliwal
  |   December 10, 2024   |   News Analysis   |   1 Comment

The state broadcaster recently interviewed organizers of the 2022 Freedom Convoy, providing fair coverage — nearly three years after the fact.

The Freedom Convoy was an organic, multi-ethnic anti-restriction demonstration which protested in Ottawa for approximately three weeks starting in late January of 2022.

The protests ended when the Trudeau government used a never-before-invoked counter-terrorism law, the Emergencies Act, to arrest the protest leaders, seize crowdfunding fuelling the protests, and freeze the bank accounts of supporters and participants.

Tamara Lich, a freedom advocate and organizer of the convoy, has been called the “spark that lit the fire” of a massive movement against draconian pandemic mandates.

However, that’s a sentiment not held by at least one Trudeau cabinet minister.

Housing Minister Sean Fraser previously compared the convoy to the controversial January 6 riots in 2021. “We don't need this right-wing populism here at home,” he told the House of Commons in October.

Meanwhile, during the CBC exclusive, a retired trucker exclaimed: “She’s on the right side. She’s a right-winger.”

The Convoy began in Alberta as a separatist movement known as WExit, according to the broadcaster, but Lich clarified, “We were all here for our own reasons,.” 

“Mine was primarily obviously for the oil and gas industry,” she said, starting her advocacy outside a local Tim Hortons where modest rallies were held every weekend.

It gradually morphed into an anti-lockdown movement, opposing vaccine mandates against truckers and other workers considered essential.

“If Tamara Lich was the spark that ignited the convoy, Chris Barber was the wind keeping it moving,” according to CBC narration.

Barber, a lifelong trucker, volunteered as a road captain leading thousands to Ottawa in January of 2022.

“As most people know, Justin Trudeau called us the small fringe minority. We kind of took that and ran with it,” said Barber.

From the onset of the convoy, the Trudeau government failed to recognize their right to legitimate protest. Alongside allied media, they falsely accused the movement of being messengers of the “far-right.” 

“Central to Trudeau's invocation of the Act was the alleged threat of right-wing extremism and violence, but documents that podcaster Jeremy Mackenzie obtained through Canada's freedom of information law show that this drastic measure was based on fabricated intelligence," reads an exclusive investigation by the Public substack.

Government-approved media pushed that narrative soon after Trudeau accused Conservatives of supporting a “fringe group” with “unacceptable” views. 

“I'm a proud member of the small fringe minority, with unacceptable views,” Barber chuckled.

CBC then asked Lich if she felt convoy critics had merit in their opposition to the “Ottawa occupation”.

“I'm sorry they felt that way and … have so much negative energy in their hearts about it because for some of us, it was such a beautiful experience,” replied Lich.

Ottawa residents complained of endless honking, and alleged harassment from the so-called “occupation”, but no violent charges were ever laid against participants of the Ottawa protest.

Addictions Minister, Ya’ara Saks infamously claimed the honking was an acronym for “He*l Hitler,” a suggestion which drew widespread criticism.

Lich then invited CBC reporters to her Medicine Hat residence, which received quite a bit of mail during her brief stint in prison, she notes.

“I've got letters from people that have survived vaccine injuries, that didn't get to say goodbye to their dying parents in the hospital,” Lich told the broadcaster.

“I [also] have stories from people that felt they were forced to get vaccinated or … lose their job,” she added.

The organizer served 49 days in prison on one count of mischief, related to the Ottawa protest. Her counsel previously told Rebel News that Crown prosecutors tabled no evidence to substantiate the charges.

“It's whether her messaging was such as to encourage others to act unlawfully, and from what I can see, her messaging was exactly the opposite all the way through, it was always peaceful, and lawful,” said Lawrence Greenspoon on September 6.

“I wish people would acknowledge the amount of mental illness [that] has come out of this [pandemic] in the last couple of years,” Barber pivoted when talking to the state broadcaster.

“I just attended a funeral for a truck driver on the weekend, who ended it because life is really rough,” he said.

The retired truck driver attributed Canada’s mental health and addictions crisis to the lockdown measures imposed on Canadians during the pandemic.

He said someone needs to be held accountable for the wrongdoing.

Parliament quietly passed pandemic legislation June 5, voting down a clause that would mandate federal reviews.

Bill C-293, The Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness Act, barely passed third reading amid tentative NDP support. The opposition party opposed “an advisory committee” assessing public health and pandemic response capabilities of all governments.

On October 23, 2023 the Trudeau government rejected calls for a public inquiry in favour of a closed-door review by Health Minister advisers.

As of writing, Health Canada completed 21 audits into the government’s response but refused to publicly disclose those records.

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Alex Dhaliwal

Calgary Based Journalist

Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

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  • Bruce Atchison
    commented 2024-12-10 19:28:52 -0500
    I think it’s the change in the U.S. that has made CBC come clean about the trucker convoy. So many brown-noser people are suddenly MAGA. Such people are followers and not leaders or conviction folks. Mark those who suddenly are flocking to Trump after hating him for so long. They’re most likely those who go wherever the political wind blows.