Where are they now? Fourteen public figures a year after the convoy protest
What are Patrick King, Jim Watson, Tamara Lich, Peter Sloly, and more prominent figures up to now?
Published Jan 27, 2023 • Last updated Jan 29, 2023
Pat King
Tamara Lich
What they did then
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Lich, 50, from Medicine Hat, Alberta, is perhaps the most well-known of the convoy protest organizers.
Lich, a right-wing activist who had been involved with the Yellow Vest protest and the separatist Maverick Party, volunteered to help fund-raise for the convoy, setting up the initial GoFundMe campaign that quickly raised $10 million.
During the Ottawa protest she spoke at press conferences, urged supporters to remain peaceful, and was involved in negotiating an aborted deal with Mayor Jim Watson to move some trucks out of residential areas downtown.
Lich was arrested on a downtown street on Feb. 17. A video taken by her supporters and released on social media showed Lich being handcuffed by police and calling out “Hold the Line” as she was led away.
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Lich was in and out of jail as legal wrangling ensued during several bail hearings and reviews. Her lawyer calculated that Lich had spent 48 days in custody before she was released on July 26 pending her joint trial with Chris Barber.
Where are they now?
Lich has been largely out of the public eye since she was released on bail in July.
She is currently back in Medicine Hat, said her lawyer Lawrence Greenspon in an interview.
Greenspon said he plans to file a court application in the next few weeks to seek a review of her bail conditions, which include a ban on using social media.
JM
Patrick King
What they did then
Patrick King, who had been an activist in separatist and far-right movements in Alberta before he began protesting COVID-19 health measures, became a well-known figure during the convoy protest.
King led a “slow roll” of vehicles circling the Ottawa airport, posted videos on social media urging protesters downtown to “Hold the Line” and live-streamed his own arrest on Feb. 18.
Some convoy organizers distanced themselves from King, who in past videos had used racist language and hinted at violence, speculating that someone would make Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “catch a bullet one day.”
Where are they now?
King spent five months in the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre before being released on bail on July 18.
His bail conditions included a ban on using social media or participating in protests or unlawful assemblies related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the convoy protest or anti-government demonstrations.
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King is currently in Alberta, said his lawyer Natasha Calvinho in an interview.
She said she anticipates a trial will be held in the fall of 2023 on the charges laid against King during the protest. Additional charges laid against King later of obstructing justice and perjury would be part of a separate trial, she said.
JM
Tyson George Billings
What they did then
Tyson George Billings, from High River, Alberta, was a close associate of King and they often appeared on livestreams together during the protest.
Billings, dubbed “Freedom George,” was known for hollering “freeedom” and “Let’s go” as he strolled downtown streets. He was charged with several offences, including mischief, counselling to commit mischief, counselling to disobey a court order and obstructing police, and denied bail.
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Billings pleaded guilty in June to one count of counselling to commit mischief and was sentenced to six months of probation.
Where are they now?
Billings did not respond to an email request for an interview, but based on his social media posts he works driving a truck hauling natural gas liquid.
Billings has recently been promoting on his Facebook page the “world unity” convoy reunion event planned for Winnipeg in February. In videos posted on his page, Billing says he plans to be there.
JM
Catherine McKenney
What they did then
While still city councillor for Somerset ward, McKenney was a frequent presence on Centretown streets during the convoy protest, even calling into a council meeting on Feb. 16, 2022, from a roadway jammed with parked trucks and big rigs and demanding to know what plans the city and the Ottawa Police Service had for clearing the occupiers.
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McKenney ran for mayor in the October 2022 municipal election, but lost to Mark Sutcliffe. Ariel Troster succeeded McKenney as the councillor for the Somerset ward.
Where are they now?
On Jan. 19, McKenney announced the co-founding of a non-profit organization called CitySHAPES with the announced goals of advocating for change, formulating policy and working with communities across Canada on priorities including climate change, active transportation, transit, affordable housing and ending chronic homelessness.
GH
What they did then
As Rideau-Vanier ward councillor, Fleury had a front-row seat to downtown disruptions during the convoy protest, including the 25-day shutdown of the Rideau Centre mall located in his ward.
Protesters also showed up outside his home after Fleury’s address became publicly known, so he and his family moved for the duration of the protests.
Where are they now?
Fleury announced in May he would not seek re-election to council, after 12 years representing his urban ward. Since the calendar turned to 2023, he has worked on contract as interim executive director of J.W. MacIntosh Community Support Services, a Williamsburg, Ont.-based organization for seniors, convalescents and adults with physical disabilities as well as their family members and friends.
