“Freedom Convoy” leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber have both been given 18-month conditional sentences for their roles in the protest that blockaded downtown Ottawa for several weeks.
The two learned their fate when they appeared in an Ottawa courtroom on Tuesday.
Lich and Barber were found guilty of mischief in April, while Barber was also found guilty of an additional offence of counselling others to disobey a court order.
Justice Heather Perkins-McVey sentenced Barber, who is from Swift Current, Sask., to 12 months of house arrest and another six months abiding by a strict curfew.
Lich, who is from Medicine Hat, Alta., will serve 12 months of house arrest and three and a half months under a curfew after being given credit for days already spent in custody.
Lich and Barber were leaders of the protest that drew thousands of people and hundreds of trucks to downtown Ottawa in early 2022 in an effort to get all COVID-19 public health measures lifted.
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The protest led to the federal government using the Emergencies Act for the first time on Feb. 14, and a multi-day police operation was launched days later to clear Ottawa’s core.
The Crown had asked for a prison sentence of seven years for Lich and eight years for Barber.
In a separate Ottawa-based trial, Pat King, another convoy leader, was sentenced in February to three months of house arrest, 100 hours of community service at a food bank or men’s shelter and a year of probation.
He received nine months credit for time served before his conviction.
The Crown had asked he be sentenced to 10 years in prison for mischief and disobeying a court order.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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