Freedom Trucker Czaba Visi found not guilty
Case that dragged on for more than three years collapsed in just six minutes
Czaba Visi, the Freedom Convoy Trucker who was arrested in February, 2022 was found “not guilty” of all charges on October 3rd.
Visi, who grew up in Communist Romania, immigrated to Canada in 1999. He told author Donna Laframboise he can “smell creeping Communism.”
“Having grown up in a massive prison – with endless government restrictions and endless government interference – he knows all about tyranny. He knows that a society in which neighbours are encouraged to snitch on neighbours is a society in which everyone lives in fear,” Laframboise wrote in her book “Thank you, Truckers.” Czaba’s iconic photo, reaching down from his cab to shake the hands of well wishers, became the cover photo for the book.
The timeline of the case, below, was compiled by The Lavigne Show:
“Timeline of the Csaba Vizi Case – Collapse of the Crown’s Prosecution
February 19, 2022 – Arrest and Charges
Csaba Vizi, a trucker participating in the Ottawa Freedom Convoy, was arrested during the police operation to clear downtown Ottawa.
He was charged with four offences: – Resisting arrest – Mischief (two counts) – Disobeying a court order (the “no-honking” injunction)
Vizi alleged that despite kneeling and attempting to comply, he was assaulted by police during the arrest, leaving him with injuries. (Video attached, below)
Before September 25, 2025 – Charges Narrowed
Over time, two charges were withdrawn by the Crown: the resisting arrest charge and one mischief count.
By September 2025, only two remained: – Mischief (single count) – Disobeying a court order
September 25, 2025 – Charter Ruling
9:15 AM – Justice Macfarlane delivers his decision on the defence Charter application.
– “Vacuum of evidence”: no arresting officer testified, no video of the arrest, and no clear evidence of who arrested Vizi. (Note: The arrest video exists; it was of his beating. Presumably this is why the Crown didn’t provide it as evidence to the Court.) – The arrest was ruled unlawful, making the subsequent search unlawful. – Seizure of Vizi’s driver’s licence deemed an unreasonable search. – s. 10a breach: Police failed to explain the alleged court order adequately. – s. 10b breach: Inconsistent evidence about access to counsel. – s. 24(2): Video evidence obtained through these breaches was ruled inadmissible.
With no evidence left, the Crown still failed to withdraw. The matter was adjourned to October 3 to determine whether a trial would proceed.
October 3, 2025 – Acquittal
9:45 AM – Court convened to decide if a December trial would move forward.
Early confusion: No Crown was present; defence counsel, Ms. Magas, and Vizi (via Zoom) were already in place.
9:57 AM – Fill-in Crown Wlodarczyk arrived. 9:59 AM – Judge re-entered. 10:00 AM – The Crown conceded, stating they would call no further evidence and requested an acquittal. 10:01 AM – Justice Macfarlane entered Not Guilty verdicts on both charges. 10:05 AM – Court concluded.
Key Takeaway
The Crown pursued this prosecution, despite a glaring lack of evidence, repeated Charter violations, and a failure even to call the arresting officer as a witness.
Mr. Vizi endured years of stress, legal battles, costs, and uncertainty — only to have the court find that there was never enough evidence to justify a trial. The Crown arrived in court unprepared, disorganized, and unable to meet the most basic evidentiary standard.
Justice was delayed for years, then delivered in a matter of minutes.”
To read the detailed and inspiring story of Czaba Visi’s life and experience in the Freedom Convoy, visit the Thank You, Truckers Substack for the five-part series of stories by Donna Laframboise.
357 Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMk7J0Xwwek
23 Comments
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d50kutxl9wU
Freedom Convoy leaders Chris Barber, Tamara Lich given conditional sentences
Guilty of mischief, both will spend a year at home with limited freedom
Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, two major figures of the 2022 "Freedom Convoy," have been handed conditional sentences and spared further jail time.
Barber was found guilty of mischief and counselling others to disobey a court order earlier this year, while Lich was found guilty of mischief. Both were found not guilty on several other counts.
On Tuesday, each was given an 18-month conditional sentence: Twelve months at home with limited outings per week, followed by six months under a 10 p.m. curfew.
Lich is being given credit for the 19 days she initially spent in jail, and for another 30 days she spent in custody after breaching her bail conditions.
Barber and Lich will each have to serve 100 hours of community service.
Crown sought years in prison
The pair are in court in Ottawa for sentencing following sentencing hearings in July.
Crown prosecutor Siobhain Wetscher previously asked Justice Heather Perkins-McVey to impose extraordinary sentences — eight years' imprisonment for Barber and seven for Lich — arguing that such heavy penalties would reflect the profound impact the two had on the public during the protests they led in Ottawa.
That winter, Lich and Barber encouraged thousands of protesters to park their vehicles in the city's downtown core, causing gridlock for weeks. They also raised millions of dollars to protest against the federal Liberal government's COVID-19 mandates.
The federal government eventually invoked the Emergencies Act to clear the protests.
Lawyers for Lich and Barber called for an absolute discharge, with Barber's lawyer Diane Magas saying an eight-year sentence would be "abusive."
A discharge would have meant no criminal record for Lich.
In July, Lich's lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said his client enjoyed widespread public support.
"They stood up for thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of people, who believed that their human dignity and freedoms had been compromised by government-mandated vaccinations," Greenspon said at the time.
Lich came to Ottawa with "the best of intentions," he said.
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From: Ezra Levant, Rebel News <info@rebelnews.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 7, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Subject: BREAKING: What I saw at the Tamara Lich court hearing today
To: David Amos <David.Raymond.Amos333@gmail.com>
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BREAKING: After 3½ Years, Crown’s Case Against Csaba Vizi Collapses in Just 6 Minutes🚨
After Retrieving His Truck, Convoy Member Shares Message
Canadian Trucker Sends Powerful Message After Being Beaten by Police During Freedom Convoy
---------- Original message ----------
From: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.c
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2022 18:45:26 -0300
Subject: Hey Dave Steenburg I just called did you get my message?
To: contactmistersunshinebaby@gmai
<rob.moore@parl.gc.ca>, rokaku8 <rokaku8@gmail.com>, Newsroom
<Newsroom@globeandmail.com>, nsinvestigators
<nsinvestigators@gmail.com>, "pierre.poilievre"
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https://davidraymondamos3.blog
Tuesday, 1 November 2022
Freedom Convoy organizer testifies about 'power struggle' inside the
anti-mandate movement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
LIVE PUBLIC ORDER EMERGENCY COMISSION INQUIRY Day 14 - November 1, 2022
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MOU by Canada Unity https://web.archive.org/web/20
Public Order Emergency Commission Documents
https://publicorderemergencyco
February 14, 2022 Declaration of Public Order Emergency: Explanation
pursuant to subsection 58(1) of the Emergencies Act
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politi
Freedom Convoy organizer testifies about 'power struggle' inside the
anti-mandate movement
Saskatchewan trucker Chris Barber talks about clashes between convoy factions
John Paul Tasker · CBC News · Posted: Nov 01, 2022 1:21 PM ET
Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber speaks about being arrested as
he appears as a witness at the Public Order Emergency Commission,
Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber said Tuesday the anti-vaccine
mandate protest that gripped Ottawa for weeks last winter was beset by
"conflict" among different factions pushing their own agendas.
Barber, a Saskatchewan trucker and small business owner, testified at
the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) investigating the convoy
that he and Brigitte Belton, an unvaccinated Alberta trucker, were the
first to pitch a cross-country drive to protest a vaccine mandate for
cross-border workers.
Tamara Lich, a former Western Canadian separatist, then joined the
team to help organize the trek.
This trio then "organically" aligned with other groups also keen to
take on the Liberal government and its COVID-19 policies, Barber said.
A self-described "internet troll," Barber said he connected with these
disparate groups through social media platforms such as TikTok — where
he has tens of thousands of followers who flocked to his account
during the worst of the pandemic as he attacked COVID-related
policies.
"The word started to spread. It was completely organic — everything
just fell right into place," Barber said. "A bunch of different groups
came together and had input in the planning."
Mounties' union says allowing trucks to park near Parliament was a
mistake, Emergencies Act inquiry docs show
Former Ottawa police chief attributes attacks on him to 'rumour'
The result was a "power struggle" between his group of mostly Western
Canadian truckers and other elements like Canada Unity, an outfit
opposed to mask mandates and vaccine passports. Canada Unity produced
a memorandum of understanding (MOU) calling for the overthrow of the
Liberal government.
The group's founder, James Bauder, called for Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau to be arrested and "charged with treason."
Barber said he never actually read the MOU and didn't support a
movement to seize power in Ottawa.
"I believe I just ignored it. I have no clue what's in the document. I
wasn't into that sort of thing," Barber said.
Barber said that had he known at the outset that Bauder and his
organization would join the convoy while calling for the government's
overthrow, he would have "promptly told them to go home."
Barber, who testified that he is vaccinated, said he only came to
Ottawa to protest border restrictions — policies he said hurt his
business because he employed unvaccinated drivers who couldn't travel
to the U.S.
"I remember calling on Mr. Bauder and having him renounce the MOU part
of the way through the convoy," Barber testified.
"There was too much highlight, too much spotlight on this document
that we didn't have anything to do with."
"We had a little bit of conflict between Canada Unity and Taking Back
Our Freedoms," he said, referring to a group led by former
Newfoundland and Labrador premier Brian Peckford.
Pat King, left, poses for photos in front of Parliament Hill as
truckers and their supporters protest against COVID-19 vaccine
mandates in Ottawa on February 16, 2022. (Patrick Doyle/Reuters)
Barber said he also occasionally clashed with Pat King, a far-right
organizer with a history of incendiary social media posts.
King, who amassed a large following on Facebook, encouraged people to
flock to Ottawa to join the movement.
