Lost police messages slow ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizers’ trial

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This article was published 20/10/2023 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – The trial of two ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizers was stalled on Friday after the defence demanded more information about a software upgrade that wiped the data from the phones of at least two police officers after the protest.

Const. Nicole Bach was set to take the stand for a second day in the criminal trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, but the defence has questions for the Ottawa police about why her text messages from that period were deleted.

Her testimony has been put off until the lawyers get those answers.

She told the court Thursday that she got an email that she was due to upgrade the software on her phone after the protest in early 2022 and didn’t know it would delete all her messages.

She had direct contact with Barber throughout the protest.

The Crown said the defence learned about the potential lost evidence as a result of phone upgrade about a year ago, but the defence said it thought that was only in relation to one officer, Const. Isabelle Cyr.

Cyr, who testified earlier this week, also potentially lost messages due to the software upgrade on her phone.

The defence asked police to disclose the communication instructing Bach and other police officers about the upgrade, but were given a completely redacted five-page document.

The lawyers will need to make a formal request for the unredacted version.

Outside of court on Friday, Barber’s lawyer Diane Magas said it’s too early to tell how important the potential loss could be, because “we don’t know exactly everything that’s been lost.”

The lawyers also asked Bach to dig up any emails she sent or received related to the disclosure of evidence in the case.

Magas told the court they received four batches of highly redacted emails. Some portions were blacked out by the Crown because they were deemed irrelevant while others were redacted by the Ottawa police lawyers because they fall under solicitor-client privilege.

Lich and Barber are both charged with mischief and counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation, among other charges, in relation to demonstrations against COVID-19 public-health measures and the Liberal government last winter that gridlocked downtown Ottawa for three weeks.

The Crown, defence and Ottawa police lawyers are expected to ague about the redactions when court resumes on Oct. 26.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2023.