Tamara Leech: We knew that there was Antifa people that had joined our convoy in Winnipeg that were gonna come and and try to instigate violence. Yes. That's right. They brought all the ists and phones immediately. Right. Right. They're racist. Before we even left, they were calling us racists.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: What is racist gotta do to stand up against COVID? This is a this is communism.
This isn't a free democratic society
at all.
Tamara Leech: They had snipers on the roof.
Crazy.
They were stealing food. They were stealing Who when did you say stealing food? Who's dying? There's been so much division
created and perpetuated by our government
and our politicians and the people that are supposed to be leading and uniting us. And where who had said that and where? The band of the times out of the The
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: fucking the Bank of the do you you're you're not talking about some little left wing block?
Tamara Leech: Bank of the Times reported that I hung myself in prison.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Information covered up, censorship,
corruption, the mainstream media have proven itself
to be untrustworthy.
I'm here to give a platform for debate,
for truth,
for open discussion.
I'm introducing you to my podcast,
silenced
with Tommy Robinson.
Tamara Leech: Who exactly is Tommy Robinson or Steven next to Lennon? With the English friendly
we've organized protests across the country. London, Manchester, Leeds, people in their thousands are marching across the street. There is no such thing in this country
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: as a Muslim Free Free, Dobby Robertson.
Welcome to my latest edition of my podcast, Silenced. I'm in Canada.
Do you know whenever I see people stand up who refuse to back down,
I always want to know what makes that person the person they are. Because most people back down. Most people remain silent. Most people go for an easy life. Some people don't. And today, I get to meet
a lady called Tamara Leech who has certainly stood up. So, Tamara,
thank you for joining me. Thank you so much for having me. I think people will know your name
as linked to the trucker convoys,
linked to resisting
the authoritarian
reach of your government. I'd like to just start at the beginning of your life first to understand who you are. Mhmm. Where was you born tomorrow? I was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Tamara Leech: to a Metis woman.
She was 18 years old at the time, and so I was given up for adoption. And I was adopted by a lovely
family and grew up on the prairies of Saskatchewan.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Okay. She was adopted at what age?
Tamara Leech: 2 months. 2 and a half months. As a just you? No brothers? No sisters? Just me. Yeah. Yeah. Did you ever have contact with your real mom? I did meet her. I was about 19 years old, and I met her when I was living in Moose Jaw
and, got to meet her. And she came from a very large family. There was 13
children in her family, so
I got to meet a a portion of them. A lot a lot of them have passed on now, but I was very fortunate,
to get to know her a little bit. And and she's got a sister that's just 6 years older than me, so we, kept in contact for a long time. Do you okay. So and your adopted parents?
They're in Saskatchewan. Or sorry. They're in Melbourne now, I guess. Yeah.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: What was your upbringing like there?
Tamara Leech: I grew up with 5 siblings
and,
were they? They were all natural. Actually, my birth mother was told that she would never have children.
She had 3 miscarriages before I was born, so I'm kinda like their lucky charm, I guess, because then they had 5 more of their own.
And, I I really attribute my upbringing to
a lot of the things that have happened because
when you're growing up in rural Saskatchewan,
especially in the seventies eighties where we didn't have the same infrastructure that we have now, you had to rely on community.
Like, there was snowstorms sometimes where we couldn't get out of our yard, so you relied on your neighbors,
and you helped your neighbors whenever you were in need.
And, at at small towns I grew up in a lot of small towns too. Well, so lots of people can so I can so I can understand what is it like because Canada is so big. It's very vast. What is a rural location like that? What's it what's it like? How many houses are there? It's very barren and, especially in the rural areas, the farms. There was there was lots of farms, but it's not like like if you go to Ontario, and I imagine it's probably the same in the UK. I've never been to England, but I've see just seen You should call. And there's, like, houses
all off these roads. It's just like almost one giant community,
whereas you can go for miles in Saskatchewan
between communities.
Okay. So it's very barren and desolate in some places,
if you're not in the larger centers. Yeah. Well, how did you do at school? How did I do in school? Academic? Did you I was terrible in school. Especially once I became a teenager, I was just school was
the last thing I was interested in doing. I went I went to school for the social
aspect of it and not so much the learning part of it. But
I was very interested in English. I when I was younger, I used to do a lot of creative writing, short stories, poetry, and stuff like that.
And, I mean, I've gotten away from that a bit now because I've been a little busy with other things the last few years
like trying to save Canada. So
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So when you come out of school, what did you do as education? What did you do when you left school?
Tamara Leech: I was a young single mom and so I worked I started waitressing, I think, when I was
13 or 14 years old, and I I worked a lot through then. I went to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
at the age of 19, and I took the,
like, a hairdressing
and aesthetics course there. And I did that for a while. And
and,
then I went to
college in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, and I took an emergency communications program.
So I worked for, the Medicine Hat City Police for a while as a 911 operator, and then
I got into oil and gas logistics and discovered that I was really good
at putting pieces together and organizing things and
which is obviously Plays a part in your labor. Plays a huge part. And I meant when I first called Chris Barber, that's what I said. I was like, my name's Tamara.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: My background is logistics organization and administration. How can I help you guys? Now you just said you you was a single mom, did you say? Yes. I was. Yeah. When did you have your first child?
Tamara Leech: I was just turning 18 when my oldest daughter was born. Okay. Yeah. And I had and then I had 2 more daughters after that. And you had 2 more? She's got 3 daughters. Yes. I do. Yep. So then you've gone into you've gone into logistics.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: What has then changed your life? What is the moment
that that's brought you to activism?
Have you always been an activist? No. No. Was was you just living? So I can't stand before this. Was you just living? 3 children at home, working hard. That's right.
Tamara Leech: Totally oblivious. Was not interested in politics. It made my eyes glaze over as a matter of fact. And it was actually my former husband
that really got me, reading newspapers and becoming aware because that's one of the things I really admired about him was that he knew all of the stuff, you know, all the current events that were happening, and he was following politics.
And so it that really opened my eyes. I I started reading
the newspaper every day and following what's going on. This would have been probably around
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: 1998. Okay. So you saw it completely Yes.
Tamara Leech: There. And he was in he worked in oil and gas. He worked on drilling rigs throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan.
So I became very familiar with the oil field. And even back then the vilification that was starting to happen within our industry,
and really continues to this day.
And so that's really how I got involved. What do you mean village? Well, there what what started for me was I was working,
for a service company, oil and gas service company
in Medicine Hat. And
all of a sudden,
like, the whole rhetoric around
the oil and gas sector in Alberta,
it started to be come under attack.
What passed they passed 2 bills. 1 was bill c 69,
which was the No More Pipelines Act, we called it. Basically, what they did is that they were regulating pipelines
out of out of existence. Like, it's impossible to jump through all the hoops that they were laying down.
And the 2nd bill that they passed was Bill C 49, which prevented,
bitumen from Alberta to be shipped on tankers out of British Columbia.
And it was just those tankers. It wasn't the ferries. It wasn't the ships coming in carrying oil from other
countries. It wasn't the yachts. It wasn't any of those things. It was just to put a moratorium
on Alberta oil
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: leaving the coast of British Columbia. Why? Why would they be doing that?
Tamara Leech: Because they're trying to shutter shut the industry down here.
And
why? I don't know. I'd I I'm still trying to explore the why,
but especially in the last few years, they have come after
the Alberta oil industry very harshly,
yet they're still shipping it in from countries,
that have not so stellar human rights policies,
which is curious.
That's very curious.
And as I started to watch this happen, I mean, I I worked in the industry. My ex husband worked in the industry, and
Canada has one of the most efficient and environmentally
friendly
oil and gas industries in the world.
The tar sands that you hear about in Fort Mac, it's the biggest reclamation project in the world.
There's a reclaiming What's the tar sands? The tar sands, well, it's the oil sands. They're called and they're up by Fort McMurray,
and it's the oil that's actually at the surface in the sand. And so what they're doing is extracting the oil from the sand, and it's it's literally going back to nature.
The trees are coming back and the life's the wildlife is coming back, but but you'll never hear that. And that's why they called it the tar sands
because it sounds very
negative and ominous. And, I mean, that's the government that we have right now. They they make up these words
that sound very scary and very negative and
peep some people fall forward, unfortunately.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Okay. So before I go into your your toe activism,
when when when you went and found your mom, do you mind if I ask, did you find out or did she find you?
Tamara Leech: We found each other. So when I was adopted, there was no such thing as open adoptions. It would they were all very private.
And there was an organization at that time,
that I found her called I think it was called the Triad Society.
And so what the Triad Society did was when you turned 18,
you could you could write a letter to the society,
and then they would reach out to your parent
and make that connection for you. And, actually, it was my birth mom because I always knew I was adopted. They never hid it from me. You know, they were very open about it and
honestly tried to make me feel special because I was chosen. You know what I mean? Did you ever sense a different feeling from the their birth their other children? No. Was you ever treated any No. No. That's crazy. No. Never. I was very lucky. I I had a great family.
It was total chaos. There was, like, 6 of us running around. Chaos was good. It was good. Yeah. I I'm very blessed. Very blessed. So then who wrote the letter? You or your mom?
My my adopted mother wrote the letter to the Triad Society
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: and Did your did your adopted mother ask you first? Do you want Oh, yes. Yeah. She sat down and said, do you wanna admit your age? Do you wanna contact your mom? Yes. Yep. And we'd we'd always talked about that anyways. Okay. So
Tamara Leech: so, yeah, they facilitated a meeting and I'll never forget,
I was going to school in Moose Jaw at the time and we were meeting for the first time at this restaurant. And it was just kinda surreal because I walk into this restaurant,
and, of course, the the hostess says to me, you're somebody. And I said, yes. I am. And she said, what does she look like?
And I said, I don't know. I don't know.
Like, what a strange moment. Yes. Later on in my life, though, as I got to know their family, her youngest sister that I would just mention,
kept so many photos. Of your mom? Of yeah. Of whole family. Okay. And so I I did get to learn. Because, of course, when you're young, you think well why didn't they she want me and you know what was wrong with me and
and I got to learn the story a little bit better and and I I honestly just sobbed it was
my grandparents wanted to keep me,
and, she said, you know, she remembers my grandfather who was Metis. My grandmother was Cree.
Who is what? Was Metis? What's that? It is a blend of First Nations and Okay. Well, technically, French. Okay. The Metis the word Metis means first nations in French. Okay.
And,
and she said he would have some drinks some nights and start crying and, you know, why did she why didn't she let us keep her and which meant a lot to me in just in the fact that like I said, I often wondered like what was wrong with me or why she didn't want me and
and and she gave me up because she wanted me to have a good life. She was a single mom.
She had met a man,
a Scottish man in the military
and
when she found out she was pregnant, she never heard from him again. And she didn't wanna raise me in a single home, which is which is commendable.
And then, then my aunt showed me pictures of my birth mother
when she was young, and we were identical. We looked exactly the same.
And so for me growing up in a family where I didn't look like any of them, that was a very
heartfelt
moment for me. It meant a lot to me just to look like someone.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Yeah.
Tamara Leech: Strange,
Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah. But again, I've had a great life. You've had an amazing opportunity. Yeah. I see. It's a lucky it's a lucky story. It is very lucky. And, I've got great parents.
My parents
were the pilot truck that led the convoy. Chris followed them out. So to be able to have something like that,
to share something like that experience with both of my parents at 50 well, I was 49 when
when the convoy left for Ottawa is deeply, deeply meaningful.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Did you ever get ever get to meet the grandparents,
your your actual grandparents? No. They were both passed away. Passed away. Yeah. And you kept a relationship since with your mother in contact?
Tamara Leech: Interestingly enough,
I've reached out a few times since this happened,
and
I've been in Edmonton
a couple times, three times now,
where I've reached out.
One of them used to work for the government,
and
my mother worked in health services her
entire entire career.