"Pat and I had a power struggle between each other — that was evident.
It was a power struggle back and forth over control," Barber said.
Barber said the original convoy organizers felt "some concern" when
the media reported on King's previous violent and racist comments.
While he said he was bothered by some of the bad headlines King's
comments had generated, Barber added he never actually asked King to
leave the convoy.
Text messages tabled at the commission Tuesday show the convoy
organizers were worried about losing King-aligned supporters if he was
removed.
On Jan. 22, Lich told Barber they needed to have "a very frank
discussion" with King. But Lich also said the anti-mandate movement
needed King.
"We need him and I don't care about his past but it only takes one,"
she said. "We have to control his rhetoric. Not even threatening to
throw snowballs at the parliament (sic)."
"I know he's had issues. I've got skeletons in the closet to (sic),"
Barber replied.
Freeland received a death threat
Barber testified that all he wanted was a peaceful protest against
mandates he perceived as unfair.
But Andrew Gibbs, the government of Canada's lawyer, tabled documents
before the commission that showed the Barber-Lich faction disseminated
"daily event and safety report" flyers to their contingent offering
questionable information about Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland
and her association with the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The WEF has been the focus of multiple bogus conspiracy theories
throughout the pandemic.
The day after one flyer about Freeland was distributed among some in
the convoy, she received a death threat from someone named "Larry
Jenkins."
Jenkins said Freeland would "get a bullet to the head" for "lying
about COVID-19."
That same day, police arrested a man in Ottawa who was wearing body
armour and carrying a large knife and several smaller knives.
"Would you agree with me that when you start a fire and fan the
flames, it can get out of control?" Gibbs asked.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland received an explicit death
threat during the convoy protest. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)
Barber said he "unequivocally" denounces such violent threats.
He said he played no role in writing the flyers that cited Freeland and the WEF.
"I was purely here for the mandates. My job was truck safety, truck
issues, making sure everyone was looked after. My main job was working
with law enforcement," Barber said, speaking of his role as liaison
with police who were trying to maintain order.
Barber also was forced to account Tuesday for his past anti-Muslim and
racist social media posts. He's also previously displayed a
Confederate flag — a holdover from the U.S. Civil War that is often
associated with racist and far-right elements — in his truck shop.
Barber said he's a changed man.
"I can honestly say that if anyone learned anything or grew during the
convoy, it was me. I was a different person nine months ago. Coming
out here and seeing the amount of love, all different colours, all
different races ... it changed me," he said.
Barber said he also struggled to control a contingent of
French-speaking protesters who set up at the intersection of Rideau
and Sussex streets near Ottawa's Chateau Laurier hotel.
This group was known to have rowdy parties late into the night with a
DJ playing music from a makeshift stage only a stone's throw from the
Prime Minister's Office.
Barber said these protesters, most of whom came from Quebec, wouldn't
agree to his demand to make room for emergency vehicles to move
through the core.
Steeve Charland — a spokesperson for a group called Les Farfadaas, a
name that roughly translates to "elf" or "leprechaun" in English —
testified under oath Tuesday that his outfit was not behind this
occupation.
But documents presented at the commission show police intelligence had
identified the group as the French-speaking demonstrators at Rideau
and Sussex.
Steeve Charland listens to a lawyers question as he appears at the
Public Order Emergency Commission hearings, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022 in
Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Police described Les Farfadaas as an "anti-government,
quasi-separatist" group opposed to public health measures. They were
also identified as the group least cooperative with law enforcement.
Charland said he and his followers came to Ottawa to protest COVID-19
measures that had upended daily life.
"We want to be finally heard as a people," he said.
Charland was formerly a member of La Meute, French for "The Wolf
Pack," an anti-immigrant, anti-Islam group.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Paul Tasker
Senior writer
J.P. Tasker is a journalist in CBC's parliamentary bureau who reports
for digital, radio and television. He is also a regular panellist on
CBC News Network's Power & Politics. He covers the Conservative Party,
Canada-U.S. relations, Crown-Indigenous affairs, climate change,
health policy and the Senate. You can send story ideas and tips to
J.P. at john.tasker@cbc.ca.
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CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
---------- Original message ----------
From: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.c
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2022 15:36:50 -0400
Subject: My bottom line was in the email I sent you before you
bothered to call me back
To: mjslegalservices@outlook.com, attorneygeneral
<attorneygeneral@ontario.ca>, premier <premier@ontario.ca>
Cc: motomaniac333 <motomaniac333@gmail.com>
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Premier of Ontario | Premier ministre de l’Ontario <Premier@ontario.ca>
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2022 19:16:16 +0000
Subject: Automatic reply: Le leader des Farfadaas, Steeve Charland
accusé au criminel N'esy Pas???
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.c
Thank you for your email. Your thoughts, comments and input are greatly valued.
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.c
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2022 15:13:48 -0400
Subject: Re: Le leader des Farfadaas, Steeve Charland accusé au
criminel N'esy Pas???
To: diane@magaslaw.net, Glen.Motz@parl.gc.ca, Matthew@davidanber.com,
sheilagunnreid <sheilagunnreid@gmail.com>, mcu <mcu@justice.gc.ca>,
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<Richard.Bragdon@parl.gc.ca>, ahelmer@postmedia.com, Newsroom
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<premier@ontario.ca>, attorneygeneral <attorneygeneral@ontario.ca>,
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Steeve Charland arrêté
Le leader des Farfadaas, Steeve Charland accusé au criminel
Publié le 28 février 2022 à 07:20 Par Pierre-Jean Séguin
Modifié le 28 février 2022 09:25
Le leader des Farfadaas, Steeve Charland accusé au criminel
Steeve « L'Artiss » Charland
Gracieuseté de Simon Séguin-Bertrand, Le Droit
Le leader du groupe les "Farfadaas" a été arrêté par des agents de la
police provinciale de l'Ontario en fin de semaine.
Steeve Charland âgé de 48 ans qui réside à Grenville sur la rouge, a
été arrêté samedi dans le secteur de Vankleek Hill dans l'Est
Ontarien, en lien avec les manifestations contre les mesures
sanitaires qui ont paralysé le centre-ville d'Ottawa pendant plus de
trois semaines.
L'activiste est accusé de méfait et d'avoir porté conseil pour
commettre un méfait.
Steeve Charland et son groupe ont offert un soutient aux camionneurs
qui ont paralysé le centre-ville d'Ottawa; le mouvement avait
d'ailleurs causé des maux de tête à la police en s'installant sur le
site de Zibi à Hull, puis près d'une école à Pointe-Gatineau avant
d'être chassé par la police.
https://www.facebook.com/1047f
Brève comparution du leader des « Farfadaas »; il revient en cour jeudi
Publié le 1er mars 2022 à 11:34 Par Cogeco Nouvelles
Modifié le 1 mars 2022 12:40
Brève comparution du leader des « Farfadaas »; il revient en cour jeudi
Capture d'écran - Facebook Steeve Charland
Steeve « l'Artiss » Charland reviendra en Cour à Ottawa jeudi.
Le leader identifié des « Farfadaas » a brièvement comparu aujourd'hui
pensant que c'était son enquête de remise en liberté.
D'ici sa prochaine comparution, il restera derrière les barreaux et il
rencontrera une personne de l'aide juridique pour décider s'il désire
avoir un avocat ou se représenter seul.
En visioconférence aujourd'hui, Jane Scharf, semblait agir comme porte-parole.
Selon ses différents profils sur les réseaux sociaux, madame Scharf
appuyait la cause des camionneurs et elle s'identifie comme une
activiste, mais elle n'est pas avocate.
Elle s'est également présentée deux fois à la mairie d'Ottawa.
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Convoy organizer, Les Farfadaas member from Quebec appears in court
Steeve Charland, 48, was arrested Sunday by OPP in Vankleek Hill, Ont.
CBC News · Posted: Mar 01, 2022 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: 3 hours ago
Steeve Charland is the spokesperson for the Farfadaas protest
movement. (Radio-Canada)
UPDATE: Steeve Charland appeared in court Tuesday and was given 24
hours to determine whether he wants to represent himself or have a
lawyer present ahead of an upcoming bail hearing.
Another leader of the so-called Freedom Convoy, Steeve Charland, had
his first court appearance Tuesday after he was arrested over the
weekend.
Steeve Charland, 48, was arrested Sunday morning in the Vankleek Hill
area by Ontario Provincial Police officers.
He was charged with mischief and counselling to commit mischief and,
according to Ottawa police, remained in custody until his Tuesday
court appearance.
From Grenville, Que., Charland is known as a spokesman for Les
Farfadaas, a Quebec group formed to protest against public health
measures. That group was formed from La Meute, regarded by experts to
be a far right, anti-Islam and anti-immigration group.
A Patriote flag with a gnome on it in Ottawa is a symbol of the
Quebec-based anti-COVID restriction group, Les Farfadaas. (CBC)
Charland from known far-right group in Quebec
Charland previously held a senior position within La Meute, a group
that maintains an active social media presence, promoting itself
online to be campaigning for the defence of freedom of expression and
democracy, as well as promoting secularism.
People wearing Les Farfadaas patches and leather jackets could often
be found around the protest site during the three-week occupation of
Ottawa.
The group was also responsible for occupying a parking lot in the Hull
sector of downtown Gatineau, Que., not far from the primary
demonstration site in Ottawa.
After being forced to leave those premises by a court, they moved to
the parking lot of the Notre-Dame-du-Très-Saint-Rosai
Gatineau before leaving 24 hours later via a police escort.
With files from Radio-Canada
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
---------- Original message ----------
From: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.c
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2022 14:41:36 -0400
Subject: Re: Third accused convoy leader remains in custody as Tyson
'Freedom George' Billings denied bail with a a publication ban imposed???
