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$290 million lawsuit against Freedom Convoy participants designed to silence expression

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From the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms

This lawsuit also seeks damages from citizens who donated to the peaceful protest.

Lawyers on behalf of Chris Barber, Tamara Lich, and other Freedom Convoy participants argue that the $290 million class action against them is designed to silence their expression–expression the public had an interest in hearing [Image by Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images]

OTTAWA, ON: The Justice Centre announces that lawyers representing Tamara Lich, Chris Barber and other defendants against a class-action lawsuit brought by Zexi Li and other Ottawa residents will be in court this Thursday, December 14, 2023. Tamara Lich and the other defendants have filed an application to dismiss Zexi Li’s $290 million class action as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP)–a lawsuit designed to silence the expression of peaceful protesters.

In February 2022, Ottawa residents Zexi Li and Geoffrey Delaney, Happy Goat Coffee Company, and a local union commenced a $290 million class-action lawsuit against Chris Barber, Tamara Lich, and other Freedom Convoy participants, seeking damages against peaceful protesters for allegedly causing a nuisance. This lawsuit also seeks damages from citizens who donated to the peaceful protest.

Anti-SLAPP legislation serves to protect defendants against “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation” (SLAPP)–lawsuits designed to silence a defendant’s freedom of expression through threats of damages or costs. Anti-SLAPP motions are designed to end such lawsuits and are available to a defendant in any proceeding against them. Once an anti-SLAPP motion has been filed, the defendant must demonstrate that the proceeding against them arises from their expression that “relates to a matter of public interest.” If the defendant can demonstrate that their expression does relate to a matter of public interest, the plaintiff must then demonstrate that their lawsuit has “substantial merit” and that the defendant has no valid defence. A judge must then weigh the importance of the expression at stake against the importance of the plaintiff’s allegations of harm.

Lawyers in the Justice Centre network argue that the proceedings against Tamara Lich, Chris Barber and others do, in fact, arise from their expression. Donating to and participating in the Freedom Convoy amounted to an expression of support for the protest, and of disagreement with the Government of Canada’s response to Covid–matters of public interest. Further, lawyers argue that Zexi Li’s class-action lawsuit contains factual and legal weaknesses; it is not obvious that the proceeding against the defendants has “substantial merit.” Finally, lawyers argue that the defendants do have valid defences and that the value of the expression at issue outweighs the allegations of nuisance against them.

On Thursday, December 14, 2023, the parties will proceed to oral argument at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, arguing that the plaintiffs’ entire class-action lawsuit is, in fact, a SLAPP action disguised as a nuisance claim and that the lawsuit is merely intended to punish the defendants for participating in the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest. If successful, all or part of the class-action lawsuit will be dismissed.

Lawyer James Manson stated, “Zexi Li’s lawsuit engages the very purpose that ‘anti-SLAPP’ legislation was designed to address: an attempt to silence peaceful expression, and the right of defendants to participate in public debate.”

John Carpay, President of the Justice Centre, stated “The fundamental Charter freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly must be vigorously protected and defended, whether they are attacked directly by government or indirectly through a misguided civil action.”

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Former Canadian lawmaker has no regrets about refusing COVID shot despite losing his job

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Ontario MPP Rick Nicholls

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

MPP Rick Nicholls was ousted from the Progressive Conservative Party by Doug Ford, but he said he has talked to party people who have told him, ‘Rick, I was against what you did, but you did the right thing.’

Former Ontario MPP Rick Nicholls, who was once an elite member of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative (PC) Party before Premier Doug Ford kicked him out for refusing to take the COVID shot, says he has no “regrets” for refusing to bow to pressure to get COVID jabbed, noting he feels justified for his actions for going against the party leader’s demands.

Nicholls, who once served as the deputy speaker of the Ontario legislative assembly, noted, as per an Epoch Times  report, that as increased information comes out about the COVID shots, he has talked to party people who have told him, “Rick, I was against what you did, but you did the right thing.”

Nicholls had been an MPP since 2011 but was booted from Ford’s ruling PCs in August 2021. In the same month and year, Ford mandated that all of his MPPs have the COVID jabs. At the time, Nicholls said he voiced his “concerns about our policy privately to the premier and to the Ontario PC caucus.”

He observed that from the get-go he did not call the COVID injection a “vaccine” but instead a “jab, or the shot,” noting how a vaccine should not need multiple boosters.

“That’s not a vaccine,” he said.

Nicholls also blamed the legacy media for promoting the shots at the behest of federal and provincial governments despite not having any long-term data on the effectiveness or safety of the jabs.

“I blame the legacy media for not printing the truth,” he said.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, Nicholls in 2021 said people should not be “penalized for their choice” to refuse the COVID jabs, the safety of which he questioned, while having to announce he was forced to step down as deputy speaker of the Ontario Legislature. He then sat as an independent MPP for a time before joining the Ontario Party to serve as their only sitting member until the 2022 election.

Draconian COVID mandates, including those surrounding the experimental mRNA vaccines, were imposed by the provincial Ford government as well as the federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

LifeSiteNews has published an extensive amount of research on the dangers of receiving the experimental COVID mRNA jabs, which include heart damage and blood clots.

Last week, LifeSiteNews reported that the shots were heavily promoted on social media by the federal government. Indeed, a recent Inquiry of Ministry request revealed that Canada’s Public Health Agency (PHAC) along with Health Canada have combined to spend approximately $9.9 million on social media advertising to promote the experimental COVID injections since 2020.