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GH
Benjamin Dichter
What they did then
Dichter, a truck driver, podcast creator and producer and political and communications strategist, was asked by Tamara Lich to help with communications for the convoy protest.
Dichter acted as a spokesperson, did interviews, held press conferences, worked on social media messaging and helped people fundraising bitcoin for the truckers.
Where are they now?
Dichter still drives a truck and does podcasts, including his talk show called Freedom Coffee, and has written a book about the protest, Honking for Freedom.
What they did then
Previously an Ottawa Police Services Board member nearly 12 years, including as chair for 12, El-Chantiry was reappointed as chair after Diane Deans was ousted by a city council vote on Feb. 16, one day after Peter Sloly resigned as chief.
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Where are they now?
The council representative for West Carleton-March ward since 2003, El-Chantiry announced in late July that he would not seek re-election. Recently he said he was still attending “retirement” parties after leaving council in mid-November, but he was also taking advantage of his new-found free time to do things he had been too busy to do previously, including working out at a gym five days a week. He added that he and his wife were planning a trip.
GH
Diane Deans
What they did then
Then serving as Gloucester-Southgate ward councillor, Deans was at the centre of one of the most controversial developments at city hall when she was ousted as chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board in a council vote on Feb. 16. The move came after the police board hired former Waterloo Region chief Matt Torigian as interim Ottawa chief to replace Sloly. Amid swirling controversy, Torigian withdrew from the position on Feb. 17.
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Deans announced a mayoral campaign in late 2021, but backed out. In June 2022, she announced she wouldn’t be running for re-election as councillor in the ward she had represented since 1994.
Where are they now?
She now works on contract with the Native Women’s Association of Canada, a national Indigenous group that acts as the political voice for Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people. “I’m just quite happy doing something entirely different for a while,” Deans says. “I miss politics less than I expected to miss it.”
GH
Tom Marazzo
What they did then
Tom Marazzo, a retired military officer who says he was fired from teaching at a community college in Ontario for opposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, emerged during the convoy to speak on behalf of the protesters.
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At press conferences, Marazzo appealed to politicians to talk with the protesters, at one point saying he had a hotel room ready if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wanted to meet.
He also helped co-ordinate truck movements during the protest and negotiated with police liaison teams, said Marazzo on his website.
Marazzo is a founding member of the Veterans4Freedom group, which has supported other “freedom movement” events, including Rolling Thunder in Ottawa last spring.
Where are they now?
Marazzo has spoken at various “freedom” related events over the last year.
He ran as a candidate for the Ontario Party in the Peterborough-Kawartha riding in the provincial election in June.
According to his webpage, Marazzo is writing a book about his experiences with the convoy protest and is soliciting donations for that venture.
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His website says Marazzo lives “off the grid” in eastern Ontario. Marazzo declined an interview request, saying he does not trust this paper or mainstream media.
JM
Chris Barber
What they did then
Chris Barber, a Saskatchewan trucker, was one of the original organizers of the convoy to Ottawa.
Barber’s videos on Tik Tok and other social media platforms helped galvanize convoy protesters who paralyzed downtown Ottawa for more than three weeks last winter.
Barber was arrested on Feb. 17, 2022 as police from across Canada moved in to clear the streets. He was charged with mischief, intimidation, obstructing police and counselling an indictable offence and released on bail.
Where are they now?
Barber, 47, is back home in Swift Current, Sask., running his trucking company that hauls agricultural equipment.
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Business is brisk, he said in a phone interview. “I’m just trying to play by the rules right now and stay out of trouble,” he said. “I’m busy trucking. I’ve never been a protester in my life, nor have I ever done anything in my life like what happened a year ago.
“I’m not that kind of guy. But I decided I reached my limit last year,” said Barber, who is vaccinated himself but opposed vaccine mandates and other pandemic public health rules.
Barber was a guest speaker this fall on the “Fire and Ice” speaking tour by former Canadian hockey star Theo Fleury and figure skating champion Jamie Sale, with another appearance scheduled in February. Fleury and Sale are activists against pandemic restrictions and promote misinformation about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
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Barber’s joint criminal trial with convoy leader Tamara Lich is set for three weeks in Ottawa starting Sept. 5, 2023.
There will be two other court hearings before then, said his lawyer Diane Magas in an interview. In February, a joint motion on behalf of Barber and Tamara Lich will be heard asking for particulars to be disclosed of their alleged offences, said Magas.
In March, a Charter of Rights challenge is scheduled that relates to 4,000 pages filed by the Crown of Barber’s cell phone data, which Magas said included personal text messages unrelated to the convoy that should not have been made public.
