Criminal prosecution arising from the accuseds' leadership and organizing roles in the Ottawa Freedom Convoy protest.
The court held that the prolonged truck occupation and associated conduct in downtown Ottawa constituted mass mischief by materially interfering with residents', businesses', and institutions' lawful use and enjoyment of property, and that both accused were liable as principals and alternatively as aiders and abettors through leadership, fundraising, communications, and repeated exhortations to remain and "hold the line".
The statutory defence in s. 430(7) of the Criminal Code did not apply because the conduct and speeches were not solely communicative, but were intended to sustain the physical blockade.
The intimidation and obstruction counts were dismissed because the Crown did not prove the specific mens rea for those offences.
Christopher Barber was separately convicted of counselling disobedience of the horn injunction by directing truckers to sound their horns if police advanced.