To: diane@magaslaw.net, Glen.Motz@parl.gc.ca, Matthew@davidanber.com,
sheilagunnreid <sheilagunnreid@gmail.com>, mcu <mcu@justice.gc.ca>,
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<Richard.Bragdon@parl.gc.ca>, ahelmer@postmedia.com, Newsroom
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https://ottawacitizen.com/news
Third accused convoy leader remains in custody as Tyson 'Freedom
George' Billings denied bail
Author of the article:
Aedan Helmer
Publishing date:
Mar 01, 2022
Police from all different forces across the country joined together to
try to bring the "Freedom Convoy" occupation to an end Saturday,
February 19, 2022.
Police from all different forces across the country joined together to
try to bring the "Freedom Convoy" occupation to an end Saturday,
February 19, 2022. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia
Tyson “Freedom George” Billings will remain in an Ottawa jail after he
was denied bail Monday, the third accused organizer of the so-called
“Freedom Convoy” to be denied bail since large-scale arrests the
weekend of Feb. 19 brought an end to the three-week “occupation” of
downtown streets.
Billings, 44, of High Prairie, Alta., sat with his arms crossed in the
prisoner’s box Monday as Ontario Court Justice Donna Hackett read
through her lengthy decision, finally arriving at her order to keep
Billings in custody with a condition barring him from communicating
with other convoy leaders.
Tamara Lich, 49, was denied bail in a Feb. 22 decision from Ontario
Court Justice Julie Bourgeois, who said she believed there was a
substantial likelihood Lich would re-offend if released.
The same judge had earlier granted bail to Chris Barber, who was
released on conditions, including a promise that he give up his
organizing days and return home to Swift Current, Sask.
Lich’s Ottawa-based defence lawyer Diane Magas is preparing to mount
another court challenge for Lich’s release in a bail-review hearing
scheduled for Wednesday.
Pat King, 44, another prominent convoy leader who has been named as a
close associate of Billings, was denied bail on Friday with Justice of
the Peace Andrew Seymour expressing similar concerns that King, if
released, may continue offending.
The justice also expressed doubt in the reliability of King’s proposed
surety, a woman named Kerry Komix (also known as Kerry Comix) who
acknowledged she had only met King four weeks earlier while travelling
to Ottawa to participate in the convoy. She had put up a $50,000 bond
in a bid for King’s release.
Unlike the bail hearings last week, however, the details and reasons
behind the decision involving Billings are shielded by a publication
ban imposed at the outset of Monday’s hearing.
A publication ban is customarily issued by the judge at bail hearings
at the request of the accused person or their defence counsel, though
no such orders were issued in the earlier hearings for Barber, Lich or
King.
Defence lawyer Oleksiy Bykov, who represents Billings, did not apply
for a publication ban at the commencement of Billings’s hearing on
Friday, but agreed with the judge on Monday, saying an order “would be
wise in these circumstances.”
The recent bail hearings have featured frequent warnings from the
judges directed at observers who appeared to be live-streaming the
hearings on various social media platforms — in contravention of
longstanding court orders and criminal code statutes that prohibit the
broadcast of court proceedings.
Billings was swept up in the mass arrests by Ottawa police on Feb. 19
— he live-streamed his own arrest on his Facebook page — and has
remained in custody since then.
He was charged with mischief, counselling to commit the offence of
mischief, counselling to commit the offence of disobeying a court
order, obstructing police and counselling to commit the offence of
obstructing police.
Assistant Crown Attorney Tara Dobec said last week that Billings is
facing additional charges of breaching a court order and counselling
others to breach a court order. He is scheduled to make his next court
appearance March 14.
Another accused convoy leader, Steeve Charland, 48, of Grenville, Que.
is scheduled to make a court appearance Tuesday. Charland was arrested
Saturday evening by OPP in the Vankleek Hill area and was charged with
mischief and counselling others to commit mischief.
Charland is a poet and former actor with a large social media following.
He was one of the leaders of La Meute, a Quebec identitarian group
established in 2015 in opposition to Canada’s decision to open its
borders to Syrian refugees.
During the “Freedom Convoy” protests in Ottawa, Charland acted as the
leader and spokesperson for the Farfadaas, a group that opposes
COVID-19 health measures and whose members are recognizable by their
leather vests marked with an expletive hand gesture.
The group led a protest near the intersection of Laurier and Laval
streets in Gatineau on an undeveloped part of the massive Zibi project
in support of the “Freedom Convoy” before they were ordered to leave
following a court order.
-With files from Matthew Lapierre
ahelmer@postmedia.com
On 2/28/22, David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.c
> https://www.facebook.com/dwayn
>
> 646 Friends
> Lives in Medicine Hat, Alberta
> From Gull Lake, Saskatchewan
> Married
>
>
> Moiz M. Karimjee
> Called to the bar: 1999 (ON)
> Crown Attorney's Office
> Assistant Crown Attorney
> 161 Elgin St.
> Ottawa, Ontario K2P 2K1
> Phone: 613-239-1200
> Fax: 613-239-1214
>
> https://www.ccla-abcc.ca/membe
>
> Diane Magas
> Lawyer: Over 3 Years in Practice
> diane@magaslaw.net
> Professional Information
> D. Condo Law Professional Corporation
> Barrister & Solicitor
> 201-280 Metcalfe Street
> Ottawa Ontario
> K2P 1R7 Canada
> 613 563-1005
>
> https://lso.ca/public-resource
>
> Will Calvin Rosemond
> Business Address
> Edward Royle & Associates
> 1200 - 439 University Ave
> Toronto, Ontario
> M5G 1Y8
> Phone 1 416 309 1970 Ext. 202
> Email Address
> will.rosemond@roylelaw.ca
>
> https://lso.ca/public-resource
>
> Caryma Sa'd
> Law Society Number
> 71430C
> Business Address
> 276-222 Spadina Ave
> Toronto, Ontario
> M5T 3B3
> Phone 1 647 360 7182
> Email Address help@sadvocacy.com
>
>
> https://twitter.com/CarymaRule
>
> Caryma Sa'd - Lawyer + Political Satirist@CarymaRulesPat King’s bail
> hearing is starting now.
>
> This is the same crown who secured Tamara Lich’s detention, but a
> different jurist, in this case a Justice of the Peace (JP).
>
> King is represented by Cal Rosemond, who is also Chris Sky’s lawyer.
>
11:09 AM · Feb 22, 2022>
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?
>
> Why was Tamara Lich denied bail? Lawyer Matthew Wolfson on convoy
> organizer's arrest
> 34,782 views
> Feb 24, 2022
> 3.6K
> 1.56M subscribers
> Ontario Court Justice Julie Bourgeois felt that Lich was obstinate and
> dangerous in her responses to the court during bail hearing last
> Saturday.
> READ MORE ► https://rebelne.ws/3heeAC7
>
> https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada
>
> Ottawa convoy protest organizer Tamara Lich denied bail
>
> Judge was not convinced she would go home and follow conditions
> CBC News · Posted: Feb 22, 2022 9:46 AM ET
>
> Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich appears in front of a judge for a
> bail hearing on Feb. 19, 2022, which was put over to Tuesday. Lich,
> from Medicine Hat, Alta., was charged last Thursday with counselling
> to commit mischief in connection with the Ottawa protests. (Lauren
> Foster-MacLeod/CBC)
>
> Tamara Lich, a major organizer of the so-called Freedom Convoy, was
> denied bail Tuesday morning in Ottawa.
>
> Lich, the Alberta woman behind a now-halted GoFundMe campaign that
> raised over $10 million to support the protest in Ottawa, was arrested
> and charged Thursday with counselling to commit mischief.
>
> Before her arrest, she told journalists she wasn't concerned about
> being arrested, didn't think the protest was illegal and also said her
> bank account was frozen.
>
> On Tuesday, the judge said she was not convinced Lich would go home,
> stay there and stop her alleged counselling.
>
> "This community has already been impacted enough by some of the
> criminal activity and blockades you took part in and even led," said
> Justice Julie Bourgeois.
>
> "You have had plenty of opportunity to remove yourself and even others
> from this criminal activity but obstinately chose not to and
> persistently counselled others not to either.
>
> "In Canada, every citizen can certainly disagree with and protest
> against government decisions but it needs to be done in a democratic
> fashion in abidance with the laws that have been established
> democratically."
> Set to return next week
>
> Bourgeois said she found Lich to be guarded and "almost obstructive"
> at times during the initial court appearance on Saturday and the judge
> stated it was disturbing Lich didn't have a plan to get home after
> other organizers started getting arrested.
>
> Her husband Dwayne Lich, who would be responsible as a proposed surety
> to report any breach of bail conditions, gave "unreliable and not
> credible" evidence, Bourgeois found.
>
> Tamara Lich, who Bourgeois says could face a "lengthy" stay in prison
> if convicted, is scheduled to return to court on March 2.
>
> Lich's lawyer Diane Magas confirmed to CBC Tuesday afternoon she plans
> to seek an appeal of the decision to deny her client bail.
>
> Downtown Ottawa is starting to return to normal after police flooded
> the core over the weekend, towing more than 100 vehicles that didn't
> leave and charging more than 100 people.
>
> Businesses that had been forced to close are starting to reopen, light
> rail is running again through downtown and the area controlled by
> police checkpoints has shrunk.
>
> Protest organizer Tamara Lich speaks with reporters before her arrest
> 11 days ago
> Duration 1:22
> Convoy organizer Tamara Lich spoke with reporters just before 7 p.m.