And I I don't know if if they've brushed me off, but each time that I've reached out, I just get well, I'm busy here. This is coming up, which could be true. I don't know. But,
yeah, so I I'm not sure where they sit with all this. I do remember my aunt,
sending me a message when I was in Ottawa because she was like, oh, Tamara, are you okay? Like, we're seeing what's happening on TV. And and I and I was like, I'm fine. I said, what you're seeing on TV is not what's happening. Like, this is
it's amazing all these Canadians are coming together and it's so patriotic and so peaceful and loving but that was a tell for me of because obviously, you know, we were busy. We didn't have time to be watching the news all the time. We knew that they were vilifying us, but I didn't realize to the extent that they were vilifying
us until then when she messaged me in a panic and basically thought I was in a war zone.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Let's go on to how it all started then. Because I I don't know what I'm thinking. I'm sitting laughing because I'm I'm thinking of not laughing. I'm thinking of what your your family
sit just haven't seen you for all those years and then, boom, you're all over the the national news. There's something.
You know, I think the same because I I haven't seen my real dad since I was a kid. And when I started the English defense league, I thought he's got to be watching. Yeah. He's gotta be thinking that's my son. But, but what what was the moment you just said, you rang Chris?
What what moment was that?
Tamara Leech: What happened? Well, to back up even a bit further before then,
I started I reached out to a group in Medicine Hat in about 2018 that was doing rallies
About? About this bill c 48 and bill c 69.
Which was the The 2. Yeah. To do Basically, anti Alberta bills Yeah. Essentially. To do the work. And I joined them. I I joined them, and I started going to these rallies,
to advocate for our oil and gas industry.
You know, we have this wonderful industry,
and there are people who are losing jobs. You know, men are coming into my office crying, you know, giving me a resume, asking,
you know, please, we I need a job. It's 2 weeks before Christmas. I need a job. You know what I'm saying?
They've got families to feed. And so
I've never been able to abide a bully,
and that's how I felt
we were being treated. We were being bullied. And so I joined this group and and started that. And then, of course, COVID hit.
And I had a lot of questions
right off the bat. Of course, when COVID started, you know, we saw the videos that were coming from China, people falling over in the streets and all this horrible things.
And then I watched and then the next thing they shifted to was Italy, and it was just, like, footage of empty streets.
But something just didn't feel right. And this is the thing. Every single person that I talked
to during COVID,
whether they believe that COVID was gonna be the end of all humanity or they believed it did not exist, everyone said the same thing to
me. Something doesn't make
sense. This feels weird.
And then
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: they enclosed the borders, did they? He's coming out of China and all the Chinese are flying into Britain. It's none of it. Nothing made sense. Nothing made sense. Nothing. I mean, their actions did. We had a whole emergency preparedness program for pandemics
Tamara Leech: that I'm sure Canadian taxpayers paid 1,000,000 and 1,000,000 of dollars for that they just tossed out the window and then they just started making up their own rules as they went along. No masks masks.
You know, it was just it was mind boggling.
But
I I I noticed the propaganda right away, and I thought that was really unsettling because it was all fear based. Just it was like they just wanted to keep everybody terrified.
And then I saw the stories, I saw what hap was happening to families being torn apart.
I heard stories of
senior citizens
dying in long term care facilities,
being denied a hug,
or being denied even seeing their children. Where their family weren't allowed to see them. They were killed off in home in it. That's right. No one was allowed to come. All these terrible these terrible things happening, and it just crushed me and but it also made me very angry.
And I found people very early on, during COVID, thank God, Because you we were not getting another perspective from any of our politicians,
our leaders, or the mainstream media. It was all the same narrative.
And so I found doctor David Martin from the United States. Wow. How how good is he, man? He's amazing. I've done a podcast for him. Yeah. He's, oh, he's great. He's one of my heroes.
Doctor Zev Zelenko, the late great doctor Zev Zelenko. Channel. Give me one. Of course, Peter McCullough, Robert Malone,
one of our doctors here in Canada. That was one of the most alarming things as he was a virologist,
I believe,
doctor Byram Bridle. Yep. And then I saw what happened to him. Like, they canceled
him. Immediately fired and canceled, and then doctor Francis Christian. And all they did was come out and do a press conference after the vaccines were coming out to say like we need to stop before we start injecting our children with this and and have a closer look because we're you're gonna start injecting your children.
And they
fired
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: talked to my doctor about the in
Tamara Leech: Canada, a couple of doctors command on the press conference at the start of vaccines. Okay. That's right. And what was his name? Doctor Byron Bridle was the first Canadian doctor that I'm aware of that was canceled, and then doctor Francis Christian. What's happened with his life now? Well, he's he's retired now. But they can't he lost his job and everything after it. Yeah. He was working at the University of Saskatchewan
when this happened.
So I was very Trish Wood. I found Trish Wood. She's an amazing former CBC journalist. I had a podcast, and these were the people that were talking about the other side of the story. And so I started following them very closely.
I spent Manitoba
I spent COVID 19 months during COVID in Manitoba because I was living in Medicine Hat at the time. And when everything shut down, we lost our jobs.
We packed and went to Manitoba. My daughter lived out there, and she lived on a farm. And I wasn't gonna sit in Medicine Hat and do nothing. Like, I wanted to go be productive, so I learned how to drive a tractor and feed the cows and, you know, do lots of things and stay active and
participate in life and live my life.
And then we came back to, we moved back to Medicine Hat in October of 2021,
and,
it was a TikTok video that a friend of mine sent me that had, Chris Barber in it
advocating for
a Canada wide shutdown of the trucking industry on January 25th. Who's Chris Barber?
Chris Barber,
was he's my partner in alleged crime.
He's the gentleman that drove Big Red across Canada.
Basically, the one who started this whole movement.
So you saw him make you saw a TikTok video of a of a trucker saying, listen That's right. We need to do something. I tracked his number down and, I gave him a call and it turns out he's from the same corner of Saskatchewan that I grew up in and we we talked on the way out of our past, I think of Cross, like, I think I've served him in restaurants
before, you know, but,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: it's just funny. What a small world. What a small world for such a big country. That's right. 3 people get involved at the same time. Mhmm.
So tell me how the first conversation when you contacted him, how did it go? What what was it? Well, I I just called him up and introduced myself and,
Tamara Leech: found out where he was from, so we all immediately if you're from Saskatchewan, you know, like Saskatchewan is very special special people
and I I immediately liked him. He had a great sense of humor,
but he was very honest and
he I could already sense
these very strong leadership
abilities
within him
because I don't just jump in and do things with just anyone. I try to, you know, I I need to I need to feel in my soul
the kind of person that they are, and I liked him immediately. And I said,
well, you know, I have you know, I'm very concerned about what's going on, and I really wanna help you guys if there's anything that I can do. I said you're gonna need,
social media. You're gonna need funding.
And I said, my my,
background is logistics organization and administration,
and I I wanna help you as much as I can. And he said, absolutely. We need all the help that we can get.
So the next day, I started a GoFundMe campaign
and a Facebook page and set up an email address.
And
by the end of that first weekend,
I think we'd raised well, within 24 hours, I think we blew past a $125,000
in donations.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: And this was donation you the truckers would want in to shut down Canada?
Well, to drive to go to Ottawa. Drive to Ottawa. Yep. To shut down the city.
Tamara Leech: But we didn't wanna shut down the city.
What was what was the purpose? To gridlock the city, we never went there to shut it down, we never went there to overthrow the government,
like, all that is garbage.
We went there
because Canadians were not being hurt.
All of the stuff was happening.
People were killing themselves.
They learn it every single day. All these things terrible things were happening,
but yet nobody they weren't listening to anybody and so we drove
there to try and get an audience with someone
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: To listen. To listen to us. So people understand what was happening in Canada this time. Was there a lockdown? Was it men? Yes. Was it forced vaccination? Did you lose your job if you wasn't vaccinated? Oh, that's different. It was all different countries. All of it. Yes. Well, they were at that the catalyst for the freedom convoy.
Tamara Leech: We were all under restrictions.
We were told we weren't allowed to have people in our homes, funerals,
all of it. There was it was it was
such a dark time,
and people were really hurting.
And so the catalyst for the freedom convoy was when the transport minister and our prime minister decided after 2 years of calling the truck drivers
heroes,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Likening them to for keeping the country going? Likening them to soldiers,
Tamara Leech: you know, all this high praise, they decided that they were gonna mandate vaccinations for cross border travel.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So which means so that would mean that any truck driver who's traveling across Canada to deliver food or deliver resources across the country has to then be vaccinated. Has to provide, produce a vaccine lose their job. Or not. Yes. Was that the bit that got all the truck drivers going? Yes. Okay. It was. Yeah. And that's what Chris had been talking about on his social media. The whole time prior to it? Yeah. This is coming? Yep. It was warning. Yeah. Okay. And so that's why he's like, this is crap. I think
Tamara Leech: was January 14th that was supposed to be implemented.
Yep.
And so
the truck driver said this is enough. Enough is enough.
Like, we can 2 weeks to flatten the curve.
2 weeks to flatten the curve. 2 years everyone's locked up getting forced vaccinations. They tasered a 16 year old kid in this city
for skating by himself on an outdoor
rink, and then they sanded all the outdoor rinks.
They took police tape and wrapped up all the playgrounds.
You know, you're told to stay inside.
Some in some of the provinces, they were seriously considering not letting you in a grocery store if you weren't vaccinated.
Like, it was
it was surreal. And even looking back now, and then we had these conversations at this conference over the weekend, like,
it's almost hard to believe that it it happened.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: The lengths they went to
and the and the fact the public allowed it.
Tamara Leech: And that was, I think, one of the most disappointing things.
Tammy Peterson
Yes. Put it
perfectly.
She said they weaponized duty.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: They weaponized?
Tamara Leech: Duty. K. So they advocated for you to snitch on your neighbors if there was vehicles in your Hundreds of thousands of people reported in Britain. And they did. They did. I I worked for a municipality in Manitoba,
and I took those calls.
Right?
At Christmas time
and I They weaponized the public against each other. They did. Yeah. I I I call it the pandemic of the Karens
because that's what it felt like right?
I mean we went from
Canada is a very polite. We're all very polite
and
somewhere in the midst of all this,
the government
led us into a place where we forgot our humanity.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: And screamed at each other.
Tamara Leech: And screamed at each other. And attacked each other. And cursed at each other. And shamed each other and bullied each other. That's not the Canada that I grew up in.
And that's not the Canada that I want my grandchildren to grow up in. Do you see that as purposely done by the government? Absolutely. 100%.
It's textbook.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: That yeah. But that's what we just looked at in our recent documentary.
Tamara Leech: I can't wait to see it, by the way.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So okay. So let's get there. You see Chris. You see a video being planned.
You contact him. In 24 hours, you've raised a £125,000
on GoFundMe. What was that money for? To support the truckers? Yes. It was. For diesel?
Tamara Leech: Food. To get them, yeah, food,
fuel, lodgings if they needed. You know, the truck drivers have bunks, so they typically sleep in their trucks anyways,
but sometimes it's nice to sleep in a bed, sometimes you need a shower, so, you know, that was what that money was was to go for. And as we continue to raise money, like,
Chris and I and rest of them had a discussion, and we thought, well, there's good like, you know, there's gonna be extra. So
we made a collective decision that anything that we raised over and above what was gonna be required to
refund the truck drivers was to go to our veterans.
Because our veterans in Canada have also been vilified and forgotten. I mean, our own prime minister,
stood up in a in a press conference one day or a town hall and a veteran asked him, you know, like, if you support the veterans, why are you taking us to court to fight us for these benefits?
And his response was, well, you're asking for more than we can give.
Because we're busy giving everyone everyone else. That's what he means. Exactly. We're busy giving But these are people that have sacrificed their lives and served our country. But and to see them being so disrespected
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: is is heartbreaking. I'm guessing that would have aligned all the veteran. Well, the veterans would have been aligned anyway. But then so tell me that first
that first journey.
What's it look like?
How many vehicles?
How quickly did it go bang?
Tamara Leech: So Chris lives in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, which is about 2 and a half hours east of where I live. So he got up on the morning of 24th. We already had I was planning more so before this? Did you tell people we're doing it next week? We're doing it next month? Yeah. We set the date that we were going to be leaving. How far in advance? The routes.
