Nebulous Crime & Punishment
Thoughtful analysis by Bryan Moir
Regarding the Tamara Lich and Chris Barber sentencing this past week, Bryan Moir provides some thoughtful commentary at: When Freedom Becomes Mischief. Here are a few quotes:
“That paradox — that Canadians who acted peacefully could still be found guilty of mischief — exposes a growing fracture between the Charter and the legal apparatus that interprets it. What we witnessed wasn’t a triumph of justice, but a collision between law as written and law as wielded.”
“…Peaceful protest has been redefined as disorder.”
“…The Freedom Convoy — for all its flaws — was the natural cry of a population exhausted by mandates, censorship, and bureaucratic arrogance. It was the living pulse of a people who had not yet forgotten that the Charter belongs to them. And for that, its organizers were punished.”
“…Every future protestor must now consider whether “inconvenience” equals “crime. Whether expressing dissent means surrendering your savings, your truck, or your freedom.”
“This is how liberty dies in Canada: not with tanks, but with paperwork.”
“…Tamara Lich and Chris Barber did what free people do — they stood up. The state responded as frightened institutions do — it made an example of them.”
Read more here [emphasis in the original]
The courts may declare something a crime, but that doesn’t change the fact that many smart people – from the middle class as well as the working class – remain puzzled as to what, precisely, Lich and Barber did that was so criminal it warrants a year of house arrest followed by six months of 10 pm to 5 am curfew.
*****
Donna Laframboise is the author of “Thank You, Truckers: Canada’s Heroes and Those Who Helped Them,” available on Amazon.
She is a former National Post and Toronto Star columnist, and a former Vice President of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