The application asks the court to either stay the charges against Barber or, failing that, exclude the cell phone data from the trial.
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Peter Sloly
What they did then
As police chief, he became a target for criticism of the service’s response to the convoy protest. Before the first week of the occupation, Sloly said “there may not be a policing solution to this demonstration.” He would also cite a lack of resources for the Ottawa Police Service’s inaction against protesters and requested 1,800 reinforcements from other police forces to help end the occupation.
On Feb. 15, Sloly resigned as chief and was replaced on an interim basis by Steve Bell.
Where are they now?
Sloly has a paid position as “changemaker” in residence University of Toronto’s Massey College, where his assignment is to assist the college principal in modernizing the institution and also leading change for current students, but he continues to live in Ottawa with his wife and their two children.
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He sits on the board for United Way of East Ontario and is a member of both the Ottawa Community Foundation, where he has started the Sloly Family Fund for local and national charities, and the Montfort Hospital Foundation’s fundraising board for the Orléans Health Hub. He has also reactivated Sloly Solutions Inc., a boutique consulting company he founded six years ago, providing strategic advisory services to organizations seeking to improve safety, justice and inclusion on societal lines.
GH
Steve Kanellakos
What they did then
As city manager, Kanellakos was a high-profile figure in the municipal government’s response to the occupation. Most notably, he told council at its Feb. 7 meetings that tow companies, including those on Ottawa’s standing offer list, were refusing heavy tow work to remove protesters’ vehicles from downtown streets.
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Where are they now?
City manager since 2016, Kanellakos resigned on Nov. 28, just two days before the Ottawa LRT public inquiry report was released. “I’m sure there will be speculation about the reasons for my departure at this time. This decision is mine and mine alone. No one asked me to leave,” he said.
The report by Justice William Hourigan said Kanellakos had made a “deliberate effort” to mislead council on the decision to lower testing criteria for the LRT system prior to launch of Stage 1 in September 2019, and on the results of that testing.
GH
James Bauder
What they did then
James Bauder, founder of the “Canada Unity” group, was another prominent promoter of the convoy protest.
Bauder and his wife Sandra had already been in Ottawa in late fall 2021. They and a few dozen supporters went dining and shopping without masks that were required at the time, held protests and promoted a “memorandum of understanding” petition that suggested elected MPs could be forced to resign by a committee of citizens, the Senate and the Governor General.
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Some convoy organizers distanced themselves from Bauder and Canada Unity, saying protesters were not trying to overthrow the government.
Canada Unity withdrew the memo, saying it was misunderstood.
The Bauders parked their RV in downtown Ottawa during the convoy, where they were arrested on Feb. 20. They were released on condition they stay away from a one-kilometre area around Parliament Hill.
The Bauders returned home to Alberta, and have been involved in various protests in western Canada. The charges against Sandra Bauder were stayed in the spring of 2022.
Where are they now?
James Bauder has a court date in February during which he plans to ask for a change of venue for his trial in Ottawa. He has been representing himself in court appearances.
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Jim Watson
What they did then
Having already announced he would not be seeking another term in office as mayor, Watson headed a city council that quickly displayed its frustration with the situation in the downtown core during the convoy occupation. In a CFRA radio interview on its second weekend, Watson said protesters outnumbered police and municipal authorities and admitted he didn’t know at that time when it would end.
In October, Watson appeared at the Public Order Emergency Commission and testified he wholeheartedly supported the invocation of the Emergencies Act by the federal government.
Where are they now?
After the council term ended, Watson took a cross-Canada vacation by train. He returned to Ottawa shortly after the LRT inquiry report also criticized him, concluding information about the trial running of the Confederation Line not shared by Watson and senior city staff amounted to an “egregious” violation of the public trust. “At the end of the day, I take full responsibility for the project’s shortcomings,” Watson wrote on Dec. 9.
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After that, Watson said this week in a statement to Postmedia News, he hosted Christmas dinner for his family for the first time in a decade and spent days sorting through mementos and other items delivered to his home from his former city hall office — none marked “top secret” or “classified,” he joked.
He had intended in January to explore post-politics job opportunities and to re-engage in charity and volunteer work, but an unspecified health issue “that is not improving” put those plans off indefinitely.
“I also hope to be able to travel more often, but I need to resolve my medical concern first before I can consider going abroad,” Watson wrote. “I am hopeful a solution to this health issue can be implemented sooner than later and that will allow me to spend more time outside of my home and community and allow me to better reconnect with friends.”
GH
With a file from Andrew Duffy
