Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich won’t be heading to the White House, the Caribbean or Arizona for Rebel News after an Ontario judge rejected her bid to travel internationally while serving house arrest.
According to Rebel News, Justice Heather Perkins-McVey denied Lich’s request Thursday to loosen travel restrictions imposed as part of her conditional sentence stemming from the 2022 Freedom Convoy.”
“The fact that an activity can be described as work does not compel permission to leave the jurisdiction,” Perkins-McVey said while delivering her decision.
Lich had sought permission to travel internationally for her work with Rebel News, including attending White House press events, joining the outlet’s seven-day Caribbean cruise and travelling to Arizona to interview comedian Rob Schneider.
The judge found there was insufficient evidence that international travel was necessary for Lich to maintain her employment and concluded the requested exemption would undermine the principles of her sentence.
Perkins-McVey characterized the Rebel-sponsored Caribbean cruise as a “commercial event” and “fundraiser,” while describing the proposed Arizona trip as “promotional.”
She also found that much of Lich’s proposed international work could be completed from Canada.
Lich appeared virtually for Thursday’s ruling from the passenger seat of a vehicle while wearing a Rebel News hoodie.
She was found guilty of mischief in April 2025 for her role in organizing and sustaining the Freedom Convoy protest, which lasted several weeks in downtown Ottawa in early 2022.
Lich was sentenced on October 7, 2025, to a conditional sentence that included 12 months of house arrest and 100 hours of community service.
She has since received permission to travel outside Alberta for her work with Rebel News and has complied with the conditions of her sentence.
Her approved travel has included trips to other provinces for Rebel News and a July 4 reception at the residence of U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra in Ottawa.
But Crown prosecutors opposed opening the door to international travel.
During an earlier hearing, the Crown argued Lich had not demonstrated a significant change in circumstances warranting expanded travel privileges and warned the exemption would amount to a “blank cheque” for international travel.
Prosecutors also argued that allowing Lich to travel abroad and profit from the convoy under the “guise of journalism” would undermine her punishment.
Lich’s lawyer Lawrence Greenspon rejected the Crown’s characterization, arguing his client had “abided by the terms of her conditional sentence to the letter.”
Rebel News founder Ezra Levant also testified that ensuring Lich complied with her court conditions would be the outlet’s “top priority.”
“I disagree with court cases every day, but I abide by them,” Levant told the court.
Following Thursday’s decision, Greenspon described the ruling as “very considered.”
“There’s nothing in what the judge said today, or in the sentence itself, that prevents [Lich] in any way from speaking freely, and associating freely and working to the extent that she can by the conditions that were imposed,” he said.
The ruling does not prevent Lich from travelling elsewhere in Canada. Perkins-McVey said interprovincial travel may still be approved on a case-by-case basis by her conditional sentence supervisor.
The judge also left open the possibility of future court applications for international travel under “genuinely exceptional, specific, and time-limited circumstances.”
Lich and fellow Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber were both convicted of mischief and sentenced in October 2025.
CBC reported that Barber continues to travel across the U.S. border through his work as a commercial truck driver.
Both sides are also pursuing appeals.
Lich and Barber are appealing their convictions, while Crown prosecutors are separately challenging the trial judge’s findings and sentences, seeking additional convictions and tougher punishment.
The Ontario Court of Appeal is expected to hear the arguments in 2027.
Lich has also launched a civil lawsuit against Ottawa police, Crown prosecutors and others, alleging malicious prosecution and negligent investigation.
The Freedom Convoy brought thousands of protesters to Ottawa in early 2022 in opposition to COVID-19 mandates and restrictions, ultimately prompting the Trudeau government to invoke the Emergencies Act.
Time for Tamara & Chris to seek asylum from this political persecution in the US.