> Thursday evening at Metcalfe and Wellington Streets in Ottawa. 1:22
>
> CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
>
> https://ottawacitizen.com/news
>
> Convoy organizer Tamara Lich's lawyer prepping bail review
> application; Pat King awaits decision
>
> In denying bail, Ontario Court Justice Julie Bourgeois said she could
> not be sure that Lich would not re-offend
> Author of the article:
> Aedan Helmer
> Publishing date:
> Feb 23, 2022
> Tamara Lich, one of the main fundraisers and organizers and part of
> the protests by truckers opposing coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
> mandates that occupied Ottawa for three weeks, appears by video in
> court on Tuesday, when she was denied bail.
> Tamara Lich, one of the main fundraisers and organizers and part of
> the protests by truckers opposing coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
> mandates that occupied Ottawa for three weeks, appears by video in
> court on Tuesday, when she was denied bail. Photo by JANE ROSENBERG
> /REUTERS
>
> Two of the most visible and vocal organizers behind the “Freedom
> Convoy” protests remain in an Ottawa jail as Tamara Lich was denied
> bail Tuesday and Pat King will wait until Friday to learn whether a
> judge will grant his request to return to Alberta under bail
> conditions.
>
> Ontario Court Justice Julie Bourgeois said she believed there was a
> substantial likelihood Lich would re-offend if released.
>
> “I cannot be reassured that if I release you into the community that
> you will not re-offend,” Bourgeois said. “Your detention is necessary
> for the protection and safety of the public.”
>
> Following the hearing, Lich’s Ottawa-based defence lawyer, Diane
> Magas, said she was preparing a bail review application after her
> client was denied her freedom and hoped the application could be heard
> as soon as next week.
>
> The judge cited the “immense” impact the convoy and the ensuing
> occupation had on the community and said she believed Lich was
> “obstinate” and “disingenuous” in her responses to the court during
> her bail hearing on Saturday.
>
> Lich appeared in court via a video link Tuesday, while King appeared
> in person in a neighbouring courtroom, where his lawyer presented a
> bail plan that includes a $50,000 bond from an Alberta woman who
> acknowledged she had only known King for four weeks.
>
> Kerry Komix, the proposed surety, also travelled to Ottawa to support
> the demonstration.
>
> Assistant Crown Attorney Moiz Karimjee, who led the prosecution in
> both bail hearings, questioned the woman’s ability to act as a
> reliable surety and suggested she shared the same ideology as King.
>
> Pat King, one of the organizers of the protests by truckers opposing
> coronavirus disease (COVID-19) mandates that occupied Ottawa for three
> weeks, appears in a court bail hearing on Tuesday. Photo by JANE
> ROSENBERG /REUTERS
>
> The court was shown numerous videos of King’s own dispatches —
> including his now infamous rants promoting racist conspiracy theories
> — as he watched from the prisoner’s box wearing white pants and a grey
> hoodie emblazoned with the word Odin.
>
> He also wore a surgical mask at the court’s direction and was reminded
> at one point by Justice of the Peace Andrew Seymour to wear his mask.
>
> King was cautioned by his lawyer, Cal Rosemond, following an outburst
> from the prisoner’s box early in the hearing and remained silent,
> occasionally slouching in his seat or fidgeting with his mask for the
> rest of the lengthy session.
>
> Karimjee pointed to the “disturbing evidence” seen and heard in the
> widely-circulated videos and told the court King, like Lich, presented
> “a substantial likelihood” of reoffending.
>
> King, 44, was arrested on Friday and faces charges of mischief,
> counselling to commit mischief, counselling to commit the offence of
> disobeying a court order and counselling to obstruct police.
>
> Lich was arrested last Thursday and charged with counselling to commit
> mischief.
>
> During the lunch break, King was also served with a statement of claim
> in the $306-million class-action lawsuit against him, other organizers
> and participants of the so-called “Freedom Convoy.”
>
> Karimjee likened the incessant honking of trucker horns to “torture”
> and said King, who often cited the phrase “Art of War” in his online
> tirades, believed he was leading a war against government forces.
>
> “He was at war with the City of Ottawa,” Karimjee said. “The noise was
> a form of torture that was implemented on the citizens of Ottawa by
> Mr. King (with) what can only be described as a sadistic laugh…
>
> “Not only did Mr. King know, but it was his intention to use that
> noise to get the federal government to negotiate and come to the
> table. And, quite disturbingly, Mr. King was mocking, laughing at poor
> Ottawans who were not able to sleep. He was saying, ‘We have achieved
> our objective.’”
>
> Under the bail plan proposed by his lawyer, King would return to
> Alberta to live with Komix in a spare room in her home. The woman said
> she is willing to put up $50,000 — approximately half the value of her
> home — and told the court she would pledge the full value of the home
> “if it was necessary.”
>
> The bail plan would ensure King would be unable to communicate with
> others to organize any further protests, Rosemond told the court.
>
> “He’ll be stuck on house arrest” in rural Alberta with Komix, Rosemond
> said, and as surety she would be limiting his access to the internet
> by guarding the password and confiscating any cellular devices.
>
> Komix told the court she is a light sleeper and has a dog.
>
> “She’s going to follow your bail order to the letter of the law,”
> Rosemond told the judge. “(King) is not in Ottawa under this bail
> plan, and he doesn’t have access to electronic devices without his
> surety looking over his shoulder — (one) who stands to lose a lot of
> money if anything goes wrong with this bail plan.”
>
> Seymour said he recognized the “vast” public interest in the case and
> said he would render his decision Friday afternoon.
>
> While she remains in custody, Lich was ordered to have no contact with
> King or other convoy organizers Benjamin Dichter, Christopher Barber
> and Daniel Bulford.
>
> Lich has no criminal record and the mischief case against her has not
> been tested in court.
>
> Barber was granted bail and released on Saturday by the same judge who
> denied bail in Lich’s case.
>
> The judge gave him 24 hours to get out of town and banned him from
> supporting the “Freedom Convoy” in any shape or form.
>
> With files from Gary Dimmock, Michael Edgar and The Canadian Press
>
> https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada
>
> No bail decision yet for Tamara Lich, convoy protest organizer
>
> Lich told court she has few assets and her bank accounts have been frozen
> Kimberley Molina, Bobby Hristova · CBC News · Posted: Feb 19, 2022 5:08 PM
> ET
>
> Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich appears in front of a judge for a
> bail hearing on Feb. 19, 2022, which was put over to Tuesday. Lich,
> from Medicine Hat, Alta., was charged last Thursday with counselling
> to commit mischief in connection with the Ottawa protests. (Lauren
> Foster-MacLeod/CBC)
>
> A second major organizer of the so-called Freedom Convoy will have to
> wait a few more days before an Ontario Court of Justice judge decides
> whether to grant her bail.
>
> Tamara Lich, the Alberta woman behind a now-halted GoFundMe campaign
> that raised over $10 million to support the protest in Ottawa, was
> arrested and charged Thursday with counselling to commit mischief.
>
> Police arrested another key leader, Chris Barber, on the same day. He
> was released on bail Friday.
>
> Before her arrest, Lich told journalists she wasn't concerned about
> being arrested, didn't think the protest was illegal and also said her
> bank account was frozen
>
> WATCH: Protest organizer Tamara Lich speaks with reporters before her
> arrest
> Protest organizer Tamara Lich speaks with reporters before her arrest
> 11 days ago
> Duration 1:22
> Convoy organizer Tamara Lich spoke with reporters just before 7 p.m.
> Thursday evening at Metcalfe and Wellington Streets in Ottawa. 1:22
>
> At her bail hearing Saturday, Lich wore a black hoodie with white text
> that combined a heart and maple leaf to read "I love Canadian oil and
> gas."
>
> She was also required to wear a medical mask, one of the mandates the
> convoy has been fighting against, along with requiring COVID-19
> vaccines to participate in certain activities like cross-border
> trucking.
>
> Crown attorney Moiz Karimjee focused on both Lich and her husband
> Dwayne's ability to pay a proposed $5,000 bond if Lich breached any
> conditions the judge may impose.
>
> Lich, who lives in Medicine Hat, Alta., and her husband both work in
> the oil and gas sector. Lich told the court she has no savings and few
> assets, including a 2017 Jeep and 2018 Ford F-150 that they're
> continuing to make payments on.
>
> She also offered no suggestions how she would be able to make her way
> back to Alberta if ordered to, since she travelled to Ottawa with
> Barber, whose bail conditions include that he not communicate with
> her.
>
> Her lawyer, Diane Magas, later told court that one of the lawyers
> representing Lich in a proposed $10-million class-action lawsuit
> against protesters would be able to drive the couple back to Alberta,
> allowing her to leave within the next week.
>
> Tamara Lich, organizer for a protest convoy by truckers and supporters
> demanding an end to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, delivers a statement
> during a news conference in Ottawa, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (Adrian
> Wyld/The Canadian Press)
> Husband travelled on private jet
>
> Lich has been a major player in the demonstrations in Canada's
> capital, which have lasted for more than three weeks and have
> attracted international attention.
>
> Ottawa police said Saturday they had made 170 arrests and towed 53
> vehicles out of the occupation zone.
>
> Dwayne Lich has been proposed to act as her surety, meaning he would
> have to report if she breached any bail conditions.
>
> In his testimony, he said he flew to Ottawa on Feb. 2 on a private jet
> at a cost of $5,000, paid for by a "nice gentleman" named Joseph that
> he'd only recently met.
>
> "But he told me that my plane ride was taken care of, which was a
> miracle," he told the court.
>
> The Crown questioned Dwayne Lich on his ability to serve as surety,
> given he'd been in Ottawa throughout much of the protests while his
> wife had been recorded telling protesters to "Hold the line at all
> costs."
>
> For weeks, the convoy blocked several major roads in Ottawa's downtown
> core. (Reno Patry/CBC/Radio Canada)
>
> While he said he didn't believe in the blockades or holding the line,
> Dwayne Lich also said he didn't see anything wrong, equating the
> blockades to a large traffic jam or parked cars in a snow storm.
