OTTAWA – “I have the tears of thousands of Canadians on my shoulder who told me every day that we were bringing them hope,” Tamara Lich testified Thursday at the inquiry into the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act.
Lich was one of the organizers of the Freedom Convoy that saw thousands of people protest in January and February in Ottawa against the federal government’s cross-border vaccine mandate that came into effect Jan. 15.
Lich said she got involved with the convoy because of the injustices she saw and heard that were caused from the COVID restrictions and wanted to give people hope.
“I was seeing families torn apart. The suicides in my hometown were so numerous that they stopped reporting them. Elderly people were dying by themselves in long term care facilities, and saying goodbye over iPads.”
Lich, who was born and raised in Saskatchewan, said she was also concerned at the time that the government might stop inter-provincial travel for those who didn’t get the COVID vaccine. She said she lives in Alberta but her parents and grandparents live in Saskatchewan and she has family in Manitoba.
She was also alarmed by how her parents and grandparents were being treated in Saskatchewan.
“My father is a very social man. He is coffee row Saskatchewan father. I remember him telling me one day that he went down to the local restaurant that he went to every single day - and these are small towns where everybody knows everybody - and he was asked to leave.
“I didn't want my children and my grandchildren to live in a world like that,” said Lich.
She said that during the COVID restrictions, her 94-year-old grandmother was locked in her apartment alone in Saskatchewan for two years.
“And now that she can go out and do things, she's not healthy enough, she lost two years of her life.”
Lich said she was also concerned with the division the prime minister was creating between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.
“I found his rhetoric to be incredibly divisive. And I'm a believer that if you're a leader of a country, you have to lead all of your people, even if you don't agree with them.”
Lich said when the convoy was making its way across the country to Canada’s capital she heard more tragic stories.
“Coming across Canada every day I heard stories, people, at least three people would tell me they were planning their suicides until we started the convoy. I've heard from families that were living in their vehicles because they've lost their jobs, and from people that had lost their jobs and lost everything.
“I have the tears of thousands of Canadians on my shoulder who every day told me that we were bringing them hope,” she added.
“I saw little old ladies praying on their knees on the side of the road and I saw little children holding signs saying 'thank you for giving me back my future.'”
Lich was arrested during the protests in Ottawa in February and charged with mischief and counseling others to commit mischief. She was released on bail.
On Feb. 14, to stop the trucker and freedom convoy protests, the Liberal government declared a public order emergency under the Emergencies Act. This was the first time in Canada’s history that the Emergencies Act had been invoked.
Ontario Justice Paul S. Rouleau is presiding over the inquiry, which is expected to wrap up on Nov. 25. Justice Rouleau’s final report with findings and recommendations must be tabled in the House of Commons and Senate of Canada by Feb. 20, 2023.
Saskatchewan has standing at inquiry
The Saskatchewan Government has standing at the inquiry into the Liberal Government’s use of the Emergencies Act.
Lawyer Mike Morris, who represents the province, gave opening remarks at the EMA in Ottawa on Oct. 13. He said that the Saskatchewan Government was concerned that resident’s rights may have been unnecessarily infringed by the feds invoking the Emergencies Act.
Morris testified that the Trudeau government didn’t discuss with Saskatchewan if the Emergencies Act should be invoked.
“The call was not so much about consulting as it was about telling.”
Public participation
The public can watch the inquiry live by going to https://publicorderemergencycommission.ca/public-hearings/
A PDF transcript from each day's proceedings and supporting documents are also loaded onto the inquiry's website.
The public is invited to contact the commission. They can email perspectives@poec-cedu.gc.ca , or write Public Order Emergency Commission, c/o Main Floor Security Desk, 90 Sparks Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A3.
Submissions should be one or two pages, up to about five pages. The public may provide supporting materials, if any, as attachments.
The Commission accepts anonymous submissions but asks that you identify your country of residence. All submissions will be read and considered by the Commission, and your submission may be referred to or quoted by the Commission either in a written report or during the public hearings. No identifying information will be used without your express permission.
If you have any questions about sending comments please email your questions to perspectives@poec-cedu.gc.ca
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