(Ottawa) Farfaadas leader Steeve Charland is appealing for online donations to help pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. His trial opened Monday at the Ottawa courthouse. He is accused of mischief and incitement to mischief, acts he is said to have committed during the “freedom convoy” in 2022.
Published at 11:50 am.
When La Presse asked him what state of mind he was in, he replied: “dropped off, ready to face the music.” » He pleaded not guilty.
Steeve Charland needs $40,000 to $50,000 to pay his legal fees. Last week he posted a video on social media asking for donations.
“Because lawyers are expensive, because we no longer have the resources in the fights we have been fighting for a few years and because I wouldn’t understand fighting this fight alone since we weren’t really alone when we fought it “We have led,” he explained in an interview.
This is his second trial related to protests against health measures during the pandemic. The Farfadaas blocked the Louis Hippolyte-La Fontaine Tunnel in March 2021. For his involvement in the crime and conspiracy, he received a suspended sentence with 120 hours of community service.
About 15 people were present at the Ottawa courthouse to support him, including ex-Farfaada Mario Roy, whose trial over the blockade of the Louis Hippolyte-La Fontaine Tunnel in Montreal is ongoing.
The court heard testimony from Inspector Patrick Vaillancourt of the City of Gatineau Police Department. During the “Freedom Convoy,” the Farfaadas had set up their headquarters in a parking lot in downtown Gatineau that they rented for $1,000 a day. This Quebec group rejected the health measures imposed during the pandemic.
The Farfaadas were also present on Rideau Street, just a few miles from Parliament Hill. Ottawa police were concerned about his presence at the corner of Rideau and Sussex streets. During her testimony before the Rouleau Commission, Ottawa Police Service deputy chief Patricia Ferguson described the group as “hostile” and intimidating. She attributed the closure of the Rideau Mall, the city’s largest, to him. An operation in which 400 police officers gathered to evict them was called off due to disagreements in the crisis unit set up by the authorities.
The “Freedom Convoy” paralyzed downtown Ottawa for several weeks. In his testimony before the Rouleau Commission, Steeve Charland denied any allegations of violent behavior during the demonstration. After his arrest, he spent 23 days in prison. His release conditions, which prevented him from commenting on social media, were recently relaxed.
A huge police operation, the largest in the country’s history, ended the freedom convoy in February 2022 after the Trudeau government used the Emergency Measures Act. Hundreds of heavy trucks have been blocking the streets in the city center of the federal capital for more than three weeks. The Rouleau Commission sought to determine whether this historic use of exceptional legislation to give authorities extraordinary powers and suspend certain rights was justified.