The Full Measure of the Insurrection in Ottawa

 

The government keeps calling the Freedom Convoy an “illegal occupation.” As noted here previously, it is not an occupation by dictionary definition. That is just incendiary language. 

It is also not obviously illegal. Peaceful protest is a human right, recognized under the Charter. In clearing out the protesters, it is the police who seem to be acting illegally.

The protest leader, Tamara Leich, has apparently been arrested and charged with “mischief.”

Mischief; from the Criminal Code:

430 (1) Every one commits mischief who wilfully

(a) destroys or damages property;

(b) renders property dangerous, useless, inoperative or ineffective;

(c) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property; or

(d) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with any person in the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property.

No property was damaged, so far as we know, by the protesters, and almost certainly not by Tamara Leich personally.

Did the protests render any property inoperative? No—businesses closed down, but at the insistence of government. Protesters would probably have been happy to patronize any that stayed open, and they would have done booming business.

They did not seem to obstruct anyone from the operation or enjoyment of their property either. Nobody was stopped from entering or exiting the protest area; until the police did this. Perhaps they had more difficulty than usual getting to their property, but this seems marginal. A lane was left open for traffic. Parliament, at the epicentre of the protest, was able to function as normal.

Unless she faces a kangaroo court, it seems to me Leich cannot be convicted.

Ordinary protesters who have been ”arrested” by the police, I hear, have simply been driven out to some remote area and released. Because they cannot be charged—they have committed no crime. This being so, the police may be liable for assault and false arrest.

Canada has been declared to be in a State of Emergency, and all of our human rights suspended, over parking violations.