Sorry? How far in advance did you set that date? We How much time We planned this in 10 days. So it's 10 days notice? Yep. 10 days. I I started the GoFundMe. I called them on 13th, got the infrastructure
portion set in place on 14th, and he picked me up in Red Cliff, Alberta on 24th.
Go on and talk me through it. So What's it look like? It was,
well, we didn't know what to expect. No. Because you definitely you you wouldn't. It's like demonstration day. Right. How many people gonna walk around the corner. That's right. And so the con the convoy left because we had road captains throughout Canada, usually about 2 road captains per province. What's a road captain?
They were just in charge of certain areas of organization. Organized truckers organized for their certain regions. That's right. So they left, Vancouver Island or on the 23rd, and they came
North, Northern BC, Northern Alberta,
and they met us in Medicine Hat on the 24th.
And so when I drove out to truckers restaurant in Red Cliff, I mean, I get out there and there is people everywhere
and Canadian flags everywhere
and all these people ready to join.
And,
and I remember driving in because I'd I'd never met Chris personally yet. I've I've both seen him on Zoom as we were talking obviously every day
trying to get this thing organized and,
and I saw him and I was shocked because he's so tall.
With the first time I met him and I went to give him a hug it was just kind of like you know, it was it was awkward because I'm not very tall.
But and not only is he physically, like, have this huge presence, but he has, you know, he's just got this huge huge soul too, this big boisterous
friendly bear hug kind of thing.
And,
and we didn't know what it was gonna look like. We drove through Medicine Hat and
there was people lined the whole way and on the overpasses
and lots of support.
And even as we drove towards Swift Current, I I mean, the Hutterites on the side I found out later,
like, even on the even on these side roads in the middle of nowhere,
there was, you know, people standing there. But a lot of the Hutterites would go to an intersection Wait for the what? The Hutterites. What are they?
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: What's the Hutterites? They're like,
Tamara Leech: sort of like the Amish. They're kind of like their own community. So they they set up their own communities here. They come out to school? Agriculture,
which is which is very telling because they don't get involved in stuff like that. Okay. They do themselves to themselves. Yeah. They do. They stay very apolitical.
But they were, like, driving to an intersection watching us go by, holding signs, getting in their vehicles, and driving, like, 2 miles down to the next intersection to watch us go by again.
And so we got to Swift Current Saskatchewan, it was the same thing. We had to stop there and met 100, probable 1,000 probably of supporters.
Same thing through all of Saskatchewan.
And it was funny because as we're going towards getting farther east towards Manitoba,
I remember Chris and I talking like,
you know, we live in a place that has been divided
east versus west.
And we will ask it though. Yes. And so, like, they don't want our dirty oil, and they think we're just a bunch of redneck kalebillies or so. This is what we've been told, but it was all a lie.
So we're getting closer to the Manitoba border and we're like, jeez, like, what's gonna happen? It's probably gonna start thinning out now, like, they might be more liberal than the farther east we go and maybe don't agree with what we're doing.
And then we pulled into Headingley, Manitoba.
And it was amazing.
Miles and miles from Headingley, which is which is on the western outskirts of, Winnipeg
all the way past Steinbach, Manitoba,
and it was lined with people. We had to slow down to probably like 40 kilometers an hour because they were like right out on the highway
bringing us food and coffee and like throwing chips in the window and
and,
it was just so surreal because
there's been so much division
created and perpetuated by our government and our politicians and the people that are supposed to be leading and uniting us.
I looked out my window
and I saw these beautiful native dancers drumming,
and then I saw
4 Sikh gentlemen right beside them.
And then I saw these Hutterite women with their little kids holding signs that said thank you truckers.
And nuns in full habits.
And I realized the magnitude of what was happening because
all of the labels were dropped.
It didn't matter what color your skin was.
It didn't matter what God you worshiped.
It didn't matter what your income bracket was or what your geographical
location was.
Canadians
on their own dropped all those labels, and we were just Canadians.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Now you understand that's why they hate you. Yeah? Yes. I do. You understand that that's why you I do. We're gonna get to where it's going to, but you understand that you've So when you unify people like that. It's so emotional and
What are you thinking at that time? What what what what actually if you're coming in you don't know you've you've turned up, there's 1,000, you're seeing all this.
Tamara Leech: I thought the Canada
that I love and that I believed in is still here.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: The soul is still here. Is it because they've made you fit before before this, in the 2 years before this, in fact, probably in the last 20, 30 years before this,
had you been made to feel
isolated as Canadians? Had you been made to feel,
not pro no pride in being Canadian?
Tamara Leech: Right after our prime minister was elected, he came right out and said Canada is the first post national state and he also said
that can't that Canada has no core identity.
Okay. So Don't get me started on that because I will drop some pretty heavy language,
but Canada has a core identity.
And just because some silver spoon fed pinhead in Ottawa
says we don't, doesn't mean that we don't.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: And on that day you would have felt it you weren't turning up. Yes.
Tamara Leech: Everyone felt it. We were shocked. I mean the shots just shocked at the magnitude of
the support and and that continued all the way, like, we're going through and there's
Canadians, so Canadian, bonfires in the ditches and
fireworks are going off over top of us and
people were on their knees praying on the side of the road.
They stood out there for hours because we were late. We were always hours late. We were never on schedule one time,
and they stayed there and they waited for us to come,
and I've never seen so many Canadian flags in my life.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Did you get nervous?
Not no. In the sense of
Not really. What we're doing here? Not not in the sense of, look, you're you're usually leading this year. Yeah. Did you at that have ever saw that time think, what do we do now?
Tamara Leech: Oh, yes. Well, Chris and I talked about that on the way out. Yeah. What do we do? I remember having this conversation. I said, like,
you know, we had a ground and, a ground team in Ottawa that was getting infrastructure in place there because you need
protest permits, which I think is funny. Like, why would you ask permission to have a protest
or pay for permission to have a protest because it's a protest. But anyways, that's the that's the rule, so whatever.
I'm just getting some stuff in place like rooms or billets where they could stay and stuff like that where they they could have showers and all that stuff. So we knew that that was happening in Ottawa and that was getting put in place, but we still,
we needed to have a plan for when we got there. Like, I mean how far is this journey?
36,
100 kilometers
from here to Ottawa. So the truck 5 days.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Wow. Okay. So for 5 days and you're going into different cities and it's getting bigger and larger. Yeah. And it's just growing.
Yeah. It works. Wow. What a 5 days it must have been. It was You must have been feeling. It was very emotional. It was a very, it was it was very
Tamara Leech: proud.
I was just so proud of everyone.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: And therefore and and I guess, like, that you've hit it at the right everyone's felt
alone,
set separated. I thought we were going crazy. Well, they made you feel like That's right. You were a minority of thought you were fringe.
Whereas in reality That's right. Not acceptable. Yeah. Whereas when you turn up like this, you're realizing you're the majority. That's right. And the beautiful thing about it, Tommy, was that
Tamara Leech: nobody organized these people that came out. Like, they didn't phone up their communities. Just for coming. They they all of a sudden, they just got up off their couches
and came to the side of the road or an overpass
and saw all these people there, and you just nailed it. They they felt like they weren't alone and they weren't going crazy because all of these other people
felt the same way.
1000 and thousands and thousands of them.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: What was the response?
As this is growing,
Tamara Leech: as you're traveling there, was there a media response to it? Oh, yes. Of course. They brought all they brought all the ists and phobes immediately. Straight away. They're racist. Before we even left, they were calling us racists.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: What have racists got to do? Stand up against COVID? Well, that's what they're go to though. I know. It's a dismissal tactic. Yeah. Of course. I I've I've been there the whole
Tamara Leech: And,
and I I remember chat chatting with Chris and I just kind of said, like, the jokes on them, like, I'm indigenous.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Yeah. Yeah.
Tamara Leech: Right? I'm I'm,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: indigenous and Scottish. Even that doesn't matter anymore though. No. It doesn't matter. You can be a you're the you're the black white supremacist.
Tamara Leech: Yes. Exactly. That's exactly right. That's what they because again the labels Apparently there was a lot of those in Ottawa as well.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So as this is growing, the so the media straightaway just
Tamara Leech: attacked. Yeah. The mainstream media. The mainstream media. We did do some
we did do some media with some,
well, not supporters, but less biased, which was nice.
We Trish Woods, the lady I referred to earlier,
got a hold of us right away and,
Is she a journalist? She she was a former CBC journalist. Okay. And so
she
saw much like Rodney Palmer who is also a former CTV and CBC. Those are like 2 of the main mainstream
channels in in Canada.
And,
and they both were well aware of the propaganda that was happening.
So anyway, she started a podcast to start because she's like, why isn't anyone talking about this? And Chris and I started going on her show every couple days. She did a little thing called Coffee with the Convoy
so that she could try and get the truth out. And she's lovely. She's absolutely a lovely human being and,
she's a true journalist.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: How quickly did they
you used social media? Yes, we did. Facebook? Yep.
Tamara Leech: How quickly did Day twine clamp down on you? Oh, I think we were shadow banned almost immediately.
Almost immediately. As a matter of fact, I had my own Twitter account,
and I was tweeting from it on the way,
and I've got screenshots on my phone of where like pages of screenshots where you could see that they were trying to hack into your phone or into your account. Yeah. They tried to hack into our GoFundMe
account.
I remember chatting with the gentleman that set up our website, and he called me in tears one day because he like, they they had to move the server to a bigger server and to a more secure server because he he Telling her attack. He was crying on the phone. He's like, I've never seen this before, like, the cyber attacks that were coming. And he's like, this is our own government.
Trying to shut down lawful lawful legitimate. They shut off all the CCTV cameras all along the highway because they were trying to tell people that I think there was a tweet that came out of what's it gonna be? Twelve trucks are gonna show up or the 12 trucks full of white supremacists or something that's ridiculous like that. How many miles was it as far as the eyes could see?
Oh. Truckers. In oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. We actually
in Ontario,
pulled over.
One time we could pull over because you don't still pull over a convoy if you have to use the bathroom, but we did pull over one day and I remember getting out because I couldn't see behind me. Mhmm.
And so we pulled over, got out, stretched our legs, and I looked and literally that's all you could see.
When we got into Arnprior,
which is a community just outside of Ottawa,
On Friday night, we were a 100 kilometers long.
Wow.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: What a sight.
Tamara Leech: What a sight. And then when And what I see? Footage after,
like, it
and and
kudos to Chris Barber. And this is why I know that
some higher power was definitely involved. We felt we all felt it. We were guided. We were protected.
He led the world's
largest convoy
ever all across the country
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: with no injuries, no accidents. Violations, no trouble.
Tamara Leech: Which is a miracle in it in and of itself. In the middle of winter in Northern Ontario around Lake Superior,
that's a that's a feat.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: What else is it just shows as well which this which is why they would have wanted to belittle it and play it down. It shows the power of the people still have. That's right.
That if you wanted, if people When you say no. Come together.
So tell me then,
what happens next? You've got this it's a 100 kilometers long.
You're traveling in. There's a buildup in the wait for you getting there. Yes. Politicians are attacking you, I remember. Yes. That's right.
Which politicians? Was Justin Trudeau coming in? Oh, Justin Trudeau ran away.
Tamara Leech: So I think the day after we got on the road, I think it was the day after all of a sudden all of a sudden,
he's come to he's been exposed to somebody. He's he's triple jabbed at this time, but he's been exposed to somebody with COVID, so he's gonna have to go into quarantine. Yeah. He's gone and headed till he's And then, a couple days later, he skirted out of Ottawa with his family for his safety. Now remember, this is the most peaceful and polite protest of all time. We're on the we're on videos every day, so There was music. There was families. People bringing kids. They're bringing kids stuff, bouncy castles, and people making it for for families. Yes.
Senior citizens. I remember. Boot camp people, children, like there was every demographic of any possible thing that that was out there supporting us. So they skirted him out of Ottawa for his own safety. Oh my gosh. And then, of course, the threats came.