>
> "I don't see no guns. I don't see anything criminal as far as I can
> see. I just see trucks parked," he said.
>
> Dwayne Lich questions legality of Emergencies Act
>
> He also questioned whether the Emergencies Act — which was debated
> Saturday in the House of Commons — was implemented legally, at times
> confusing the numbered amendments found in the U.S. Constitution with
> Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
>
> "Honestly? I thought it was a peaceful protest and based on my first
> amendment, I thought that was part of our rights," he told the court.
>
> "What do you mean, first amendment? What's that?" Judge Julie
> Bourgeois asked him.
>
> "I don't know. I don't know politics. I don't know," he said. "I
> wasn't supportive of the blockade or the whatever, but I didn't
> realize that it was criminal to do what they were doing. I thought it
> was part of our freedoms to be able to do stuff like that."
>
> He also began asking the court about whether the Liberal government
> was legally allowed to implement the Emergencies Act.
>
> A courtroom sketch of Dwayne Lich, who testified at his wife's bail
> hearing about his ability to act as her surety. (Laurie
> Foster-MacLeod/CBC)
>
> "Can you tell me if what they did is really legal? If this is
> something that they can be doing or is it against everything that is
> good and holy? I don't know," he said.
>
> While the Crown argued his comments showed he might not recognize the
> law, Magas asked him if he understood that any restrictions set by the
> court would need to be followed, to which he said he did.
>
> The Crown is arguing against bail for Tamara Lich, saying she's
> already proven she has no respect for the law and that her husband's
> testimony shows they have rich friends and could fundraise more money.
>
> The judge is expected to make a decision Tuesday.
>
> CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Motz, Glen - M.P." <Glen.Motz@parl.gc.ca>
> Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2022 16:25:22 +0000
> Subject: RE: Deployment of Emergencies Act expected to pass with
> support of the NDP because of Trudeau's predictable confidence vote EH
> AB?
> To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.c
>
> Thank you for your email. My office has been inundated with similar emails.
>
> On Monday February the 21st, the Liberals and NDP voted in favour of
> the Emergencies Act and called the situation at hand a public order
> emergency. It was the first time that this act has ever been used and
> the act preceding the emergencies act was only used in WW1, WW2 and
> the FLQ Crisis. This vote was specifically disturbing because it
> occurred despite the fact that all of the cross border protests were
> concluded and the one in Ottawa was disbursed and disbanding. It was a
> dark day for personal freedoms and peaceful protests in Canada.
>
> The Prime Minister appears to have made no effort to de-escalate the
> situation. Instead, he has insulted and disrespected Canadians, and
> then when it blew up, instead of apologizing and listening to what
> people had to say, jumped straight to the most extreme measures to
> deal with the protests.
>
> Imposing powers of the Emergencies Act sets a dangerous precedent. The
> Government of Canada included in its laundry list of powers the
> ability to freeze the funds of those supporting the demonstrators.
> Governments should not have the power to close the bank accounts of
> hardworking Canadians simply on the suspicion of supporting causes of
> which the government doesn’t approve. This is a slippery slope, and
> not how the government should operate in a free and democratic
> society.
>
> Some of my comments are contained in this speech I delivered in the
> House of Commons on behalf of constituents. It is worth watching as it
> clearly shows where I stand and the actions that I personally took to
> stop this government overreach. The video can be viewed here:
> https://fb.watch/bmjT0H1Fs2/
>
> In an even more baffling turn of events, less than 48 hours after
> voting to implemented the Emergencies Act the Prime Minister announced
> on February the 23rd that the “situation is no longer an emergency”
> and revoked the Emergencies Act. Although it is unnerving to even
> consider that the PM would invoke the Act to silence his political
> adversaries, I am thankful that the direct, powerful and prolonged
> pressure by Conservative MPs and engaged constituents such as yourself
> seems to have impacted his decision. In the words of our interim
> Conservative Leader “Nothing has changed between Monday and today
> other than a flood of concerns from Canadian citizens, bad press, and
> international ridicule.”
>
> This is not a win, our work is not over yet. What all Canadians need
> now is a clear plan out of this pandemic by ending the mandates and a
> return to normal life. Unfortunately, the Liberals and NDP are
> unwilling to even discuss a plan for Canadians and unwilling to put
> their political differences aside.
>
> I will continue to be your strong voice in Ottawa and I hope that I
> can continue to count on your support as I hold this government to
> account for their actions.
> Sincerely,
> Glen Motz
>
> Glen Motz, M.O.M., MP
> Medicine Hat – Cardston – Warner
>
> #306 – 2810 – 13th Ave SE,
> Medicine Hat, AB T1A 3P9
> Phone: 403-528-4698 | Fax: 403-528-4365
>
> 610 Valour Building
> House of Commons
> Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
> Phone: 613-996-0633 | Fax: 613-995-5752
> http://www.glenmotzmp.com/
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.c
> Sent: February 21, 2022 3:45 PM
> To: Aboultaif, Ziad - M.P. <Ziad.Aboultaif@parl.gc.ca>; Barlow, John -
> M.P. <John.Barlow@parl.gc.ca>; Benzen, Bob - M.P.
> <Bob.Benzen@parl.gc.ca>; Boissonnault, Randy - M.P.
> <randy.boissonnault@parl.gc.ca
> <blaine.calkins@parl.gc.ca>; Chahal, George - M.P.
> <george.chahal@parl.gc.ca>; Cooper, Michael - M.P.
> <Michael.Cooper@parl.gc.ca>; Desjarlais, Blake - M.P.
> <blake.desjarlais@parl.gc.ca>; Dreeshen, Earl - M.P.
> <earl.dreeshen@parl.gc.ca>; Genuis, Garnett - M.P.
> <Garnett.Genuis@parl.gc.ca>; Goodridge, Laila - M.P.
> <laila.goodridge@parl.gc.ca>; Hallan, Jasraj Singh - M.P.
> <JasrajSingh.Hallan@parl.gc.ca
> <Matt.Jeneroux@parl.gc.ca>; Kelly, Pat - M.P. <Pat.Kelly@parl.gc.ca>;
> Kmiec, Tom - M.P. <Tom.Kmiec@parl.gc.ca>; Kurek, Damien C. - M.P.
> <Damien.Kurek@parl.gc.ca>; Kusie, Stephanie - M.P.
> <Stephanie.Kusie@parl.gc.ca>; Lake, Mike - M.P.
> <mike.lake@parl.gc.ca>; Liepert, Ron - M.P. <Ron.Liepert@parl.gc.ca>;
> Lloyd, Dane - M.P. <Dane.Lloyd@parl.gc.ca>; McCauley, Kelly - M.P.
> <Kelly.McCauley@parl.gc.ca>; McLean, Greg - M.P.
> <greg.mclean@parl.gc.ca>; McPherson, Heather - M.P.
> <Heather.McPherson@parl.gc.ca>
> <Glen.Motz@parl.gc.ca>; Rempel, Michelle - M.P.
> <Michelle.Rempel@parl.gc.ca>; Richards, Blake - M.P.
> <blake.richards@parl.gc.ca>; Shields, Martin - M.P.
> <Martin.Shields@parl.gc.ca>; Soroka, Gerald - M.P.
> <Gerald.Soroka@parl.gc.ca>; Stubbs, Shannon - M.P.
> <Shannon.Stubbs@parl.gc.ca>; Thomas, Rachael - M.P.
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> Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2022 19:14:55 +0000
> Subject: Automatic reply: Deployment of Emergencies Act expected to
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> Subject: Deployment of Emergencies Act expected to pass with support
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canad
Freedom Convoy leader from Quebec released from jail
Social Sharing
Steeve Charland, arrested Feb. 26 in Vankleek Hill, Ont., gets bail
David Fraser · CBC News · Posted: Mar 21, 2022 2:52 PM ET | Last
Updated: March 21
Steeve Charland is the spokesperson for the Farfadaas protest movement
and a member of the so-called Freedom Convoy. (Radio-Canada)
Another leader of the so-called Freedom Convoy, Steeve Charland, was
released from jail on Monday.
Charland, 48, was arrested in February by Ontario Provincial Police
officers in Vankleek Hill, Ont., and charged with mischief and
counselling to commit mischief.
He had remained in custody since, but on Monday was released on bail.
Charland agreed not to organize or promote protests linked to COVID-19
or the "Freedom Convoy" as part of his bail conditions. He must also
stay away from Parliament Hill and not post content on social media.
A publication ban prevents reporting on other details about his court
appearance.
From Grenville, Que., Charland is known as a spokesperson for Les
Farfadaas, a Quebec group formed to protest against public health
measures.
Charland from known far-right group in Quebec
That group was formed from La Meute, regarded by experts to be a far
right, anti-Islam and anti-immigration group.
Charland previously held a senior position within La Meute, which
maintains an active social media presence promoting itself as
campaigning for the defence of freedom of expression and democracy, as
well as promoting secularism.
People wearing Les Farfadaas patches and leather jackets could often
be found around the protest site during the three-week occupation of
Ottawa.
The group was also responsible for occupying a parking lot in the Hull
sector of downtown Gatineau, Que., not far from the primary
demonstration site in Ottawa.
After being forced to leave those premises by a court, they moved to
the parking lot of the Notre-Dame-du-Très-Saint-Rosai
Gatineau, Que., before leaving 24 hours later via a police escort.
King makes appearance, returns to court Thursday
Another convoy leader, Pat King, also appeared in court Monday. Near
the start of his appearance, King expressed frustration in open court
over communication issues. A lawyer that had been representing King,
Cal Rosemond, said he had not had the opportunity to speak with King
lately and requested the two be given an opportunity to speak.
