OTTAWA –
Ottawa protest organizer Tamara Leach has been released on bail for a second time after a judge overturned a previous ruling that sent her back into custody.
“I’m very happy to be free and out,” Leach said as she was mobbed by supporters as she left an Ottawa court on Tuesday. She had been in custody since June 27 on charges of breaching her bail conditions.
Superior Court Judge Andrew Goodman said the magistrate who presided over Leach’s June 27 hearing made several errors of law and got some facts wrong when he ordered her continued detention.
Leach was charged with violating a bail condition that prohibits her from communicating with 10 other protest organizers, including former Freedom Convoy spokesman Tom Marrazzo. They sat at a table at a Toronto Freedom Awards gala in June and were photographed together.
Goodman found the violation claim to be “weak” and not “rationally connected” to the idea behind the no-communication order – to prevent another Freedom Convoy protest from being staged.
He disagreed with the magistrate on the seriousness of the charges – a key factor in bail decisions – saying she was unlikely to face a lengthy prison term if convicted.
The Crown argued that Leach could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison because of the effect the protest had on the city and its citizens.
“Ms. Leach is presumed innocent,” Goodman said in his ruling, noting there was “uncertainty as to the extent to which she will be held guilty” of the protest.
“Nothing in these reasons,” Goodman said, “is intended to minimize the harm caused to the citizens of Ottawa” or the costs to various levels of government.
Goodman noted that Leach has complied with all remaining bail conditions imposed on her for nearly four months, and took the step of returning to court to ask that the conditions be changed to allow her to attend the gala.
Lich’s lawyers said they were pleased with the ruling.
“Obviously we’re disappointed that it took us almost a month in custody to get to this point, but we’re pleased with today’s conclusion — that the warrant for her detention was clearly inappropriate and that’s now been corrected and she’s been released,” said attorney Eric Granger off the court.
Before the ruling, Leach appeared in the dock to be cross-examined by Crown prosecutor Moise Karimji, who asked about her personal financial situation. Leach said she has received about $69,000 in donations for her defense.
Karijmee released a TikTok video in court in which another protest organizer claims that Lich once expressed support for a plan to buy property in Ottawa to use as a base for the protests.
But Leach denied she was involved in a plan by a group called the United People of Canada to acquire a former church in the ByWard Market to use as an “embassy.”
Leach also told the court that her husband, Duane Leach, traveled to Ottawa during the protest aboard a chartered plane paid for by the Adopt-a-Trucker fundraiser, not a private jet funded by a “good Christian.” as Duane Leach testified in February.
Leach, 49, still faces a list of criminal charges including mischief, intimidation and obstructing the advice of a police officer related to the three-week occupation of downtown Ottawa.
The pre-trial hearing is scheduled for August.
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