Jagmeet Singh, who's the leader of the NDP party, was calling us white supremacists
and fascists and,
like, just ridiculous stuff, which is which is abhorrent
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: because we're all How do I do? Middle class working Canadian citizens. How do I feel when when you're standing up for something like that as a normal woman, as a mother, you've lived a normal life. Yep. Yeah. You haven't been involved in politics or any sort of groups like this. And all of a sudden, you've got the leading representatives of your nation
labeling all of you in this way?
Tamara Leech: 2 things about that. First of all, it was very frustrating, but it was also very disheartening.
Because I believe if you lead a country,
you don't just lead the people that have the same ideologies and beliefs as you. You are leading everyone.
And as a leader, your job is to bring in together and unite your people, and to protect their rights and their freedoms. And he did the opposite, and he's done the opposite from day 1.
Second to that, I was involved in a political party, and this was another thing that we did. So because of what we were seeing within
happening between the east Eastern Canada and Western Canada,
I became a part of the a call for separation. There's a call Well, it was not separation at the time. What we were seeking for was basically the same thing that Quebec has. We were called the Maverick Party and we are a Western independence party
and I sat on the board of directors for that. So what we were seeking was greater autonomy over the West and a change to a Confederation
to give us more equal rights. Basically, the same thing that Quebec has been doing for decades decades decades. Quebec is the French part. Yes. It is. Yeah. And they've got it's quite separated.
Yes. They have their own map. They they have a there's a lot of special things in Quebec. And and this was one of my the first tells for me. This was my first big epiphany
just prior to hitting Winnipeg.
Is it was about day 3 of organizing
and I'd been sent home because of COVID, Omicron or whatever.
And so I'm sitting at my table and I've got 2 screens, 2 monitors on my desk and my laptop
and we had chats with all the road captains. So I'm I'm chatting
with the Quebec road captain
and I've got Google translate because I am not French And so, like, we're chatting, so I copy paste, translate, paste back, and they had a 1,000 trucks ready to go. And that's when I first thought this has all been a goddamn lie.
Like What what's been the lie? The division amongst the 2 of you about about okay. And the rest of Canada. Okay. Especially the west. Because it suits the government to keep you provided. It does. Okay. It does. And when this hit off, you realized that possibly you wasn't as provided as you fall. So so I I sat on this board. We built a federal political party from nothing
and but on a few days after we got into Ottawa, I quit.
I resigned my position. Why? Because I did not believe I didn't want to separate from Canada anymore.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Okay. You had your own little Yes. I did. Okay. Your own little moment. Yeah. Of a united Canada. Yes.
Tamara Leech: Because we were seeing a united Canada. Okay. Yeah. Right? One of the first the most profound things we saw when we first got in there was
something I never thought I'd live to see, but there was a photo that somebody sent me from down on the ground in Ottawa
of a Quebecois man holding,
the flood his Quebec flag and an Alberta man holding the Alberta flag
shaking hands.
And if you're from Canada, from the east or the west That's unheard of. It's
it's unheard of. Mhmm. But it was, like, such
a such a moment.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So that changed your outlook?
Tamara Leech: Totally. Yeah. It does change my outlook. It did change my outlook because I I saw
who we are and not what the media and the politicians tell us that we are. I felt it. Tell me the first time you saw yourself in the media.
Jeez. The first time I saw myself in the media. And how did it feel? Probably And what were they saying? The first press conference.
First press conference that we did.
They questioned my heritage,
well, they used all the language. That's the thing.
I noticed
in
2016, I really is when I really noticed a shift in the mainstream media
and
how biased they are. Because I was watching
Canadian news talking about the American election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
And I I was the woman who got up every morning, had a coffee, sat down, watch the whole newsreel and then just let it play as I got ready
And what I saw happening
was
I'd see them talking about Hillary Clinton, and it was just always very pleasant. And she was this and she was that. And, you know, yeah. And the polls say this 95%.
She's 95%.
And then they'd start talking about Donald Trump and their whole fate. Like, they'd get this smarmy,
arrogant look on their face.
The tone of their voice changed,
the things that they said, like the descriptors that they use changed, and I and I just saw I know it's been going on for years years before this,
but that's when it became very obvious to me.
So as far back as 2016,
I was starting to become very wary of what I was reading
in the news
and and and in the headlines and
so I was not at all shocked.
They again, ironically, the first thing they did was question my my indigenous heritage,
which I Which would mean try and say you're lying? Yes. Okay. Yes. Which if I would been out there for any other type of protest.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Could you imagine questioning
reverse the roles? Imagine yeah.
Exactly.
So they try and
did the media attack you? Mhmm.
We what how how was it
again before this? You're just a mother. Yeah? Yeah. How is it? You try to do good, you try to bring people together, you try to have this convoy
Tamara Leech: to then be reading these negative things in national media for yourself? How do One thing that you need to know about the Canadian mainstream
media is that I think it was around
2018,
somewhere in there. I'm probably wrong.
Justin Trudeau announced that he was gonna start funding He funds them. And he the media. Yes. So he's controlling the media. I'm I'm I remember it. Media. Now also you have to remember what's coming out right
now, which is ironic because they accused us of being,
they they accused us of having Russian interference. And
Yes. Russian, Israeli. Yep. But but, ironically, what's all coming out now is that they were
actually being influenced where there's a whole Chinese foreign interference investigation. Well,
it's a farce of an investigation,
that's happening right now. We it just came out a few weeks ago. We now know for sure there's sitting MPs
in the House of Commons right now that have wittingly wittingly,
been colluding with hostile foreign governments,
that are a detriment to the interests of Canada and to Canadians. But we're not allowed to know who they are.
But yet if you donated $10 to the Freedom Convoy,
your your home address, your phone number, your names were all,
hacked
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: and released to the media. Let's get on to that as well.
The the first thing I wanna do is when the media attacking you, you got 3 daughters. Yeah?
I'd just like to know what's going on home? When you're doing this, what's going only reason why I asked this, because I always think of what goes on. I remember the chaos going on when I'm running around doing what I'm doing.
My children are affected. My family are affected.
They're worried. They're fearful for their mom.
What's going on in your home life? I
Tamara Leech: did a FaceTime call with my 3 daughters the night before we left because I wasn't even planning to go. Like, I wasn't even planning to go at first. Right? Right? Like, I was just gonna stay back and do what I could from home, and it was the Friday before we left on the Monday
when I when I realized I could I had to go. I didn't have a choice.
So
I had a phone call or a FaceTime with my 3 daughters
and just explained to them because there was already some terrible things that were being said about me.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Do you mind if I ask what?
Tamara Leech: Just horrible name calling,
sexual stuff,
you know, the usual,
innuendos. And so I had to have a conversation with them and just let them know that they were probably gonna be reading some pretty awful things about their mom,
which they did. My
my daughter who was 19 at the time
after I was
in jail
woke up to read a headline that I had hung myself in prison.
So I'm not done with the Vancouver Times yet.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: I asked the reason I asked is I think it's important that people understand
because what goes on behind.
Tamara Leech: What goes on in people needs people see figureheads, but they need to see a family lady, a mother. They my family, they supported me. I mean, my oldest daughter is is very much like me, like, stubborn and willful and sometimes outspoken.
But her her belief system is
the opposite of mine.
And so
we we navigate that,
very carefully. Like, we just know there's a point where we just have to stop talking, and and we do that very successfully. I respect her opinion.
I mean, that's where where I've always tried to come from in this whole thing is we can disagree with each other, but we can do it in a respectful way. And if you saw any of our videos that we were putting out on the way to Ottawa or before, that's what we talked about.
Peace, being respectful,
coming from a place of love,
and so
I addressed this in the last video that I did because I was pretty sure that I was gonna be arrested the next day.
And I addressed the f two zero flags, which I've never been a fan of. I understand
that emotion behind it.
But I I said, you know, he has 3 kids.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: That's a true dose. That has that name. You're thinking of his children seeing it. And I have 3 kids.
Tamara Leech: And now I know what my kids have to wake up and see. About yourself.
And so I've always been
coming from a place of respect. Trust me, no one has
been more angry at times and frustrated with that man or wished he would resign than me.
But I try to still
give him what he doesn't give Canadians, and that's respect
and maybe an ounce of compassion
even if sometimes I don't think he deserves it.
But
for me to be angry at him all the time
or
is only gonna hurt me,
and I just don't wanna live that way. I just don't wanna be I'm not an angry person, and I don't wanna live in that headspace.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Okay. Let me take you back to the convoy then. Yeah?
We're on the convoy. You've have a GoFundMe.
Mhmm. It went through the roof. Right? Through the roof $10,000,000.
Tamara Leech: Well, twice.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: $10,000,000
was donated.
What happened?
They took it? They stole it? They did. They refunded it. Well Did they refund it? Yeah. Just It became very apparent
Tamara Leech: very early on
that they were dragging GoFundMe was dragging their feet.
I contacted my bank, and we had regular communication with GoFundMe, but I contacted my bank because I didn't know. Like, I mean,
I'd never done anything. I I expected they might raise
$20,000. Right? Yeah.
So, anyways, I'd set it up to go into a savings account that I had that I've been absolutely obliterated during COVID
and actually it was it was either 3¢ or 13¢ overdrawn
and I deposited 13¢ because I didn't even wanna be accused of using 13¢.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Because you'll get this money. We'll get on to that as well. Exactly. You face accusations?
Tamara Leech: So yes. So I contacted my bank. I kept I went in and saw my bank. I I,
I I let them know that there was gonna be, you know, a large deposit coming in. I said, without a doubt, it's gonna be flagged as, you know, because whatever.
I I contacted them after the money the donation started coming in
and had them remove that account right off my bank card because I didn't even wanna accidentally buy myself a Tim Hortons coffee out of that bank account.
And then when we got to Ottawa, Chris and I went into the bank and I made him a cosigner
so that it wasn't I was you didn't feel the pressure of the accusations because you know they're coming. Yeah. Gone. Because I wanted to be open. Yeah. Yeah. I've been the whole time. That's why I started making videos. I it was Canadians money, and
they had a say and I wanted the whole process to be open and transparent
and so that's why I started making the videos. Okay. It was to keep them, you know, abreast of what was happening as it was happening.
And so I I I every step of the way, I was in touch with TD Bank. I immediately formed the finance committee because I was like, holy crap. This is a lot of money.
We need a committee that can help manage this. We had a a chartered accountant
in Medicine Hat that was that was an adviser to that committee.
And,
and we were in communications with GoFundMe,
still dragging their feet. Like, they'd send an email with 3 questions. We'd answer it. They'd send back 5 more. We'd answer those. I'm trying to blow you. So anyways, long story short, as we're on the way to Ottawa, the finance committee would
would text me and they'd be like, you gotta go you gotta bump the GoFundMe up another million.
And I and it was just phenomenal. We were taking in a $1,000,000
in donations a day. Wow. Which is unheard of.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Now that you you know, that shows a level of support. It yes. Yes. Shows the public backing.
Tamara Leech: And so and and I and I remember saying to Chris, like, it's so bittersweet. Like, on one hand, it was just so, like, exciting, like, holy cow. But on the other hand, like, I I've felt nauseous
because when you start talking about that kind of money Didi. The lawyers are coming.
People are coming for it.
And if there's one thing that I've learned out of this whole thing is that
the love of money truly is the root of all evil,
and it creates an ugliness in people.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Let's go down that route there. Yeah? Because
Tamara Leech: 10,000,000 got donate. Yeah. Did it? Didn't did they seize it? Yes, they did. They they canceled it. Well How how GoFundMe ended up releasing $1,000,000.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Release £1,000,000 to you. You have 9,000,000 they send back.
Tamara Leech: Well, they actually ended up because what happened was we had a meeting with, we had a meeting with GoFundMe on a Thursday night And
the next
And the next morning, we find out Someone's come. The city of Ottawa,
and the police had called them and basically said we're terrorists.
Right? Domestic terrorists. So they froze the campaign.
Then GoFundMe says, it gets better.
We're going to re fund anyone that reaches out to us and requests a refund. So we're not refunding it but you've got to reach out so we will then they'll get every detail Because a lot of people don't. However,
God bless the Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
He stood thin. He stood up and said, no, you're not. That's fraud.
And if you do that, I'm gonna have you investigated for fraud. Who's going to find me based in Florida?
