Lich was among the organizers of yellow vest protests in Alberta in late 2018 and early 2019. Based in Alberta, Lich was also an early leader in the Western Canada secession Wexit movement, which later became the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta. In 2022, she was one of three organisers of the Canada convoy protests in Ottawa. She was arrested in Ottawa on February 17, 2022, and initially denied bail. Upon appeal she was released, then re-arrested and denied bail again. Another appeal in July 2022 led to her re-release.
Early life and career
Lich was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.[1][2] Lich has predominately worked in logistics in the energy field,[2] including as a base administrator for STEP Energy Services, and also as a fitness instructor. She is a guitarist and lead vocalist in the Alberta-based band Blind Monday.[3][4][5]
Activism and politics
Yellow vest movement
Lich was an organizer for the far-right[6][7][8][9]yellow vest protests in Medicine Hat in late December 2018 and early 2019. Following death threats made towards Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Lich debated a name change for the group to distance their aims from those promoting violence.[10]
Western Canada secessionism
She opposed the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act and Bill-69 that regulated the oil industry in Canada.[3] Lich advocates against legislation that does not take regional differences into account. In 2020, she opined that there are different needs for legislation on gun control in downtown Toronto compared to rural Alberta.[3] As a leader[5] of the Maverick Party, she advocated for a unified voice of people in western Canada to push for constitutional reform as a first priority and secession as the second.[3] She resigned from the board of directors of the Maverick Party in early 2022.[5][11]
Lich was a leader in the Wexit movement which later became the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta.[3][12] Lich left the Wildrose party to join the separatist Maverick Party where she served as a member of its first governing council.[3][1] In 2022, she was the secretary of the Maverick Party's Western Canadian Governing Council.[13]
Lich was involved in the 2018 United We Roll protest convoy.[3]
COVID-19 pandemic
Convoy protest, Ottawa, 2022
Speaking at a news conference on February 3, 2022, Lich called on all levels of government in Canada to put an end to COVID-19public health measures.[14] The next day, she praised Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe for ending provincial COVID-19 restrictions.[15]
Lich spoke publicly about how she felt offended that the protesters were being portrayed in the media as racist and sexist.[16] Lich has been outspoken against forms of extremism at the protests.[21]
Arrest and trial
Lich was arrested in Ottawa on February 17, 2022, accused of counselling to commit mischief,[22][23] and held in the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.[5] Justice Julie Bourgeois denied her application for bail on February 22, 2022.[24][1] Diane Magas, defence lawyer for Lich, expressed concern about the neutrality of Justice Bourgeois on the basis that she ran for a federal Liberal Party seat in 2011.[25] Her denial of bail was protested in Ottawa.[26] On March 7, 2022, the bail denial was overturned, and Lich was granted bail on the conditions that she refrain from use social media, and that she leave Ottawa within 24 hours and the province of Ontario within 72 hours, and to only return to the province for court-related reasons.[27] Additional conditions prohibit her use of social media, and prohibit contact with other protests organizers.[26]
On March 24, 2022, an additional six charges were laid against Lich: counselling mischief, mischief, counselling to obstruct police, obstructing police, counselling intimidation, and intimidation by blocking and obstructing one or more highways.[28]
On April 26, 2022, Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) announced that Lich will be awarded The George Jonas Freedom Award for her work during the Canada convoy protest.[29] JCCF was one of the lead supporters of the convoy protest and provided its legal support.[30][31] On June 27, 2022, Lich was re-arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Alberta for allegedly breaching her bail conditions. Lich attended a JCCF award ceremony on June 17 and met convoy organizer Tom Marazzo, with whom she had been ordered to have no contact.[32][33] On July 8, Lich's bail application was denied,[34] although that decision was overturned on July 26.[35] Lich's trial is scheduled for September 5, 2023, and is expected to last 16 days.[36] She is represented by lawyer Lawrence Greenspon.[37]
When Lich visited the spectator's gallery of the Alberta Legislature in late February 2023, she was applauded by sitting politicians, after she was introduced as "a grandma, a musician, and a true leader within the freedom movement" by independent politician Drew Barnes.[38]
In March 2023, government prosecutors were accused of malice after phone records between Chris Barber and Lich were briefly released online. Content included personal details and business communications unconnected to the convoy protest. Barber's legal team, with support from The Crown, secured a publication ban to protect both his and Lich's privacy. The Crown stated that the data release was an oversight. Barber's defence also briefly released the same records.[39]
Personal life
Lich lives in Medicine Hat, Alberta.[5] She is married to Dwayne Lich,[40] and is both a mother and a grandmother;[3] one of her daughters[5] was born premature.[4] One of her daughters works as a nurse.[5] She has publicly claimed Métis heritage.[3][16]
Works
Hold the Line: My Story From the Heart of the Freedom Convoy ISBN978-1990583032
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