Judge orders Crown to disclose internal police documents in convoy trial

The judge overseeing a criminal trial for two organizers of the truck convoy protests is ordering the Crown disclose internal police documents to the defence.

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are on trial for the role they played in the winter 2022 protests. 

Their lawyers had requested information from Ottawa Police Service about a software upgrade that resulted in at least two officers who were communicating directly with protesters having their phones wiped. 

The defence is arguing that those officers, who were on a police liaison team texting, calling and speaking with protesters are important witnesses deserving of scrutiny. They say the credibility of those witnesses could impact the weight given to their testimony. 

Lich and Barber are each charged with mischief, counselling others to commit mischief, intimidation and obstructing police for their role in the weeks-long protest in January and February of 2022.

Justice Heather Perkins-McVey echoed previous comments she had made when she said it “is very unusual” for two police officers who were expected to be trial witnesses to have lost potential evidence because of a phone upgrade.

She ordered the Crown produce an internal police email about the phone upgrade for defence lawyers to review, saying they were relevant. 

Perkins-McVey is also giving what she called “careful consideration” to emails Ottawa police argued shouldn’t be shared because of solicitor-client privilege.

They argued they were inadvertently shared with the Crown and didn’t need to be disclosed, but Perkins-McVey ordered the documents be given for her review to determine if they are relevant to Lich and Barber’s defence. 

Other documents about litigation strategy and court logistics were deemed irrelevant and are not being turned over to the court. 

Court was delayed throughout the morning because one of the defence lawyers was tied up with another matter. 

Perkins-McVey delivered her decision on the documents after 2 p.m. and the Crown then continued its case. 

Officer testimony continues

Acting Sgt. Jordan Blonde returned to the witness box for Day 24 of the long-running trial. He was part of a police liaison team messaging demonstrators that it was time to leave.

He told court last week he encountered “hostile” crowds as he and his colleagues tried telling protesters to leave the city. 

On Tuesday, he testified that every weekend there was an “influx of people into the downtown core” and crowds started thinning out as the following week approached. 

Blonde told court that protesters were being warned verbally and through flyers to leave the city or risk arrest, though many refused to take the flyers or hear the message.

A police removal operation began on Feb. 18, he said, with officers doing “final messaging” to protesters, trying to convince them to leave and warning they could be arrested if they didn’t. 

The public order unit then began a massive campaign to clear the protesters from Ottawa’s downtown. Blonde characterizied it as “slow and methodical.”

Blonde said he saw arrests, yelling and screaming and some people “actually leave the area after we provided that final messaging.”