Defence Lawyer at Barber, Lich Trial Says City of Ottawa Changed Bylaw to ‘Freeze Out’ Truckers

Trucks are parked on Wellington Street near the Parliament Buildings as truckers and supporters protest against COVID-19 mandates and restrictions in Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2022. (Patrick Doyle/Reuters)

OTTAWA—The chief of staff to former Ottawa mayor Jim Watson appeared to agree with a defence lawyer’s suggestion that a bylaw change in early 2022 that lowered the temperature at which drivers are allowed to idle their vehicles was an attempt to “freeze out the truckers and their families.”

“You don’t disagree with me, sir, that the effect of this bylaw was an attempt by the city council to freeze out the demonstrators in the red zone, correct?” asked defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon on Sept. 22, day 13 of the criminal trial of convoy organizers Chris Barber and Tamara Lich.

“I believe that would have been the outcome,” replied Serge Arpin, outgoing chief of staff to Mr. Watson, who was mayor at the time of the protest in January and February 2022.

The convoy protest began in mid-January 2022 in response to COVID-19 vaccine mandates imposed by the federal government on truckers crossing the Canada-U.S. border. Over the course of three weeks, hundreds of vehicles converged in downtown Ottawa demanding an end to mandates and general COVID-19 public health restrictions.

In mid-February 2022 the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act, for the first time ever, to bring the protest to an end. Mr. Barber and Ms. Lich, two of the most prominent organizers of the protest, are charged with mischief, counselling to commit mischief, intimidation, and obstructing police. Mr. Barber faces an additional charge of counselling others to disobey a court order.

The court heard that the City of Ottawa has a bylaw that prevents drivers from idling their vehicles for more than three minutes in any 60-minute period unless the temperature is below 5 degrees Celsius or above 27 degrees Celsius. But on Feb. 9 2022, the city changed the bylaw to help with enforcement against the protesters, lowering the allowable temperature to minus 15 degrees.

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Mr. Arpin told the court that he could not speak to the intent of the city council members but that the intent of the bylaw change was to “help bring the demonstration to an end.”

An Ottawa city councillor’s inquiry made in May 2021 revealed in May 2022 that city bylaw officers had issued three tickets for idling infractions over the previous three years, in 2019, 2020, and 2021, while also issuing 10 bylaw infraction notices and 33 verbal warnings during that period, CTV News reported.

Kim Ayotte, Ottawa’s general manager of emergency and protective services, had earlier testified, on Sept. 19, that he made the decision during the convoy protests to require bylaw officers and paramedics to be accompanied by a police escort when going into the downtown Ottawa “red zone.” But added that this was typical for most protests in the city.

Failed ‘Goodwill Effort to Remove Trucks’

During his cross-examination on Sept. 22, Mr. Arpin provided additional details on the ultimately unsuccessful deal between the city and convoy leaders to move vehicles from residential areas to Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill.

Mr. Aprin told the court he believed that moving the noisy trucks from residential neighbourhoods to a “vacant, broadly commercial institutional zone” on Wellington Street would be a “lesser evil.”

While around 102 vehicles out of 400 were moved out of residential neighbourhoods and onto Wellington Street on Feb. 14, Ottawa police blocked the movement of any more vehicles the following day due to an incident between police and protesters.

Text messages between Mr. Arpin and convoy lawyer Keith Wilson from Feb. 15 were revealed to the court, and defence lawyer Diane Magas asked Mr. Arpin why he apologized to Mr. Wilson in one of them.

“Because we were trying to engage in a goodwill effort to remove trucks from the residential district,” Mr. Arpin replied.

“And for that to fail when we were liaising actively with the city manager to ensure that the city would collaborate to facilitate the movement of trucks, I viewed that as a failure on our part to assist in the implementation of the goodwill arrangement.”

Mr. Greenspon also brought up a Feb. 10 phone call between Mr. Arpin and Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s then-chief of staff Dean French, who had been negotiating with the protest leaders on behalf of the city.

In transcripts from the phone call, Mr. Arpin said he assumed that the “majority of protesters did not want to cause any harm to Ottawa residents.”

“I posited it. I hoped that that was the case and I put it as a premise to him,” Mr. Arpin told the court, adding that he believed if Mr. French could persuade the convoy organizers to remove the truck from residential areas, a meeting between the organizers and the Ottawa mayor could be possible.

Mr. Arpin added that he was never given “direct knowledge as to why” the movement of trucks onto Wellington Street was stopped on Feb. 15.

While the Crown had originally planned to call 22 witnesses over 10 days, proceedings have fallen behind schedule due to technical difficulties and deliberations between lawyers, and only five witnesses have completed their testimony thus far.

Following a short break, the trial will resume on Oct. 11, after the Thanksgiving weekend.