I've I wanna say Delaware. Okay. But maybe it was for anyway, somewhere down there. Okay. So anyways, all of a sudden, they could refund everyone. And
even though they'd released a million that was immediately seized by the government of Ontario,
They refunded that 1,000,000, so it actually cost GoFundMe.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: A million. Yeah.
They seized
the £1,000,000 as well. Yes. When you say they designated
you as terrorists, explain that. You what have you done
as a movement
other than drive up the road?
What have you done that stays in an age where it's terrace? You tell me.
I don't know if I'm still asking myself that. This was at a time when they I remember it. It correct me if I'm
Tamara Leech: wrong. You're getting into the city and they're trying to work out what to do to stop it. Yeah. And that's when they invoked the emergency. They invited us into the city. Originally. We worked with the police right before we even left. We contacted police departments all over every community we were going through. The police in Ottawa
escorted us up onto Wellington and onto the side roads and showed us where to park.
So
I I don't know why that why I think the reason that they wanted us, well, Christopher Freeland even had in their notes, label them as terrorists and seize their assets.
Our Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
wanted to label everyday working class,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: middle class Canadians as terrorists and seize their assets. And what this is about is the only way they can stop this is by labeling
new assets. And the reason they need to seize the assets is a movement like this with £10,000,000
behind them can really bring about change. Mhmm. Then they can't stop. We raise more money than all of those political parties combined. And they can't stop you then. That's right. You see, in these sorts of movements, they'll attack any any actual any money because
they know that if you've got money, you can survive. You can continue your work, which is why they always
Tamara Leech: slander or smear around money. So we started working on the GiveSendGo
because we were pretty sure the writing was on the wall with GoFundMe. So we set up a GiveSendGo account and,
we raised even more money in less time. Yeah. We raised I think it worked out to 12,000,000
Canadian.
Wow. Because of what happened was a lot of people were very angry
about what happened. So some people that didn't donate to the first one donated to second one, and some people that donated to the first one ended up doubling their donation
to the second one. So
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Okay. And this is all am I right? This money, the freezing,
the debt declaring you terrorists, this is all going on
at the same time as your convoy is on its way there. That was when we were there. Yeah. Okay. So that was happening after we arrived. Yeah. You've arrived. Money's come frozen.
They're obviously, they're trying to work out what are we doing? How do we stop this? Yes. How do we stop this? Not how do we facilitate their democratic right to peacefully protest.
How do we stop it? Yes.
What happens?
Tamara Leech: So what happened with the gift set so they froze the million, with the GoFundMe. They also so we Chris and I had also opened a second bank account because we did have e transfer donations that were coming in
because I didn't realize a lot of people weren't comfortable with GoFundMe.
So we had opened up that. So we created a second account so that we could keep them separate.
And, Chris, we were also joint signatories on that account.
So they froze the million, they ended up freezing
that other account also.
And
with the gifts and go, gosh, it's been a while now so I got I can't remember all the fine details, but they ended up refunding the money because they were the government was threatening to seize that also.
And give Sendoh a credit to Jacob Wells, the founder and his sister founded this organization,
and he said, no. You're not. His first
responsibility
he always felt was to the donors to ensure that the money that the donors,
were donating went to what it was
What what was that? For. Right?
Because with it with GoFundMe,
the one detail I forgot was they were gonna refund
who to whoever wanted it and whatever was left over, they were going to give to the charity of their choice.
So Jacob Wells stood up and said, no. You you can't take this money. It doesn't belong to you. And they actually went to court over it, and I remember Keith Wilson telling me that,
one of the lawyers stood up in this hearing and said, well, you can't just refund that money.
And
Jacob Wells said, just watch me. By the time you have your paperwork done, it'll be back in their accounts. And he was right. Fair play to him. Yeah. So he did refund it. There was some that was coming. It was quite good. Stopped you. Yeah. They still stopped your ability
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: to have that money to support your campaign. Right. And I'm guessing you're gonna have a problem. The people have put up
Tamara Leech: water jugs down around
where the protest was and Canadians were donating cash.
So there was some money that they were able to get out to the truckers
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: for stuff. Thank goodness. Right? What was the story about them stealing
diesel?
Tamara Leech: Oh, yes.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: The raid. Yeah. What tell me about that. What was that? I believe it was February
Tamara Leech: 5th or February the 6th.
We had a location called Coventry.
It's a baseball stadium and there was like a so we had kinda little outposts outside of the city. Coventry was another one where trucks could park on the How many in the city? Oh, 3 oh, at this point we were there for just over a week. Okay. So you've gone in there. It took a week to get there. You've been there a week. Yeah.
And,
all that they had snipers on the roof.
Crazy.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: They were stealing food. They were stealing When did you say stealing food? When was Dave? The the police. The police were coming in. They had armed snipers on the roof whilst Jews are having campfires and barbecues. That's right. And
Tamara Leech: and,
yes, snipers they were stealing food, they were telling people
that if they donated, if they brought fuel or diesel in that they could be charged with mischief,
which was, but this is the most Canadian thing ever just like the Fringementorney
thing. Justin Trudeau comes out and says these are a small fringe minority with unacceptable views.
Well now there's bumper stickers, t shirts, hats, like we owned it and the same thing happened with the jerry cans. So
they make this big stink about,
if missed being charged with mischief if you brought fuel in for the truckers, but
all of a sudden everyone was coming downtown with jerry cans. Some of them were full of water, some of them were just empty,
they had a jerry can fashion show on the on the stage
and that is just so Canadian,
you know, like you think that you can insult us but
when you own it, you just flip it right on its head and it loses all of Power. The power of the squadron. Exactly.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So they yeah. And and and the point was there was jerry cans to keep the truckers going but the police were seasonal.
Yes. Seasonal to diesel. Seasonal to diesel. And any ability any ability to keep them there, keep them warm, keep them fed, keep them demonstrating. Yes. They were clamping down. And
Tamara Leech: the day after that happened,
so all of the road captains had a liaison with either the Ottawa Police Service or the Ontario Provincial Police.
So we're all the road captains and us were all in a meeting and the Quebec road captain
gets a phone call from her liaison who is an OPP officer
and he apologizes for 9 minutes straight.
They didn't know the raid was happening. They found out on Facebook that it was happening.
The they were being controlled from higher ups. Above them. They weren't being honest with other the other agencies that were there to help them. So what resulted in that was the Ontario Provincial Police officers actually pulled out of the city and said, like, you're we're on your own. We'll we'll work on the outside,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: but after being treated like that. So those in house fallings out going on within the police because the police the normal Ontario police wouldn't have supported these actions. Exactly. So they went above them and just Yes. Who who would who would have been who would have been that was doing that?
Tamara Leech: Federal government. Oh, definitely the government. A lot of, really interesting information came out at the Public Order Emergency Commission that followed in the fall of 2022.
So in Canada,
when you invoke the emergency measures or emergencies act, which is the replacement to the old war measures act Is it and and Trudeau done this at the time when you're all in the city. So when this is going on, he he invoked the Emergency Act which is for war. No? Yes. It it what it is, it's to be invoked if there's a threat to national security,
espionage,
sabotage,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: terrorism. And there's loads of truckers having barbecues with their families so he invokes the war. Bouncy castles. Bouncy castles.
So he he invoked basically a war act. Yes.
So so they had to do an an inquiry into they're required by legislation to have an inquiry in it. Which powers what powers does that give them? What what when he invokes that, what extra powers did that give them? Essentially martial law. Okay. That's what Essentially martial law. Yeah.
Tamara Leech: Because they couldn't get tow truck drivers. They were trying to get tow tow truck
companies to come in and move all these trucks out and
oddly enough they were all refusing, they even called Buffalo, they were trying to get them to come out of the States and they're like,
sorry we have COVID we can't come, You know? It's good, isn't it? Yeah. So that was another thing that they well and that was one of the, things they said at the inquiry was that they they needed these tow trucks to come. So the Emergencies Act gave them that power to to do that.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Okay. So
what happens then?
Tamara Leech: After the raid, well, that just I don't know. They just moved on, but it became very apparent that what
was happening to us from a municipal, provincial, and federal government level as well as the bureaucracy
within the law enforcement agencies
is that they were trying to provoke us into a fight. They were really trying to provoke violence, and it started with name calling,
and then it started with we're gonna come and take your food and then we're gonna come and take your fuel and
they and then they bought up all the empty hotel rooms in the area so that other protesters and supporters couldn't come and then all of a sudden they're gonna come take your pets and then they're gonna come and take your children.
So this just sorts gradually they were turning up the heat. It's trying to get a violent response so that they could just find They're actually They were talking about the Emergencies Act before we even got to Ottawa. So they need to provoke you into a reaction of some sort of violence so then they can justify what they've just done. And to the credit of Canadians
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: You didn't advise.
Tamara Leech: Never.
It was just Again, we've just this is exactly what we've just shown on our last demonstration. Yeah. There's a demonstration going on with ordinary citizens for 2 weeks, and then one day they said crush it. Yeah. They came in. And you could see, like, at the beginning of the protest, I mean, I wasn't outside a lot of the in the early days because I was always in meetings because of the obviously the financial
the financial stuff and all that, all all these meetings with lawyers and and everything and Chris was out there a lot more than I was. But in the beginning, the officers that were on the ground, a lot of them were not just sympathetic, but supportive of our cause, and they were very friendly.
And as the weeks were on, you we these guys were getting pulled out. And new guys were getting And new guys were coming in.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: They were bringing in the squad to cause confrontation.
Yes.
Did the confrontation come? Did they seize?
Obviously, look, I'm just I heard they seized bank accounts. Yes. I heard they seized vehicles. They were gonna take people's trucks that they earned their livelihood. Yes. What they want. And sell them. Yep. Is this alright?
Tamara Leech: Is this true? It is true. Also their insurance, their their vehicle insurance, their business insurance. They canceled their insurances.
Well, they tried to. I don't know if they ever actually did cancel it, but they were talking about it. But they definitely froze bank accounts. And when they say froze bank accounts,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: people just involved in these protests had their bank accounts froze. Yeah. People,
Tamara Leech: not just people that were there, but you have to understand that they froze bank accounts without parliamentary oversight
and no order from a judge,
and actually when Krista Freeland who was both our Deputy Prime Minister and our Finance Minister, even though her background is in journalism,
was like a giddy schoolgirl
in that press conference just laughing
and giddy as all get out,
announcing that she was gonna freeze bank accounts of middle class Canadians. And I'll tell you something, a couple months ago I was at a restaurant in in Medicine Hat where I live
and this server comes up to me and she's waiting on us and she recognizes me and
she donated $10 to the bank to the the campaign.
She never went to Ottawa and she has 3 small boys,
a single mom, and they froze her bank account.
So she couldn't buy groceries. She couldn't pay her rent.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: I I was gonna ask
because people need to understand the consequence of having your bank outflows without knowing you're gonna have it froze. That's right. Mine were done for 4 years. Wow. So have my ex wife's. Yeah. Wow.
Your your payments bounce,
and that affects your credit.
You then can't finance. You can't
which is the purpose. I I looked up the tactics they used against me, and they they call disruption tactics. Yes. But to ordinary moms, like you're saying, this is just one example you're giving.
One example of a mother of 3
to have her benefits or her finance or her wages, whatever it is going into a bank account, just locked. Yep. For how long? Not only that, Tommy, but you're talking like one of the organizers that was there with us has
Tamara Leech: a teenage boy,
with severe autism and heart problems.
They couldn't get medication.
Like, this boy is on medication. He's he's in it then. That was one of the reasons why, I mean, as soon as we got there, you know, Chris was excellent about keeping a lane open for emergency vehicles. Like, we did not go there to gridlock the city. We we we know ambulances needed to get down there, fire trucks they and and they did,
but what, you know, when Tom came on board too, I mean he emphasized that because his son is always in an ambulance.
They need to get through, so we were always very diligent
and a lot of evenings, you know, like because there was no one set group, I mean there was us but then there was constantly people coming in in trucks that would come in and park and then we'd have to get up and Chris and those guys would have to go and move them to make sure that there was always a lane open.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So you weren't just blindly locking down a city. No. You were you were having your democratic right but in in an in an organized fashion. Yes.
