Opinion: How Tamara “Hold The Line” Lich drove Canadian truckers under the bus

Opinion article by: Greg Staley

Written on: 2024-01-23

Apparently, the Freedom Convoy was on the cusp of becoming a riot – at least that’s what Tamara Lich thought. The trucker convoy was promptly driven under the bus in her ironically titled book “Hold The Line.” In fact, Lich’s description of the trucker convoy is more in line with the former Ottawa Police Chief’s who referred to the convoy as a “powder keg.”

In the book, Lich writes of a scenario that evoked in her a “moment of panic” where she became “very concerned” for how things might go and that she felt the need to get the trucker protest “under control” as she didn’t want “anybody to get hurt.”

“I became very concerned for how this was going to go, and I had a moment of panic where I thought, “We’ve got to get this under control. We don’t want anybody to get hurt.”

Tamara Lich “Hold The Line”

This is ironic for many that experienced the trucker protest in Ottawa first hand but also because Lich herself described the convoy as the “biggest love fest” she had ever participated in.

Lich – Things felt “very intense” and she worried protesters would “turn in a split second” against police

In her book, Lich described a scenario that unfolded at the trucker convoy, stating that for the first time since she left Medicine Hat she was scared. Adding that, everything around her “felt very intense” and that she felt “it could go very badly.” She then described her concern that convoy participants could “turn in a split second” against police officers if they felt they were being played.

“For the first time since I left Medicine Hat, I was scared. Everything around me felt very intense. It felt like it could go very badly. I could see how these people could turn in a split second against these police officers if they felt they were being played”

Tamara Lich “Hold The Line”

This sounds very similar to the sentiments echoed by the Police Chief in charge during much of the protest. Chief Sloly told the court during his Public Order Emergency Commission that the protest was “more like a powder keg” and that he had experienced it himself when he went on foot patrol at Wellington and Rideau and Sussex.

Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly: The protest was “more like a powder keg”

Tamara Lich: “I could see how these people could turn in a split second against the police officers if they felt they were being played”

“I’ve seen these things on the news before”

Tamara Lich then completely throws the convoy under the bus in a stunning passage from her book. In it, she wrote that she’s “seen these things in the news before.” That is, she’s seen “peaceful crowds turn into riots when they’re provoked.”

“I’ve seen these things on the news before. I’ve seen peaceful crowds turn into riots when they’re provoked.”

Tamara Lich “Hold The Line”

It would seem that according to Tamara Lich’s accounting of events at the trucker convoy, the protest was just one slip up away from turning into a riot. Had police provoked the protesters the wrong way she thought it could turn into a full-on riot.

This is quite comical considering this is the same woman who described the convoy as the “biggest love fest” she had ever experienced.

Perhaps this fear of a riot breaking out is what compelled Lich to work with the city of Ottawa in a deal that put protesters at greater risk of being kettled and rounded up by police – a scenario that ultimately led to protesters being beaten by police in Canada’s capital city of Ottawa.

Regardless, next time we think of the phrase “Hold The Line”, we should consider that the person who made that line infamous threw the convoy under the bus.