At the Ottawa courthouse, hearings continued Wednesday in the case of Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber, where his legal team is seeking to halt the proceedings.

The motion to stay proceedings was brought forward by Barber's lawyer, Diane Magas, with support from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), arguing that Barber acted in good faith during the 2022 protests and that his Charter rights were violated.

Barber, who helped lead the convoy from Medicine Hat, Alberta, was arrested on February 17, 2022. He was later found guilty of mischief and disobeying a court order—the latter was the honking injunction issued twice by Justice McLean, prohibiting horn-honking in downtown Ottawa unless in cases of emergency.

Barber has maintained that when he encouraged honking, it was under the belief that protesters were facing an emergency situation. Honking during emergency situations was apparently authorized under the injunction. Upon his arrest, police seized Barber’s phone.

A subsequent warrant allowed authorities to extract over 4,200 pages of personal communications, including conversations with his wife, children, and employees. His defence argues this constituted an unlawful breach of privacy. Barber was questioned by his legal counsel earlier on Wednesday, May 21.

On Thursday, the Crown prosecutor cross-examined him, focusing on whether he ignored multiple warnings from police and city officials.

The prosecutor highlighted communications showing Barber had been told the protest was partly unlawful and pressed him on his defiance of the court’s injunction. The Crown is seeking a two-year jail sentence and the seizure of Barber’s truck, known as “Big Red.”

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