Tamara Leech: Yes.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: How many people's bank accounts they freeze? Do you know? 280
Canadians banked. And that what that was, in my view, that's the symbol. They do that to put the fear of God into the Brit, into the Canadian public. And they do. Because other businessmen.
Did it dry up donations?
Tamara Leech: Well, I mean well, it was already frozen in a moot point at that point anyways, but I mean It stopped did it stop people supporting you? We've taught. No. It didn't stop people from supporting us, but, they're, you know, they they think they'll think twice about donating to something again. That's okay. And they and I hear that all the time,
you know.
We were just talking to a gentleman,
in BC
who had his bank account frozen
and as a result lost his truck,
lost his business, ended up homeless,
and
lost everything.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: To people have have all these people's stories been told?
Or do are the are the Canadian public aware
of the destruction
of the what those government policies at the moment of the at that moment in time have done to so many families? We're aware of the COVID. Yes. Of course. Are the general public aware?
Tamara Leech: I think,
a lot of them are. I don't think they fully understand the magnitude of what that actually looked like, like, you know, support payments, child support payments,
like I said medication Depression.
Not being able to put gas in your car, not being able to go and buy groceries, like, you know, it's not just a matter of, oh, I can't go and take my kids to the movie, like, these are this is serious stuff.
And in my case,
my accounts were frozen
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: while I was in jail remember so Well, let's get to that let's get to that point. Let's when you say you was in jail, how do you end up you you're there with truckers
holding a protest. How'd you end up in jail?
Tamara Leech: Well, we heard almost every day that the police were coming and we were gonna be arrested. So it was really it was really hard to,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: I don't know, mischief. Mischief, I guess. I don't know. I've heard this word banded around a lot since been in Canada, the phrase mischief. What does mischief mean in the criminal phrase?
Tamara Leech: It means,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: young punk spray painting the side of a building. So mischief is a minor offense. It is. A minor, so the minor lowest public offense is called mischief. That's right. Okay.
So you're that you're there? So,
Tamara Leech: but towards after the Emergencies Act was invoked, you know, we were getting the sense that
it could definitely be coming.
And so I made that video the night before
I was arrested Like which and said that Like what video? The video is saying, you know, there's a pretty good chance that, you know, I'm gonna be getting 3 square meals a day tomorrow
and, you know, this is like we did have that information that was coming in and
so I didn't know. I didn't know for sure, but we knew it was a high probability.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Can I ask you at at the moment of knowing that's a high probability
as a mother,
why didn't you
leave?
Tamara Leech: Because that's what I was doing it for.
Two reasons, my kids and my grandkids,
and the second reason was,
I mean,
I that sounds ridiculous and I hate to even put it this way, but,
you know, because it's not captains. Captains
don't abandon their ship.
So if we have all these people that are here supporting us, could you imagine if Chris and I would have left?
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: There was no way I was gonna leave. Okay. Can I ask you? Did you feel,
even if you wanted to leave, that you had to stay?
Tamara Leech: Well, I would have said Did you feel trapped? I didn't feel trapped. No.
That was my decision. For sure, that was 100% my decision. And and also,
like I mean I just thought if like look at me I am 5 feet tall I'm a £115
Like, if the if that's really the lengths that they're gonna go to when I know I know that we've been advocating for peace, and we did everything right. And that was my takeaway even from the POEC and this trial. We did everything right. Maybe not perfect. Well, now we don't took all the right steps. So I was prepared to. I mean, I I even said I even said, like, this is my hill. I will go to jail for this and I will die for
this
because so many other people have already died,
everywhere that we even still go but all the way there
there
even this weekend people come up to us all the time and say I was planning my suicide
until I saw the trucks rolling.
I was going to kill myself.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Had it all planned out. Do you think that all these interactions you've had with the public, all these stories you hear, people not being able to see it, do you think that's give you drive? Do you think that's what's
Tamara Leech: I think yeah. Definitely. I mean, I would never give up. I'll never I would never give up for them and this it's worth it. This fight is worth it. And if they think that they need to pick on a 5 foot tall grandmother,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: it's a reflection on them and not me. So tell me then. You you you make this video. You you
you're there. You're in the city.
Is there is there still 1,000 there?
You're in the city? Oh, yeah. There's still the whole city is full. Yeah. You're being warned.
What what happens? How does it how does it look?
Tamara Leech: Well, I I think one of the reasons they did did it that particular
weekend was because it was a long we it was called family weekend in Canada, and it was a long weekend. And we were expecting
even bigger for us. Their families. Well, bank holiday Monday. You got your Monday's Yes. That's right. Monday was off work. So so we were expecting, you know, a whole bunch of supporters to
come in and,
so that's why they did it. We were pretty sure that we were gonna be arrested.
The next morning,
we get up, Chris and I head down to the war memorial because the veterans,
the veterans that came,
were holding services every day at 1 o'clock. And so we went down to the service. I wish I could have watched all this. It was it was it was amazing. It's historic. It is historic.
And,
and and just a quick story about the veterans. All these veterans show up,
and
there's these services at the war war memorial and the police put up a barricade. They fenced it off.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: And one of the most patriotic proud moments so they can get there. Yes.
Tamara Leech: And one of the most patriotic and proud moments of the whole thing was when the veteran showed up
and dismantled that whole thing because it it that's their memorial. Yeah. Yeah. And they stacked all the pieces
nicely,
shoveled off the snow, and they took it back.
So where where it was, like, oh, okay. So we go down to the service
on Thursday 17th.
Chris and I are down there talking to people and and
I me and a couple other people went off for a walk with this veteran.
And we went down the streets talking to people, signing things, you know, shaking hands. How cold how cold was it? That day, it was chilly, but it was
not it wasn't snowing. It was like
that day. It was kind of a misty rain almost,
And that's how I I spent the rest of my day. So then
at about 4 or 5 o'clock, we get back to the hotel that we were staying at and every phone in the building started buzzing.
Chris Barber has been arrested.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So Chris was the first arrest? Yes.
Where was he arrested?
Tamara Leech: He was arrested,
just down from parliament. So then you knew Yep. You all knew I knew for sure. They're coming.
So,
of course, we just waited around, looked to find out more information because I don't believe in panicking.
And
so Danny Beaufort, who was the X RCMP
sniper, he actually was on Trudeau's sniper detail at one time, and he quit over the mandates.
He was, on our
team.
So Danny and I were at this hotel,
and
we discussed what we should do
because
we'd we knew that it was coming. And so we made the decision to go out and turn ourselves into police.
Number 1, our spouses were in that hotel, and I cannot imagine
what a traumatic experience that would be to have the police bust into your room
and arrest your partner.
As a matter of fact, I'll tell you a little funny story the night before that because we didn't know when this was coming. I went to bed completely naked because I thought I if you're coming into my room, I'm gonna make this just as awkward for you as I possibly can
because that's how I roll.
So anyways
so and and number 2 because the lady,
that owned the hotel that we were staying at, she was 2 weeks from bankruptcy before we showed up.
And so us being there just saved her business, and she's just the sweetest, kindest,
most grateful woman,
and I didn't want that kind of trauma. I honestly not for being.
For her either. Right? So
so we made this decision to go out and and turn ourselves in. A couple of the road captains came with us,
and
and I remember we were marching up Rideau towards Wellington,
and I saw these 3 girls come by with their cameras. And I said, girls, come with us. Bring your cameras and come with us. And then a few yards down the road, I see this gorgeous young lady with a big camera.
And I said, we're going to turn ourselves in. You should come with us, and she did.
So Danny and I walk up to parliament,
so and we were on, I believe it's Metcalfe, and Metcalfe Street
looks square up at the parliament buildings.
So we've turned down Metcalfe and there's 2 Suburbans police Suburbans point with their headlights pointed up at parliament.
So we go over there and
Danny knocks on the window and this
guy rolls the window down and he's like,
my name is Danny Beaufort. This is Tamara Leech. We've understand that you've arrested Chris Barber, and you're probably looking for the other organizers, and we're here to turn ourselves in.
So,
he takes her information, rolls his window up, gets on the radio, blah de blah, rolls the window back down. No. No. We're not looking for you. And I said, are you sure?
Are you sure you're not looking for us? I said they've just arrested Chris Barber. We're 2 of the other, you know, or organizers main organizers.
And so he did the same thing rolls the window up again gets on his radio rolls the window down, no we're not looking for you and I said okay that's fine well if that changes we're just gonna be right up there.
So anyways we start walking back up to Parliament because there's crowds and crowds it's so festive and
we're walking back up to parliament, and I look back and I see these 2 suburbans backing up and leaving. And I said to Danny, well, that's really weird.
Like, why would they be leaving?
Anyways, we carried on. We went up. I did an interview with some news organization there,
talking about Chris getting arrested.
And,
yeah, she asked me something like this being an illegal protest, and I said this isn't an illegal protest. It's in our charter of rights and freedoms. We have the right to peaceful assembly. No. So this thing is an illegal protest. Exactly.
So, yeah, that would be a riot.
Right? And there was never a riot.
So we spent some time up there, and
I remember
right before I got arrested,
we were sitting because there was, like, somebody serving hot soup and chili and people milling around and this couple walks by with the cutest little girl,
the most beautiful little girl, and she's carrying this little Canadian flag.
And
it was unusual. People that would see us would always ask us for pictures, but I she was just so adorable. I just said to her mom, like, could I take a picture with your daughter?
And, a girl that was with us had the sparkly balloon. So so she gave this little girl the sparkly balloon, and that's the last photo of me before I was arrested,
was me, you know, kneeling down with this gorgeous little girl.
We walked the 4 of us then walked down to the ARC Hotel, which was just about 2 blocks away, warmed up for a minute, and we started heading back to our hotel.
So we crossed Metcalfe
and
notably
there was construction going on so it was very dark,
there was not a lot of people down there,
you know unlit,
very private,
away from the crowds and the lights.
And this couple came towards us and and this lady recognized me and started crying and can I hug you? And can I take your picture? And,
as we're standing there talking,
a police sir Suburban goes flying
by, and then another one and then another one and then another one pulled in and stopped. And I said, here we go. Get your camera out.
And thankfully, Johnny,
who was our fuel guy, one of our fuel guys down there recorded that's the gentleman that recorded my arrest.
And
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: they arrested me. What did they say to you?
Tamara Leech: He asked of who I was. I I told him who I was. I don't even remember honestly what he said. I just spun around and I was like, okay. If this is what you feel you need to do Did they hand put me in handcuffs. Did they handcuff you?
Yeah. They did. Yeah. They put me in handcuffs,
took them to the police station where I by this time it was very heavy snowfall,
They searched me outside.
Well, we had to wait there for some female officers to come, of course, and then they searched me outside.
Most of the stuff that they took out of my pockets was destroyed because they it was damp and they put it all into a
so I had my Freedom pants on
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: and my freedom pants What what freedom pants?
Tamara Leech: They were black cargo pants. Okay. So I had them loaded down because I thought if I'm gonna get arrested, they have to write down everything that you have.
So I had a bible
in this pocket
and I had sweet grass in this pocket, which is,
for Nick native
and native medicine.
Sweet grass in this pocket.
In this pocket, I had a letter,
from a father that he'd stuffed in my pocket,
you know, that was living with his family in a car because he'd refused to get jabbed and they lost everything.
I had,
the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
and a rose quartz hard in this pocket.
So and and a and a card from a thank you card from a from a child.
So I and a cameo of the Virgin Mary that somebody had given me when I was down there.
Because I thought if you guys were gonna arrest me, you have to make note of all of this.
And I want you to have to write every single account.
So
anyways, they searched me outside and then, of course, took me in and
tried to interrogate me.
Can I ask, have you ever been arrested before this? No. I've never even been in Facebook jail before this.
Like So how
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: how bizarre is that for you at that time?
Tamara Leech: It was very bizarre.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: It was very surreal. It was almost like a dream. You're bought into a police station, is it? Yep. Booked in. Is it a library? You get checked in, give your names. Weighed, mugshot.
