All charges have been dropped against the alleged leader of the Windsor protest that blockaded the Ambassador Bridge during the nationwide Freedom Convoy protests in February 2022.
Protestors linked to the Freedom Convoy blocked access to North America’s busiest bridge on Feb. 7, 2022, for almost one week to protest Covid-19 mandates.
Police managed to disperse demonstrators on Feb. 13, arresting 42 people, the bulk of whom received mischief charges.
The Crown attorney withdrew all criminal charges against William Laframboise on Wednesday, according to a press release from The Democracy Fund, a Canadian charity dedicated to constitutional rights, who represented Laframboise in his case.
The Crown attorney said that while there were triable issues, he believed it was not in the public interest to prosecute Laframboise “given the evidentiary challenges of the Crown’s case and other serious matters that were vying for trial time in a backlogged court system.”
According to defence lawyer Alan Honner, there were large gaps between said legitimate issues and the Crown’s ability to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Honner said it’s likely that the Crown would have proceeded to trial if they believed they had a strong enough case, due to the economic impact of the blockade.
“Mr. Laframboise has always maintained his innocence,” said Honner. “He insisted on his right to trial, and we believe he would have been acquitted had the charges not been dropped.”
Laframboise was arrested almost six months after the blockade ended, unlike the majority of protestors who were arrested on-site.
His arrest was part of an ongoing investigation that sought to identify and prosecute an organizer of the protests.
Laframboise was the final remaining client to be represented by the Democracy Fund in facing trial for their alleged role in the Ambassador Bridge protests.
Around one-third of all persons arrested during those protests were represented by the TDF and their sole conviction currently remains under appeal.