After a brief intermission, Rosemond requested the matter be adjourned
until Thursday so King could speak with his "prospect of lawyers."
"I need to discuss this with someone because there's supposed to be a
team of lawyers working on this," King said.
He also requested — and was denied — a publication ban. King expressed
frustration over court proceedings regularly being illegally broadcast
on social media.
With files from Radio-Canada
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
On 10/30/22, David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.c
> https://www.youtube.com/shorts
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> Soft On Crime #shorts
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> https://www.youtube.com/watch?
>
>
> Fundy Royal, New Brunswick Debate – Federal Elections 2015 - The Local
> Campaign, Rogers TV
> 9,602 views
> Oct 2, 2015
> Rogers tv
> 132K subscribers
> Federal debate in Fundy Royal, New Brunswick riding featuring
> candidates Rob Moore, Stephanie Coburn, Alaina Lockhart, Jennifer
> McKenzie and David Amos.
>
> Rob Moore - Conservative
> Stephanie Coburn - Green Party
> Alaina Lockhart - Liberal
> Jennifer McKenzie - New Democratic Party
> David Amos - Independent
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You Can See Me From the Moon (Part 1 of 5)
Hard working immigrant trucker's life was upended by the cross-border vaccine mandate.
Shortly after the Freedom Convoy protest was shut down, trucker Csaba Vizi did a couple of lengthy video interviews. Regrettably, one now seems to have disappeared from the Internet. Later, he was interviewed at length by the filmmakers behind the Unacceptable? documentary. More recently, I asked him some questions, while Anna, his wife, added her own valuable perspective. The end result is an informative, richly-detailed account of his Convoy experience. Part 1 appears below.
Csaba is the trucker in this photo. I took it in Ottawa, but didn’t speak to him there:
When Csaba Vizi was eighteen, people in his native Romania rose up against decades of Communist dictatorship. It was 1989, and governments were falling across Eastern Europe. He and his father were amongst those who took to the street, armed with axes. “Nobody was peaceful, everybody was angry,” he remembers, hastening to add that the violence in his city stopped at property damage.
After the head of the Communist Party was swiftly tried and executed, a new chapter of Romanian history began. Being ethnically Hungarian, Csaba and wife Anna moved to Hungary almost immediately. But there they were told they were Romanian. “What the hell are you doing here?” they were asked.
Fast forward 10 years. He’d been hearing good things about Canada. “Everybody was accepted from all over the world,” no one was told they didn’t belong. As a new arrival in the year 2000, he encountered plenty of warmth. “People on the street, they just say Hi to you. I was impressed. I came with probably $900 US in my pocket, and with lots of hope.”
Csaba says he found work within days. “I didn’t use welfare and stuff like that.” For about a year, he was employed in a factory, in the shipping and receiving department. “Then I decide to drive a truck. Cuz I like nice things, you know. I wanna provide good for my family. Wasn’t an easy job, with no proper English language, no experience.” But he worked hard, purchased his own home, and says his prosperous life was “like a dream.”
Sometime during his youth, Csaba saw a Coca-Cola advertisement featuring a bright red truck painted with a Santa Claus face. “It was a red Freightliner Classic. And when I decide I’m gonna be a truck driver, I said I wanna make my truck look like that.” His red Volvo is a 1999, “a very old truck. I own that truck for 19 years,” he explains. He himself installed 200-plus exterior lights. “It's very bright in the night. My trailer looks the same way. You can see me from the moon, man. You look down on the Earth, and you can see me” rolling down the highway. “That was my dream, to have a truck like that.”
For two decades, Csaba hauled groceries from Leamington, Ontario into the United States in his refrigerated trailer. Meat, ice cream, dry goods. He hasn’t been to California, he says. “But other than that, all over the place. Florida, Texas, many places.” Typically, he’s away from home for a week to ten days at a stretch.
He remembers the start of the pandemic. “At the beginning, we fall for that. We use masks. We use gloves. I was opening doors with my elbow.” Considered essential, he kept showing up for work when others didn’t. “I remember I was driving through Montreal at three o'clock in the afternoon. When usually the city's all packed with traffic. I was alone. I was driving through a dead city.”
Csaba was the sole breadwinner in a home that includes a wife and two daughters. But in January 2022, he was barred from earning a living. “Doing only Canadian work, it’s impossible,” he says. “The company doesn’t have enough Canadian work to keep you busy. So I’m without a job. On the other end of the sofa my oldest daughter was crying. She finished five years of nursing. She's not able to do her board exam because she doesn't want to get vaccinated.”
He says he had some difficult nights, when he was tempted “to do something really stupid. But I get over that. I said, ‘I gotta be strong for my family.’”
Csaba lives near Windsor. Detroit is directly across the Ambassador Bridge. He’d heard people were planning “to protest here in Windsor, to slow down the traffic going to the United States. I said, I'm gonna go there. At least I feel like I'm doing something. I was protesting over there for four days.”
It wasn’t especially effective, he admits. Three lanes of traffic lead to the bridge, and the truckers were staying out of the left-hand one. Traffic kept flying by, he says, until he independently and temporarily decided to drive in the left lane in order to slow things down, to “make sure somebody's gonna realize, somebody's gonna wake up.” The point wasn’t to inconvenience people, he says, but to be heard.
“I was full of anger,” he remembers. “I decide I'm gonna drive up to Ottawa. You have to fill up your truck with fuel, that's a lot of money. I don't care, I'm gonna go to Ottawa.” He didn’t know what would happen after he arrived. Nor did he know any of the organizers. “I simply just heard what time the Convoy is gonna leave from my area, and that’s it. I kiss my family goodbye.”
After attaching Canadian flags to his bobtail, he set out for the gathering spot, fifty kilometers (30 miles) from his home. “When I hit the highway, I saw the very first overpass. It was crammed with two, three hundred people. I don't know how to say it, but I realize I'm doing this not just for my girls. I gotta do this for everybody.”
A few hours later, at an overpass near London, members of the public were lining the highway. “There was people sitting, and a lady with a stroller right on the side of the road. I saw five or six old veterans with all the medals on their chest. They was saluting like this,” he says, raising his right hand. For the next twenty kilometers, “I couldn’t stop crying. It was very, very emotional.”
Csaba doesn’t know how many vehicles long the Convoy was when it reached Ottawa the next afternoon, but he’s certain “it was huge.” The police broke it into smaller groups, of about 80 to 100 vehicles, he recalls, before escorting them into the city. His own group was taken down onto the Sir John A Macdonald Parkway and instructed to halt near the War Museum. Parliament was a couple kilometers distant (more than a mile).
The next morning, intent on getting closer to the action, Csaba maneuvered his truck around some barricades. Eventually, he found himself a spot across the street from the Chateau Laurier, “that fancy hotel,” right where Wellington turns into Rideau Street. A fellow Romanian immigrant would soon park his own, bright yellow bobtail beside Csaba’s red one. Across the way there was a black and yellow trailer pulled by Eric, who was from East Germany and had witnessed the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
Csaba says he can smell creeping Communism. Having grown up in a massive prison - with endless government restrictions and endless government interference - he knows all about tyranny. He knows that a society in which neighbours are encouraged to snitch on neighbours is a society in which everyone lives in fear.
Their section of the street was sparsely populated with trucks. With no block leader to attend meetings and keep them in the loop, they did their own thing. “That lady, Tamara [Lich]. I saw her one day on the street, I never talk with her. I act over there individually. Only when they said, ‘OK, everybody has to stay quiet for 10 days, and don't push the horn.’ I said, if everybody's doing that, then OK. I'm not gonna be a crazy guy to push my horn alone,” he recalls, referring to the court injunction that silenced the honking on February 7th.
next installment: Like a Big Bucket of Flowers
Like a Big Bucket of Flowers (Part 2 of 5)
Given $10k in $100 bills by a member of the public, Ottawa trucker shared the wealth.
By his second day in the nation’s capital, Csaba Vizi says he’d “already talked with some people. And they calm me down, because I was still full with anger. They said, ‘We have to be peaceful.’ I said, ‘OK, OK. I'm gonna be nice. I'm gonna respect this. I'm gonna be peaceful, just like everybody else.’”
Fellow Canadians “did pretty much everything” for him, he remembers. “I got a lady who was taking my clothes and she washed them. I got people bringing my coffee in the morning. They bring me breakfast, lunch.” The celebrity treatment astonished him. “Some of them, they kiss my hands. Many of them, they ask me, ‘Csaba, can I pray for you and your family?’ I was just an everyday trucker.”
Thousands of individuals thanked him. Some checked in regularly. “People came to my truck every day to ask me how I am. You know, it was something which I cannot describe to you. I never thought people can be like this. We was laughing. We was crying. We was hugging each other.”
He was called a hero, he says, “but the truth is we was sitting in our warm trucks, in those extremely cold temperatures. And these people, they was walking, asking what we need. Bringing us all kind of stuff, their love. So we are not the heroes, man. Those people are.”
A chap saw him on YouTube, promising to remain in Ottawa until the bitter end. “He said to me I made him cry,” Csaba remembers. The next morning, this man reportedly used the last of his own funds to purchase a Jerry can. “He went to a gas station and fill it up with diesel. And he was walking five kilometers to give me that fuel. Can you imagine that?”
On another day, someone else asked if he could hop inside Csaba’s cab. They chatted for a few minutes. Mentioning the same video, this man told Csaba “he was touched right in his heart.” Then he placed $10,000 on the dashboard, in $100 bills. “He told me, ‘I want you to have it. If you decide to help others, it’s totally up to you.’ After he left the truck, I was shocked and, I don’t know, probably scared.” Shortly afterward, Csaba says,
I decide to just leave my truck, go down on the street. I start spreading the money all around. Not to the truckers. I give it to these people who, they drive their car from Alberta. And they volunteered over there to be part of the team who was cleaning the streets. You know, nobody paid them. I said, those people has to have this money. So I give money like it was a big bucket of flowers. I was just handing out flowers, piece by piece. Hundred dollars bills, man. And I feel good.