Open the cell door? Yep. Put you in the cell? Yep. What's the cell look like?
Tamara Leech: Well, it's not very big and it has a big cement slab that you sleep on and a silver toilet. A blue mat?
No. I don't think there's a no. There's no mats in there. It was just a cement slab. Okay. The they had the mats in at the detention center. Okay. So they bring you to a cell.
And it it was cold, of course, because I was kind of wet. All my clothes were were wet. And and thankfully, at least one of them because they don't give you a blanket or anything. One of them gave me, like, a sweater
that he had. And then, of course, they they wait until the middle of the night when you're feeling really tired, and then they try and and take you upstairs to interrogate you. But it was interesting because,
of course, I called my lawyer. And anytime they took me out of my cell to talk to my lawyer, I was handcuffed,
Right? Unshackled.
So
But you're a big dangerous risk to me. That's right. So they take me into the cell. I'm talking with the the my lawyer
and she says they've assigned a homicide detective to you.
And I'm like, a homicide detective? So high ranking murder detective.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Yes. Exactly. Not someone who deals with mischief. Exactly.
Tamara Leech: And I said why would they do that? Like, on Ontario's got some or Ottawa's got some problems. Like, I'm sure this guy could be busy doing something else. And she said, well,
he's he's a big guy,
like, really he's tall, he's big, and, like, to intimidate you, and I kinda laughed. Like,
I worked in the oil patch with some of the most grizzly, rude,
didn't wanna listen to a woman,
men,
that you could imagine.
And I had to establish a rapport with these men. And I literally just drove across Canada with all these truck drivers, so a big man isn't gonna scare me. Anyways, it was just kind of funny
and she said well it's to intimidate you. So I'm like okay,
that's fine.
So of course they wait till the middle of the night when you're run down and tired and they take that's when they take you upstairs to do their interview.
And I remember thinking to myself,
I wonder if this is gonna be good cop, bad cop.
So we get upstairs into this room, detective Benson, the big guy takes me upstairs,
puts me in this interview room,
and there's plexiglass,
you know, because it's COVID or whatever.
And then, of course, this young, well dressed, clean-cut,
handsome young man comes in.
I'm like, I think this is good cop, bad cop. So
he's like, can I get you a coffee?
We you can take your mask off. We can move this plexiglass out, and I'm like, I don't care what to do. You know? Love a coffee though because I was pretty sure it was gonna be the last one I was gonna get for a while.
And he starts asking me these questions, and I know I'm supposed to say no comment, but he'd asked me a question and I'd be like
because I think because Canadians want their rights and freedoms back and he'd asked me another question because Canadians want their rights and freedoms back. And then he asks me,
well why do you think you've got so much support from across this whole country,
you know, that are supporting you through this. Really what they're all trying to do is get me to say that I'm the leader. Like I'm in charge, I'm running the whole show, that's what they're driving at, which wasn't true, it wasn't the case.
And I said I think because Canadians wanted their rights and freedoms back.
Why do you think
we got so much support from all these Canadians?
And then I got some, like, word salad non answer and I'm like, okay, this is good cop, bad cop. So I just no comment. No comment. No comment. No comment.
And then Ben the the other the other guy came in and sat down, and he asked me questions too. And I just like, no comment. No comment. He tried to get me to sign something. I didn't even read it. Nope. No. Thanks. I'm not signing it.
And, then they took me down to the cell for the night. Actually, I think I spent 2 nights in in cells in the police station, which is very exhausting because it was cold, and I didn't get much sleep before they took me the detention center.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So what they're interviewing you.
What's their allegation?
Tamara Leech: What's what crime are you My original charge, I was only had one charge to begin with, and it was
get this. The charge was
counseling others to commit
mischief, which did not occur.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Thought one.
Like what does that even mean? Might as well How do you counsel someone? Do something illegal but they didn't do it.
Tamara Leech: I know like
That was their holding that was what they got you on. They and then they added more charges later on.
They added mischief, they added intimidation,
counseling others to
intimidate,
obstruct
obstructive
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: police or nothing along the chain.
Tamara Leech: So just a bunch of stuff. They're just throwing stuff,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: you know. So you've had your interview because you usually the process
I'm not sure about Canada but in the UK. You'll be arrested, you'll face an interview, then you'll have a bail application Yep. To leave and go out and bail while you wait for your charge. Yes. What happened to you? Well, I,
Tamara Leech: I think Chris and I had our bail hearings on the same day and he was released and sent home.
I went in
and we had my bail hearing,
and she deny or she actually at the end of it, she waited
until because it was a long weekend. Remember? Yep. So she didn't give a decision right away. She gave her decision on Tuesday, which meant I was in remand for the for the weekend.
And then she came in on Tuesday, and
I was a threat to society. I shouldn't be out among
everyday Canadians because I was a danger. My my release would put the administration of justice into disrepute.
Turns out though, she was a former liberal candidate in
the
2000
tens.
She was running for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2000 tens.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So she denied me bail and She denied you bail.
Denied you bail was a danger. Yeah.
Tamara Leech: See, that just sounds insane. It is, especially when you see what's happening in Canada now. No previous criminal records.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Mother of 3. No history of violence? No history of anything. 3 children, your
allegation is you've organized a protest.
Really?
So tell me, when she tells you that, are your family in court?
Tamara Leech: No. Because we're in Ottawa and my family are Back home. Yep.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Wait.
What do you what did you think when she tells you that? Because, obviously, at that point, does she give you a fixed date? Does she say I'm not Oh, no. Until because because now we have to find time to do a bail review.
Tamara Leech: That's the bail hearing. So that now the lawyers and the courts have to work to find a date where we can actually have a bail review. So So you're just off to jail? So I'm just off to jail. I don't know how long it's gonna be. And I I spent 18 days
before I was released.
And so yeah. So then it has to go up. So that's Ontario Provincial Court. So then when you do a bail review, it goes to the superior court, and then we have the supreme court, which is federal. So you spent 18 days in the prison at that point? Yeah. What what was what was your day to day? What's the day like in that prison? What was the prison like? Well, the first week I was in solitary confinement. He was in solitary confinement? Yep. So Tell me what that's like.
You know, I got a little bit of rest, which I needed,
and
I did a lot of praying. I did a lot of meditation.
I
washed all this terrible graffiti off my walls. I scrubbed the floor with a toothbrush. They're literally like you'd see in on TV.
Scrubs scrubbed my toilet because it was dirty and wet. And a half hour lockup.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: And you're allowed out for 25 minutes a day. To walk around on your own?
Tamara Leech: No. I I didn't get any yard time then.
I was allowed out of my cell
in the same I called at the dungeon. There was a shower at the end and a phone at the other end. And so,
the first day, of course, I showered because I went days without getting a shower and
but
it like, the water there is it's this sounds
so girly, but the water there is so hard and
they give you this flimsy little comb and I have long hair. So it literally took that whole 20 minutes just to try and get my hair combed out.
So, yeah, I, I I just I I worked out like I was, you know, doing push ups and lunges and just staying active. And
and I started I I took the graffiti off the side of my bunk.
Bless you. Listen. And,
I I started just keeping track of the days because I it's hard to tell when it's winter, and then there's this, like, little teeny window, like, 16 feet over my head.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Did you know this one?
Tamara Leech: No. Well, if I could see the clock, I did figure out where that was. Okay.
And I wrote out the lyrics to O Canada,
and I drew a Canadian flag, and I signed my name.
And and I just kept really busy, and I just,
thought
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: What was going on on the outside at this time? Oh, god.
Tamara Leech: Something that I grew up watching happen in 3rd world countries.
My sister I got a hold of my sister
on the second or third day when I was down in the dungeon and
she told me about what was happening outside
and about,
Candace
Ciro getting trampled by a horse
and about all the arrests that were happening.
And I just sat on the phone and cried because I I just I couldn't I just
that doesn't happen in Canada. What was going on when you say this? Canadians were getting shot with rubber bullets.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: In the city. They were getting arrested. You purchased. Yep. The police were crushing it. Yep. They were crushing it. Yep. They brought it in the seats. Leaders and crushed them. Yep. That's exactly it. Crush the demonstration.
Tamara Leech: And they did.
People were shot with rubber bullets.
People were shot with tear gas canisters.
People were arrested and left in paddy wagons,
for hours and dropped outside the city in a snowstorm
with no phone.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: No way you know what I mean? I've heard they've seen we've we've had it all in London. They drove you to Sebastian Yeah. Dump you at 3 in the morning in some other city. Yeah.
Wow.
Tamara Leech: It was a war zone.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Was it in
what's the public's opinion of it? Do you know? Well, it And did you just polarizing.
Tamara Leech: It was very polarizing because the mainstream media was saying that we were, like, January 6th style insurrectionists and terrorists and white supremacists. I mean, even if you watch the footage from the mainstream media, just
the the way that they tried to portray us well, not tried. The way they did portray us
was so deceitful
and one-sided. And I mean, there was an instance where the CBC came out
and
which is the equivalent of the BBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and you guys have the BBC. Yep. And literally people watch them, like the crowds over here and they watch this crew set up and paint their or point their cameras in the opposite direction. At no one. At no one. And say no one's there. That's right.
And find the worst people that are there. Yeah. That's right. And that's what they wanted. Yeah. They tried to go out and find the the loudest, most belligerent,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: you know. Were were you infiltrated? Were was there any incidents at that time
of what would you
presume maybe government bodies or government? 100%. 1, 100%. Causing
Tamara Leech: either causing trouble or We were infiltrated on the way out in Winnipeg. We found that we knew that on the way. We talked about that. Explained that to me. Well, that we knew that there was Antifa people that had joined our convoy in Winnipeg that were gonna come and and try to instigate violence. Yes. That's right.
And without a doubt, I'm I know it. And to this day, Chris and I there's no event that we've gone to. We know we're still being surveilled. There's no event that we go and speak at, either one of us, separately or together where there's not undercover officers there, which I understand you have some experience with now.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Yeah. But Welcome to Canada. Welcome to Canada. It's,
when you think of all of these lengths
of of to to stop you, yeah, to or to stop the figure ahead of the movement,
does it make you think of the country that you live in now compared to what what the country you thought you lived in probably 5 years ago?
Tamara Leech: My feelings on the country haven't changed. My feelings on our political system,
our law enforcement, definitely our judiciary.
We have we have
political interference at all levels now. You really need to watch my last documentary. I will. I can't wait. Yes. I will. You really do. That's how I It covers all of
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: this.
Tamara Leech: They're not here for the people and this was one of my frustrations all along. I mean,
they don't listen to Canadians. I don't like, even though Justin Trudeau will get up there and well, they just make up words,
like, I'm not just a domestic terrorist, you see. I'm also an ideologically
motivated violent extremist.
All the scary words.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: All the buzzwords put before your name That's right. Every time your name is mentioned, it has to have these words before it. So then the the public are just buying this by the time the public don't even know anything about you. That's right. Exactly. They're taught to hate you. Yeah. And so and and which is unusual because really, if you look at all the stuff that they do and they talk about and their virtue signaling, I check off all their boxes.
Tamara Leech: I have indigenous heritage. I'm a woman. I'm a mother. I'm a grandmother.
I'm a middle class worker.
Like, I check off all their boxes. So if I would have been there protesting for anything else, anything that they Protected. Government approved, I would be being paraded across Canada right now
having medals thrown at me, order of Canada,
getting awards,
you know, but that's but because it was something that didn't match their narrative.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: That's only it then now. Tell me, you so you said 18 days you was in there? The first time, yes. The first time.
What's it like? So after 18 days, you've spent 8, you're in solitary confinement, you're in a prison system for the first time in your life.
Tamara Leech: You then go, what, for a bail hearing? Yeah. We did a bail review. From the prison or taken to court? Well, we go to the court. Okay. So They come and pick us up and take the court. You transported to the court? Yep. We go to the bail review. We didn't get the
in Canada, a bail hearing is about 15 minutes to half an hour.
Done.
My bail hearings cost between $450,000
and lasted for at least 2 days.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So they could they
again, they stop your donations.
They stop your donations,
then they add up all your bills. Yeah.