Ford asked former MPP to do him a ‘favor’ by getting the shot

Nicholls observed as per The Epoch Times that while he had early in the COVID crisis, albeit with caution, gone along with Ford’s government position regarding COVID mandates and lockdowns, it was not until August 2021 that Ford demanded he either get the jab or he would get the boot.

Ford called Nicholls and said, “I need you to do me a favor,” adding “I need you to get vaccinated.’”

The request from Ford came after he told media that he would make it so that all his caucus members had the shot. Nicholls told Ford that media pressure to get the shots was not a good reason for him to bow to pressure and get injected.

After being told to think about getting the shots by Ford, Nicholls noted that he got many calls from party insiders and other MPPs urging him to get the jabs.

In one direct call to Nicholls from the PC’s campaign manager, he was told, “Rick, you’ve got 72 hours. You either get vaccinated or I’m removing you from caucus.”

Despite the pressure, Nicholls did not waver, and on August 19, 2021, he told the media he would not be getting the shot. He noted how he had taken Ford’s “word” that “vaccination is a choice and that all Ontarians have a constitutional right to make such a choice” to the media at the time.

“I stand strong in my personal choice not to be vaccinated, which ultimately led to (my) decision to step down. I oppose mandatory vaccines. I believe in personal choice when it comes to having a foreign substance injected and that an individual should not be punished for CHOICE,” he told reporters.

Nicholls said he received notification that he was being removed as deputy speaker not from Ford but through media reports.

“I want to thank the media for letting me know that the government has actually already selected a replacement for me. Yes, that’s correct. The government didn’t let me know,” Nicholls said.

Nicholls noted, according to The Epoch Times, that had he gotten the COVID shot there was an exceptionally good chance he would have been re-elected in 2022.

“I knew that had I stayed and got the shot — and survived the shot I might add — I knew that I had an excellent chance of being re-elected again (to a) fourth term,” he said.

While sitting as an independent, he was able to ask challenging questions to the minister of health and Ford himself regarding the COVID shots “and the vaccine and information that I’m getting that they were denying.”

“And if I had a dollar for every time that former Minister of Health Christine Elliot said these vaccines are safe and effective, I’d be a rich guy,” he said.

COVID vaccine mandates, which came from provincial governments with the support of Trudeau’s federal government, split Canadian society. The mRNA shots themselves have been linked to a multitude of negative and often severe side effects in children.

The jabs also have connections to cell lines derived from aborted babies. As a result of this, many Catholics and other Christians refused to take them.

As reported by LifeSiteNews recently, the Trudeau government is still under contract to purchase multiple shipments of COVID shots while at the same time throwing away $1.5 billion worth of expired shots.

The continued purchase of COVID jabs comes despite the fact the government’s own data shows that most Canadians are flat-out refusing a COVID booster injection. It also comes as the government has had to increase spending on Canada’s Vaccine Injury Program (VISP), as reported by LifeSiteNews last week.

Canadians’ decision to refuse the shots also comes as a Statistic Canada report revealed that deaths from COVID-19 and “unspecified causes” rose after the release of the so-called “safe and effective” jabs.

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Canadaā€™s COVID vaccine injury program has paid out just 6% of claims so far

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Data from Canada’s Vaccine Injury Support Program shows that to date, only 138 of the 2,233 claims have been approved by a medical board for a payout.

Canada’s program for those injured by the COVID vaccines, which the federal government still insists are safe, has only paid out 6 percent of the claims made.

A look at the data from the nation’s Vaccine Injury Support Program (VISP) shows that to date, only 138 of the 2,233 claims made to the program have been approved by a medical board for payout.  

Some 2,069 claims have had an “administrative review completed” with 1,825 being deemed “admissible,” but remain in the process of “being depersonalized and prepared to move forward to a preliminary medical review.” Some 620 claims have been assessed by the Medical Review Board but are still under review.  

Total payouts so far stand around $11.2 million, with the number of people filing claims to the program growing steadily.  

LifeSiteNews recently reported that the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recently tabled 2024 budget earmarked an extra $36 million for the program.  

Some people who were successful in getting payouts from VISP have said that the compensation awarded was insufficient considering the injuries sustained from the COVID shots.  

As reported by LifeSiteNews last year, 42-year-old Ross Wightman from British Columbia launched a lawsuit against AstraZeneca, the federal government of Canada, the government of his province, and the pharmacy at which he was injected after receiving what he considers inadequate compensation from VISP.   

He was one of the first citizens in Canada to receive federal financial compensation due to a COVID vaccine injury under VISP. Wightman received the AstraZeneca shot in April 2021 and shortly after became totally paralyzed. He was subsequently diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome.   

Whitman was given a one-time payout of $250,000 and about $90,000 per year in income replacement, but noted, as per a recent True North report, that he does not even know if those dollar amounts “would ease the pain.” 

All Canadian provinces except Quebec are covered by VISP, who has its own vaccine compensation program that also appears to be slow at paying out to applicants.

Yesterday, LifeSiteNews reported about a 30-year-old Quebec man who developed a severe skin condition after taking Moderna’s mRNA experimental COVID-19 shot. He still has not heard anything from the provincial government regarding compensation through its vaccine injury program despite the debilitating nature of his condition.  

Despite the need for a federal program to address those injured by the vaccines once mandated by the Trudeau government, Health Canada still says “[I]t’s safe to receive a COVID-19 vaccine following infection with the virus that causes COVID-19. Vaccination is very important, even if you’ve had COVID-19.”  

The federal government is also continuing to purchase COVID jabs despite the fact the government’s own data shows that most Canadians are flat-out refusing a COVID booster injection.  

Indeed, records show the federal government has spent approximately $9.9 million on social media advertising to promote the

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