It's not like I never see $10,000 before, because I had a really good job driving a truck. But the fact that a stranger is coming to you, barely knowing your name. It was shocking for me. That's how the people was over there, man.
While he was distributing this cash, he says he took a break,
I get back in my truck to get warm before I leave again and somebody show up with a twenty dollars bill. And he said, ‘I want you to have it.’ So I accept his twenty and instead I give him $100. And the guy was completely shocked. He said ‘Hey, what the hell are you doing?’
I said, ‘Just a trade. I keep yours, you keep mine.
He said, ‘But why, man? Why?’
I said, ‘Because you are wonderful, that’s why.’
Csaba says he assured thousands of people, in face-to-face encounters, that he intended to hold the line “until the end. I had no idea what the ends means.” After two years of pandemic isolation, some were in desperate need of a sympathetic ear. “They told you their life stories,” he says. “Many people, they have lost a family member - a friend, a wife, a kid, you know. With some of them, we did laugh. It was like an emotional rollercoaster. At the end of every day, my heart was in pieces.”
The folks with sad stories “left their pain behind,” he says. Often, he barely had a minute to absorb what he’d just been told before “somebody else came and start telling their story. And at the end of each day, I talk with my wife. ‘How was my day?’ I said, ‘If I have to cry one more time this day, one hundred percent I'm gonna die.’ But each morning I wake up and I was able to continue.”
Early on, a certain individual would come by his truck late at night, amping up the anxiety. “He’d say, ’Oh my God, oh my God, tonight we gonna be attacked.’ First two days I fall for that, you know. The third night, I realized, No, somebody's playing with our heads.” Csaba believes the intent was to make the truckers too stressed to sleep and too exhausted to continue, so they’d throw in the towel and go home.
“I told the guy, ‘Hey, don't even come to my truck no more. I don't wanna see you here.” That was the last time this person, whom he now believes was a government agent, spoke to him.
During his second week in Ottawa, Csaba thinks someone deliberately put water in his fuel tank, under the guise of donating a Jerry can of diesel. “A couple hours after that my truck was shaking. My engine almost fall out. I was lucky enough to have some stuff with me which neutralized the water.” Still, it took two days for his Volvo to behave normally again. “I was thinking it was gonna give up on me.”
Then there was the time it was vandalized at 3 am, while he was asleep in the bunk. His was the third truck to be attacked, he says. “They was ripping off flags. I had a nice 2x4 set up in the back of my truck, with a Canadian flag on it. When I woke up, I heard some banging. Because they was kicking the trucks. Two crazy ladies and a guy.”
Jumping out in his bare feet, Csaba intervened as the male attempted to smash the windshield of a nearby pickup truck with the 2x4. “And these people, they call us terrorists?” he says. The windshield remained intact, but Csaba’s feet suffered frostbite. Interviewed two years later, he says he still experiences a burning sensation, “Every time I go to sleep in the night I feel like a thousand needles in my feet.”
Earlier, he’d been assured by Ottawa police that the truckers’ right to protest would be protected. Yet two RCMP officers in a clearly marked RCMP vehicle watched all of the above transpire. The only time one of them got out was when Csaba confronted them. “I was angry, I was loud. I said, ‘What the f**k are you guys doing? Just sitting here, waiting for your shift to be done? You saw what happened?’”
He says the officer replied, “’Go back to your truck, because I don't give a shit.’ That's what he told me. So I knew from that day, they're not here to protect us. Nope.”
next installment: Come Help Csaba
Come Help Csaba (Part 3 of 5)
'They pushed me up the hill. I won’t forget that day.'
Part 1: You Can See Me from the Moon
Toward the end of the trucker protest in Ottawa, shortly past nine one evening, FoxNews stuck a microphone in Csaba Vizi’s truck window. A temporary tattoo in the shape of a large, red maple leaf covered much of the right side of his face. “What’s your plan?” he’s asked on live TV. “Everyone’s saying you’re leaving. When are you heading out of town?”
He replies by mentioning the month of August. Then he says he intends to go “around the corner to get my favourite pizza and I’m gonna come right f**king back.” That video clip circulated widely on social media, with people calling him a ‘badass Canadian trucker.’
The Emergencies Act had been declared Monday evening, and things were becoming tense. When Csaba woke Thursday morning, there was a lot of activity near Eric, across the street. The trailer he’d pulled to Ottawa prominently displayed the logo of the company for which he worked. Soon the East German immigrant was at Csaba’s door, “My boss called. He said If I’m not coming home now, 55 other drivers who are employed at the company, they gonna be out of a job. Because the government is gonna close the company. I gotta go.”
That’s not how things are supposed to work. But the province of Ontario did suspend the business license of Jonker Trucking for a week.
Csaba had persuaded his wife and daughters to join him in Ottawa. He missed them terribly, and had assured them it was safe. “It's a huge party, you gotta see what's happening here,” he told them. They checked into a hotel not knowing that, by the time they arrived that Thursday, the party was on the cusp of being violently shut down.
While Csaba was walking his family back to the hotel late that evening, his friend in the yellow truck pulled out. Csaba’s red Volvo was now the last man standing on that part of the street. He remembers he’d barely arrived at the hotel when he got a call telling him the police were looking for him. If he didn’t move his truck closer to Parliament, the caller said, it would be towed and he’d be arrested.
By the time he made it back to his rig, hundreds had surrounded it. “Some people they went live on different [social media] platforms, asking for help. Come and help Csaba. When I get over there I saw a whole bunch of people blocking the whole street.” They’d interlocked arms, he says. “A lot of cops, also. I saw people protecting my truck, basically with their own body. So I sneak between the people, I get into my truck, I start my engine.” Soon, he says,
They was singing O Canada. They was yelling ‘Freedom!’ It was impossible to describe. So I’m in my driver’s seat, I put my lights on. Suddenly all those people they just open up, like a road, for me to start driving.
I start moving slowly, people are filming. The police officers over there, they didn’t know what to do. The street behind me was blocked by people - they blocked the intersection so no more police could come inside. I will say it was like four, five hundred people easily over there.
That little hill was all covered in snow and ice, so I get stuck. I couldn’t move. And I just saw people in my mirror. They are running to my truck, everybody, and they pushed me up the hill. I won’t forget that day. Probably that was the most beautiful day for me.
(The video below shows people pushing Csaba’s truck, but the video is incorrectly labelled. This footage was shot in downtown Ottawa on February 17, two days prior to his arrest. In another video here, Csaba leaves the impound lot.)
The next morning, after a friend told him a truck near the stage had pulled out, Csaba backed into the empty spot. Twenty-four hours later, on Saturday morning, when the police began making arrests directly in front of Parliament, the atmosphere had changed dramatically. Supporters weren’t making it through with coffee. “I saw fear in people,” he remembers, but also courage.
In the face of “scary cops with batons, guns, horses” he says a normal reaction is to retreat to safety. “But these people, they was so brave, man. They was running towards the police, trying to hold them back with bare hands, you know. Trying to hug them, trying to shake their hands. Telling them, ‘Hey, we love you,’ even as they was beaten up and shot with tear gas, rubber bullets. I saw that with my own eyes.”
From his vantage point up high, Csaba is adamant multiple individuals were bleeding. Some of the injured “came between my truck and the truck right next to me. I remember an old lady. She was bleeding from her forehead and she was almost losing the balance when she walked between me and the other truck. Yeah, that was disturbing.”
Given the frigid temperature, he says, “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize the rubber bullet is not rubber no more. It’s become a hard plastic something. And they shot some people in the face with that.” While these “horrific scenes” unfolded before him, he says, “I was sitting in my truck, revving my engine, blowing my horn like it was some kind of weapon. My only weapon. Suddenly the music stopped. I saw people running, disassembling the stage.”
As the police moved closer, Csaba decided to exit his truck. Getting down on his knees in the snow, he put his hands behind his head, “accepting the fact l'm gonna be arrested and beaten up. When these police they beat old ladies, I knew I'm gonna get a beating, being a trucker.”
By then, he says, he’d achieved a measure of serenity, “You know, I have to find a peace to be able to go down without moving a muscle. Let them beat me for as long as they feel like. As a man, you know, it's not an easy thing. But I was able to find the peace.”
A line of cops was pushing forward, shouting at people to back up. “Probably even in that last minute, I was able to stand up and run away,” Csaba says. “But I wanna be able to look at myself in the mirror. So I just refuse to run. They grabbed me, they pulled me between them. I was on my belly,” on the ground. “They jump on me. Trying to think back how I felt in that very moment, all I remember is I was laughing. I feel some kinda relief, you know?”
He says he “didn’t put up any fight. I didn’t say nothing. I remember my face was in the snow.” In the extreme cold, he felt a burning sensation. “Every time I tried to breathe, less and less air I was able to get into my lungs.”
Video footage clearly shows the officer on Csaba’s right kneeing him in the side four times while he’s on the ground, as the officer on the left simultaneously assaults him, and a third officer holds him down (begin watching at the 20-second mark on this video). Someone who uploaded this footage online said it looked like “a remake of the Rodney King video” which sparked a national conversation about police brutality in America in 1991. “Something is seriously wrong in Canada,” they added.
After he was handcuffed and on his feet again, Csaba was escorted to a paddy wagon by one of the officers he believes assaulted him. “If you saw that video of my arrest,” he says, the cop who kneed him repeatedly,
was the one walking me down on the street. And at some point I get close to an older lady with her hands behind her back and she was crying. I told her, ‘Don’t cry, sister. Everything is gonna be alright.’
