There's No Time Limit on Freedom
Tamara's lawyer says the Charter doesn't constrain the length of a protest.
Lawrence Greenspon is a high-powered Ottawa lawyer. He’s currently defending Tamara Lich in her ongoing mischief trial. Above is a 2-minute video of him responding to media questions on Wednesday (Sept. 20, 2023), after court had wrapped up for the day.
His remarks contain an important hint as to how we can expect him to argue her case. The truckers, he says, “were invited into the city of Ottawa” by the police. He continues:
They were told how to get into the city core. There’s no time limit on freedom. The Charter of Rights doesn’t talk about the right to peaceful assembly for, you know, up to 48 hours. The right to peaceful assembly…is a constitutionally entrenched right.
The right to enjoyment of property, however, is nowhere to be found in the Canadian Constitution.
That last point is alarming to those of us who believe property rights are essential to personal and political freedom. But that’s a discussion for another day.
Remember the $300-million class-action lawsuit filed against the Freedom Convoy by certain Ottawa residents? It rests entirely on the idea that the truckers stayed too long; that they thereby harmed Ottawa residents’ ability to enjoy their own property and should pay compensation. The premise of that lawsuit is that the rights of these residents supersede the rights of protesters.
Mr Greenspon is adamant our Constitution doesn’t work that way.
These three Twitter/X accounts have been provding live coverage of what’s going on in that courtroom. This is rough and ready. There are typos and other imperfections. Don’t treat it as gospel. But if all three of these observors independently report the same thing, that’s a high degree of reliability.
Go back and read about each day of testimony as these people witnessed & documented it. You’re gonna feel like you were practically there.
