Think back! Think way back! COVID years seem a long time ago now, don’t they?

This past Thursday, Tamara Lich, one of the planners of the Freedom Convoy in 2022, announced that sentencing on the charges she has lived under since 2022 have been postponed indefinitely.

For the most part, Canadians have moved on. We’re concerned about the cost of buying food; the cost of fuel; the threat of tariffs and counter-tariffs. Some of our fellow-citizens are debating the pros and cons of becoming the “51^st state.” We’re concerned about the national debt, federal immigration policies and the shortage of doctors. We’ve got a lot of current matters to worry about.

Yet once again, shackles to the past draw us back to those COVID years.

I remember being glued to my computer as police began driving legitimate and peaceful Canadian protesters from Ottawa. I had sent a small donation to the Freedom Convoy, and I remember the horror I experienced when word came out that the government was going to freeze the bank accounts of those who supported the Convoy. The government did freeze the accounts of some but not all of the 36,000 Canadians who gave to the Freedom Convoy. We were locked down and charged if we uncovered our faces or went outside without good reason. Could we ever forget those kids skating in Calgary and their confrontation with the police?

With the ruling that the Emergency Measures, implemented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, when we grew tired of the tyranny of our government, were unconstitutional and violated our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, most of us responded with a frustrated “Ya think?” and carried on with life.

Most of us carried on with life. Tamara Lich has not carried on with life, she is shackled to the past, as are Chris Barber, Pat King, and Harold Jonker (pretrial hearings March 25-28) and probably many others. I can’t find a list of all who still face outstanding charges. I’m sure there must be one out there, but many charges have been cancelled because it has taken too long to prosecute. One of our Charter Rights is that we have the right to a speedy trial.

However, for those fighting the charges stemming from a time of government overreach, the battle is real. They are shackled to the past and unable to move on.

Why do I bring this up?

It was a time like no other when Canadians were stripped of our rights and when we protested our lack of human rights, the government came in with excessive force in a further violation of our rights. Our Liberal government has not yet faced these charges in a Canadian election.

The Freedom Convoy gave Canadians their first ray of hope to a return of normalcy and we grabbed it. People around the world grabbed at the hope Canada offered. Canada became a world leader for what Canadians had done—stood up and said, “NO, we’re done with these government controls.”

Thank you to the Freedom Convoy organizers and participants for the hope they gave us, and the world, in 2022. Now it’s time to tell the government “enough” yet again. It’s time for us to put into action our refusal to throw those who gave us hope under the bus.

Let’s get those letters, phone calls, and emails going to your Member of Parliament, our Justice Minister, our Prime Minister saying, it’s time to end this shameful moment in Canadian history when we all lived under a dictatorship.

But that’s not enough! Although it would be amazing if we all did this.

For the first time since COVID, the Liberal Party with their lackadaisical attitude toward our rights will be facing the electorate. It’s hard to believe, but this is the first election since the Freedom Convoy. Now IS the time to tell all those who seek to govern that there is a price to pay for violating our Charter Rights; a price to pay for violating our Freedoms. There is a price to pay when you violate the freedoms that Canadians cherish. We will not back down because you violated what we hold VERY dear.

It’s time to remove from office the Liberal Party and their NDP colleagues that violated our laws, our rights and our freedoms. And it’s time to recognize that the leadership of the Conservative Party stood with them regarding the government’s restrictive measures until the Freedom Convoy showed them how strongly Canadians feel about freedom.

It’s time for Canadians to choose a party that stands unequivocally for Life, Family and Freedom—CHP Canada. Join today!