And this officer asked me, ‘Is that your sister?’
I said, ‘Yes, she’s my sister.’ I said, ‘Just like you are my brother.’ And after that our conversation stopped. Because I did ask him for his first name. I said, ‘I want to remember for the rest of my life. What’s your name?’ And he stopped answering me. I’m pretty sure I moved something in him when I called him my brother.
Or maybe not. Maybe he’s gonna think about it later.
Police Beat Me Up Pretty Bad (Part 4 of 5)
Peaceful trucker suffered permanent harm, could have been left paralyzed.
Part 1: You Can See Me from the Moon
Members of the public near Csaba’s truck during the Ottawa protest. Photo by me.
Csaba Vizi was arrested around 9:30 am. Anna, his wife, was with their daughters in an Ottawa hotel room. “We saw his arrest live. I saw his beating, I don’t know if he’s OK,” she remembers. He had left his phone with her, and she didn’t know where to call for information. She remembers pacing “up and down in our hotel room for hours. Even my mother-in-law called me from Romania. Because in Romania, they show his arrest right away on the national TV – not on Facebook or some podcast or whatever.” Was it true her son had been arrested?
“I said, ‘Yes, it’s true. Don’t worry, everything is under control.’ She said, ‘What do you mean, under control?’ So I tried to calm her down. I was exhausted.”
Anna had heard that those arrested were being dumped “somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Was Csaba even able to walk?” She didn’t know. Sometime after 4 pm that afternoon, “I receive a phone call from unknown number.” He’d borrowed someone’s phone on the sidewalk. “The guy helped him out. Then my daughter went and picked him up.”
If the police didn’t run the engine on the paddy wagon, Csaba says, “No heat came in. And after a while, sitting on that hard aluminum interior, it was very, very hard to handle. They kept us for a few hours in that truck before they proceed with us.” Eventually, they were driven to “a warehouse, not a police station, a warehouse,” where they were removed from the vehicle one at a time.
“They took fingerprints, they took some pictures, they told you what you are being charged with. And then they left us in the street.” During his arrest, he lost his hat and his hoodie got torn. “After they released me, I was in that extreme cold for hours, you know, with this short hair. I was thinking probably my ears they gonna fall off because they was froze. It wasn’t a good experience at all. It was painful.”
Csaba was charged with mischief, disobeying a court order, and resisting arrest. He almost laughed out loud, he says, when they told him the last one. “Resisting arrest. Since when is it a crime in Canada to breathe while they arrest you? That was my only resistance.”
He was eager to let his family know he was OK. His daughters, he says, were “really shocked and scared.” Once back at the hotel, “I didn’t feel any pain, nothing.” But in the middle of the night, “I peed blood. It was scary, I never saw that before.”
By morning, he felt like he’d been hit by a train, “Everything was sore.” Twenty-four hours after that, Anna had to help him get out of bed. Worried about internal bleeding, she insisted he see a doctor. “I said, I don’t care, you have to go.”
This, of course, was a minefield. Not only was Csaba unvaccinated, he was a trucker. “I had my phone in my hand,” he recalls, when he showed up in the Emergency Department of an Ottawa hospital. Due to COVID protocols, Anna wasn’t permitted inside the building.
“I didn’t know how they gonna treat me. And I was thinking I’m gonna film the whole interaction. A nurse saw me with the phone and called security.” When the guard inquired, Csaba told him it was “in case you have any problems with me. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. If you want, I can make you famous.”
Matters de-escalated, he says, and he didn’t feel the need to push the record button. “I have to wait in the Emergency room the whole night. Only in the morning, I get the bed. I was almost falling asleep, but I had to keep myself awake because I said maybe they gonna vaccinate me.”
When he finally saw a doctor and explained that the “police beat me up pretty bad, you should see how the doctor talk to me after that.” His tone was hostile, contemptuous. Without a trace of sympathy. “They X-rayed my chest because I couldn’t breathe after the beating for a while. I thought some bone broken in my chest. He looked at the results and said ‘I don’t see nothing.’” When Csaba insisted something was wrong, the doctor shrugged. Maybe there was a fracture that wasn’t evident on the X-ray. “Just go home and take Tylenol.”
During the week in which his truck was impounded, the swelling in Csaba’s left wrist failed to subside. Back in Windsor, another hospital X-rayed it. “Oh, you have a broken bone. So they put me in some kind of cast. But that was terrible. During the night, I wake up in pain. I take it off, go back to sleep. I wake up again. Pain. I put the cast back on.”
Interviewed two years later, it appears Csaba – who is in his early fifties - has suffered permanent damage. “The surgeon is telling me for some reason it doesn’t wanna heal. So I got days when my hand is OK. Right now, I don’t have pain.” Sometimes, says Anna, he’ll be holding a glass of water and it will suddenly fall from his fingers, three of which now frequently go numb.
He’s been advised the discomfort in his neck is connected to bone chipped off his C3 vertebra. When describing his assault, Csaba says he’s glad the police didn’t make him a vegetable. Since injuries involving C3 are associated with paralysis, they may have come appallingly close.
I'm a Different Person, a Better Guy (Part 5 of 5)
'With this peaceful protest, without throwing a fist, we was able to ignite the whole globe.'
Part 1: You Can See Me from the Moon
Man tells Csaba he has travelled from Prince Edward Island to meet him. That’s 13-hours of driving ‘I appreciate you being here…It’s about my daughter and about me, and you representing us.’ Profanity warning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiKWAmnE_DI.
While he was being fingerprinted, trucker Csaba Vizi says he told the police officers, “You aren’t protecting us, you protect this corrupt government. There's still time for you to stand with us, you're gonna be heroes after the government goes down. If not, you might arrest us today, but we gonna arrest you tomorrow.” Having witnessed the fall of Communism in Romania, he was describing historical facts.
It was in Ottawa, he says, that “I realized I have some kind of power in my broken English. If I can make somebody leave Prince Edward Island after what I said in an interview, and come all that distance and look for me and shake my hand, I have some power in my voice.”
While in their twenties, both Csaba and Anna reacted badly to a vaccine. “We end up very, very sick,” she says. He couldn’t get out of bed for a week. She, herself, “couldn’t brush my teeth, couldn’t brush my hair.” They both remember their daughter, who was five at the time, trying to care for them, trying to cook them breakfast.
“So I swear,” says Anna, “Never, ever again.” She knows it normally takes eight to ten years to properly test a new vaccine. Csaba nods, “They have to test it on animals. Then they go to humans. And they have to wait years to see how people react. Maybe in six months you’re gonna have a heart attack.”
The fact that the authorities pretended to know for certain that a product less than a year old was safe told Anna something was off. In Csaba’s view, “it was very alarming when they said, ‘Oh, you have to take it or you will not get a job.’ I was driving in the United States and suddenly, in the middle of the night, on the highway a big sign came to life: ‘Take the first exit. Come take your vaccine. We gonna give you $100 cash.’” He scowls, “Come on.”
Their youngest daughter was the only unvaccinated student in her class. “One day she came home from school and said, ‘I’ve been kicked out from this team, I cannot play chess, I cannot do this.’ She told me, ‘Please let me get the vaccine so I can do activities with the rest of my friends.’”
He urged her to be patient. “It was hard for her to understand,” he says. “Probably she was thinking my parents are nuts.” For him, the fact that Bill Gates had declared the world to be over-populated in the 1990s was an important point. “Who the hell is this guy? Just because he’s rich,” he thinks he gets to decide.
“Then the COVID started. After a few weeks, I see Bill Gates again. He said, ‘Our scientists are working 24/7 to come up with a vaccine to save you all.’ I said, Hold on a minute. Not long ago you said we was overpopulated at seven billion people. Now we are over eight and you wanna save everybody? I said, No, I’m not going to take that vaccine.”
Other family members made different decisions. “I called my mom, my dad,” in Romania, says Csaba. “I said, ‘Hey, don’t even think about taking the vaccine.’ And my mom said, ‘They said on the TV it’s free now, later on we have to pay for that.’” He urged her to be the last person in the city. He also offered to pay should it later become necessary.
“She went without telling us,” he says. “And by the time we heard back she already had three. Now she’s losing her vision in one eye [at the age of 72]. My sister has myocarditis. My father, thrombosis.”
After the Canada government finally relented and permitted them to board an airplane without providing proof of vaccination, Csaba and Anna flew to Romania for a month. “Maybe we see them for the last time, I don’t know,” says Anna. “It’s painful watching them,” struggling with serious health problems that seemed to come out of nowhere.
“We won’t take any other vaccine for the rest of our life,” Csaba says quietly. “We don’t trust the medical system anymore. I lost my trust.”
Eleven years earlier, Csaba had quit smoking. Two days before his arrest, he began again. “Over there, somebody give me a pack of cigarettes. I said, ‘I will give it to my wife, she’s a smoker.’ But the stress was way too much.”
For this everyday trucker, the Freedom Convoy was a watershed. “Ottawa changed my life, man. I'm still strong. Even if I have a broken bone in my wrist, even if I have some problem with bones in my neck. These things are not that big a deal.”
Meeting so many Canadians. Seeing “all that joy, how happy everyone was there.” Witnessing people “caring for and helping each other, making food in the street, giving it away for free.” All of this, he says, “changed me completely. I'm a different person, a better guy than I was before. Yeah, Ottawa was something wonderful, man.”
He once would have scoffed at a sign advertising free hugs. “I wasn't that type of guy,” he says. “I f**king enjoy hugging people, now.”
His old self used to think there was power in a fist. But “I realize love has even more power. We won in Ottawa. We came home victorious. With this peaceful protest, without throwing a fist, we was able to ignite the whole globe.”
He’d gladly do it again, he says, even if it meant enduring another beating. “If I can go back to Ottawa for another three weeks, I will leave now.”
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