Crown Attorneys Criticized Over Freedom Convoy Sentencing, Hockey Trial Issue Public Defence

The head of the Ontario Crown Attorneys Association (OCAA) has spoken out against personal attacks on Crown prosecutors, saying they undermine the “very principles upon which the rule of law is based.”

OCAA President Donna Kellway said in a July 29 statement that there have been “attacks on various aspects of our criminal justice system” by politicians, media outlets, and members of the public over the last week.

“The censure has ranged from insults levied against the Crown for its sentencing positions in a highly publicized prosecution, to the shaming of counsel based on their gender in the defence of individuals charged with certain offences,” she said.

The letter comes in the midst of two high-profile trials ongoing in Canada, with the Crown seeking stiff penalties for Freedom Convoy organizers Chris Barber and Tamara Lich, and the counsel in the recent hockey players’ trial being criticized based on their gender.

Kellway said these attacks on the independence of the Crown are “affronts to the rule of law.” She noted that the role of the Crown in a trial is not to secure a conviction, but to ensure the trial is conducted fairly.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently waded into the trial of the main organizers of the Freedom Convoy, questioning if the Crown prosecutors’ asking for more than seven years of prison time for Lich and Barber was “justice” when “rampant violent offenders” are released on bail in Canada. Conservative MPs Melissa Lantsman and Andrew Lawton also questioned the Crown’s request.

Lich and Barber were found guilty of mischief for their role in the three-week trucker protest held in 2022, while Barber was also found guilty of counselling others to disobey a court order. The judge ruled in April that there was insufficient evidence for the other charges, and the charges of counselling others to commit mischief were also stayed.

Lich’s lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said on July 24, following a sentencing hearing, that while he liked what the Conservative leader and MPs had to say about the trial, “I don’t think they should be saying it.”

“The separation of church and state, or in this case legislature from judiciary, is something that is highly valued in our country,” he said.

Following the recent high-profile hockey players’ trial, which saw five hockey players found not guilty of sexual assault for a 2018 incident, the Toronto Star published an op-ed that questioned why women would represent men accused of such crimes.

Kellway added in her statement that attacks on the Crown will never change the decisions made by prosecutors, and that a lawyer’s gender “plays no role in determining one’s eligibility to participate” in Canada’s justice system.