Tamara Leech: Well, it's law fair. So the point is to demoralize you and bankrupt you. Right?
God, it's the same everywhere we go. Yeah. It's the same and that's what's so scary is that it's not just happening here. I mean, you know, I see people, oh, I'm leaving Canada and I'm like, that's fine. Go. But you know what? Like on the freeway. Be safe for a while,
but if we don't stop this, you're not gonna be safe for that long. Like, it's a temporary solution.
So here in 2 days? So that yeah. So we get so and then I was released
with conditions very heavy conditions. Chris didn't even have it near the conditions that I had. What are the conditions?
Well the first condition was I was supposed to get out of Ontario within 24 hours, but the joke was on them because we had a travel mandate at the time and I wasn't vaccinated.
So I couldn't get on a plane and leave, which so so I had 72 hours to get out of Ontario. I was banned from the province of Ontario.
I was not allowed to post,
login, post, or ask somebody to post on social media on my behalf into any of my accounts.
I had no contact orders with Chris Barber,
Tom Tommy Mara Tom Marazzo,
Danny Bulford, and, Pat King and a bunch of others, some of them who I don't even know, which is kind of funny.
I had to have my surety,
The person responsible for me, I guess, basically,
go she has to go through my devices,
make sure that I'm not talking to anybody I'm not supposed to be talking to. I'm not allowed to organize,
organize or advocate for or support any protests.
I have to reside at my residence. I'm not allowed to move out unless it's into my surety's basement.
I think that's it. There there's a lot of them.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So is every condition that would stop you from having an accident?
Silence. You were totally gagged by the courts
And you'll pay for how long with these conditions? They're still in place.
Tamara Leech: Chris and I How many years ago is this? Two and a half now.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: You're still under these conditions now.
They've managed to stop your entire movement of people.
Not just me and then just okay. You get these conditions.
Tamara Leech: So we had the
social media condition finally lifted just before Christmas,
but I still have to be careful what I post about.
Even the German protests that were happening,
the farmers, I I'm not even allowed to like those posts
because it's a protest. So I can't like and share those types of posts. This is a whole this is communism.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: This isn't a free democratic society
at all. It's not.
Tamara Leech: No. It's not. Chris and I just had our no contact order lifted about 6 weeks ago.
We were not allowed to to speak to each other,
contact each other directly or indirectly unless there was lawyers present.
I still have my no contact orders in place for all of the rest of them, and all the other conditions are are still in place.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: When you got out after 18 days,
Tamara Leech: you went you in the end, you went back home? Yes. Straight home. I I had 72 hours to get out of Ontario.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: What was the reaction of your family?
Tamara Leech: Well, when I got into Medicine Hat, before I saw my family, there was a beautiful, lovely, welcoming party on the highway for us, and it was absolutely lovely.
My fam my my fam my kids were supportive. Like, they even my oldest daughter, who doesn't necessarily maybe agree with why we went still supported me. Of course. You know, she still supported me and whatnot. Upset must be upset. They must have been scared for them. Yeah. Yeah. I was I was scared for them. But the
but they're all very strong young women, and I'm so proud of them. Like I said, that the toughest part
was when my daughter woke up and read that I'd hung myself in jail. Was that in this first sentence? That was the first sentence. Yeah.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: And where who had said that and where? The Vancouver Times out of British Columbia. The Vancouver you're right. You're you're not talking about some little left wing block?
Tamara Leech: The Vancouver Times reported that I had hung myself in prison.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Oh my god.
Oh, my God. So So you see something like that. What you see,
my thinking of that, that's to break your family. Yeah. Because if that breaks your family, it breaks you. That's right.
So whilst you might be able to sit in jail for 18 days,
18 months, whatever,
They're fucking with your family. They've gone for your family. That's right. That is solely targeted at your family.
Tamara Leech: And, honestly, the like, I mean, I I don't care about myself. I mean, I care about myself, but I'm not worried about myself. I mean, if they thought I was gonna do some, you know, delicate weeping wallflower victim, they picked on the wrong woman. I keep saying this, like, I
they underestimated me and how strong I am and how but my my belief. Like, when I was arrested I was just like okay, God,
we've exposed so much already just by being here. We're gonna expose more now. You're not done with me. So I mean let's go. I'm I'm I'm I got this, you know. And I just really clung to that the whole time I was in there, and and I just you just put well, you've been to jail, you know. You just put one foot in front of the other and you just keep going and,
you know,
the the thing about jail that I learned was that
when you're in a situation like that,
every drop of kindness,
every little
teeny tiny drop of kindness that somebody shows you is amplified so much.
And I would have got, you know, guards saying, you know, don't give up. And I'm like, I won't,
you know, stay strong. I got this. Don't worry. You know, I I
obviously, there was some that didn't agree with me and what I was there, but
there
was there was some support in there and and,
you'll read a story in my book that I'll let you read
about a gentleman in there
who was like an angel sent from God. I I know what he was sent there for me that day. It was this day second time I was denied bail when I was arrested on an alleged breach.
And, it was a pretty crushing day, but
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So get get me to this alleged breach. This is you've done 18 days. You've come out. You've gone home to your family. Yep. They're obviously devastated. They've you've all gone through so much.
What happens next?
Tamara Leech: Well, I went back and just kinda carried on with my life as best well, the best as I could. I went back to work and
the Justice Centre For Constitutional Freedoms here in Canada is a not for profit organization, a charitable organization that helps people with legal cases like mine and like Chris',
And they
off they wanted to award me with their annual George Jonas Freedom Award.
And the crown prosecutor actually wanted me jailed bait just because I agreed to accept this award.
So what hap but it was the first dinner was in Toronto, which was in Ontario, which I was banned from. So we ended up having
a bail hearing,
so that to see if, you know, to ask a judge if I could please go. Yep.
And during the course of that bail hearing, this also came out, this pendant.
The crown prosecutor tried to have me jailed over this.
It was a gift that was sent to me from a lady in Thailand who had not seen her kids in 2 years because of the mandates,
and she asked me for a picture,
you know, I got this beautiful letter and anyone that wrote me or or whatever I would text them or call them
and she made these beautiful pendants and
so I got this letter I messaged her right away I said thank you so much I love it I'm never taking it off and she's like you're like a brand ambassador
Can you send me a photo? Can I put it on social media? And I said, I would love to send you a photo. I said, I can't I can't
tell you about social media because I'm banned from it. I'm not allowed to do that. But just when she posted it, she put posted with permission.
So
whatever. It she it was innocent. A photo of you with that? It was totally innocent. So this first bail hearing,
the crown prosecutor has a total conniption fit over it,
tries to have me breached on this, fights me going to get this award.
Anyways, long story short, we ended up winning. The judges said yes, you can go. But so they changed my condition. I could go to Ontario. I just couldn't go to the red zone in Ottawa like the protest zone I'm still banned from there.
And, so I go to this award
which is a JCCF
Justice Center For Constitutional Freedoms dinner
and it's full of lawyers. My lawyer was there, my previous lawyer, I'd switched lawyers because Chris and I had the same lawyer at the beginning, but I mean, let's face it. This was gonna be a lot of work.
The president of the JCCF JCCF was sitting at my table. He is a lawyer. Lawyers everywhere. Anyways,
so we walk into this event in Toronto and,
the gentleman that had come with us who was with us on the ground in Ottawa, good friend of mine,
comes over and he says Tom Orazo is here. Like, what the hell is going on? And Tom Orazo was In the last piece.
So,
we were assured everything was fine. There was lawyers there.
Everything was okay.
So naive me. I'm like, well, everything must be okay.
So then at time comes time to go get seated at our table and I see Tom Marazzo seated at our table and I was like well this must be this has to be okay,
Like, I can't have anything to worry about. They're not gonna put me in jeopardy. They're not certainly not gonna seat this man at my table
unless
they're confident that this is okay.
So,
we did the speech, did the presentation. It was a beautiful evening. And at the end of the
night where a group of us are walking to leave and this young lady says, well, let's take a photo.
And we're like, I don't know.
I don't know. But then we said, well, I said, I would I would like a photo actually just, like, for us to for just for us,
just for us to have a memory of this beautiful evening.
It can't go on social media.
So
and I think it was actually John Carpe, the president of the JCCF, that took the picture. And what you don't see in the picture so there's a few people, then there's me standing beside Tom Arazo,
and then the picture ends, and then there's a lawyer from the Justice Center
right there. Okay.
But he wasn't in the photo. So I get up the next morning.
I looked at my husband's Facebook page,
and I see a picture on Facebook.
This picture was posted on Facebook.
So
I didn't know what was gonna happen. Anyways, I I called my my surety, so my surety to just let her know that this had happened, and I talked to some of our legal counsel about about it.
And everything was nothing happened. We continued. I went back to work.
And then a couple weeks later, on a Monday afternoon,
I actually stopped on my way home from work at my surety's so she could go through all my
devices and make sure I was being a good girl.
And then I went home.
And as I was going, I live in a kind of a crazy area of Medicine Hat. There's lots of turns. And I make this turn, and I see the lights come on behind me and I thought oh maybe I was speeding because I did rush to get ahead of someone to get my exit right.
Not even thinking because at this point I'm still so gullible and so naive.
So I pulled my truck over, dig out my license, my registration, my insurance,
And,
the this young officer comes over, and
I said, okay. I got everything ready for you. And I handed it to him and he just kinda looked at it and he goes, when I run your plates, it's coming back that there's a warrant for your arrest. And I said, what?
Like, I was
almost laughing because I was like you're kidding me.
He said no I've ran your plates there's a Canada wide warrant for your arrest.
And I was like, okay.
So I was stunned.
So I said I'm not bringing my cell phone and I did that on Ottawa too. When I figured that you're gonna be arrested I left all of my devices in the room.
And so I I said I'm gonna leave my cell phone here and then I said what's your name? And
he he was
uncomfortable
and he's Josh, right? I'm just thinking this constable so and so, right? And he's like, it's Josh. And I'm like, okay,
okay,
Okay. Well, I just, you know, leave my stuff here.
I get out of my truck and we head back to the car before he handcuffs me
and I and then I was like, I realized I have got no phone numbers for anyone.
So I said, can I go back to my car and and just take down my lawyer's
number? And he let me do that and then handcuffed me and and took me down
to the Medicine App Police Service.
And I spent the night there.
And
this is obvious all also just before Canada Day,
which was
going to be our 1st Canada Day. It's next week, ain't it? Yeah.
Since
since the convoy happened.
Anyways, it was quite a journey.
I was handcuffed and shackled. The sheriffs took me to
Calgary.
They flew into homicide detectives from Ottawa to meet me in
in Calgary.
And
but the one officer on the way there, it was funny because they were so supportive and I remember when they took they were we did the meet in Bassano, Alberta. That's where the Calgary sheriff's picked me up.
And I asked if I could go and choose the washer when he took me in and we're walking back and he's and this guy says to me,
don't let them break you, miss Leech. Stay strong.
And I said, I won't. I got this.
And but the Calgary Police Service were completely they were like no sense of humor whatsoever.
And so then we get to the airport
and they they
put me in a wheelchair,
left me handcuffed. No. Sorry. They had me shackled and they but they took off my handcuffs
for to preserve my dignity.
And they wheeled me through
going, I was in a cell, the detective showed up,
and I remember him popping his head in and I'm in there like doing push ups and lunges and stuff.
And the detective comes in and he's like okay we're gonna be ready to leave at such and such a time and I'm like okay.
And, then he then he opens the door and he goes, you're gonna have to put a mask on. You're not gonna give us any hassle, are you? And I said, of course not. I said, I want this to go just as smoothly as you do. Like, why would you automatically assume I'm gonna be a jerk about it?
And then then they put me back in the wheelchair,
shackled me, but took off my handcuffs,
wheeled me
through the entire
airport.
They took off my shackles so that we could get on the plane and,
we flew back and
I spent 30 days in jail. I had my bail hearing and I was denied bail a second time.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: For having a photo next to someone at a dinner with all your lawyers present,
They've reminded you for another 30 days Yep. For the original mischief.
Tamara Leech: Yes. Where would they That breach charge has been stayed, by the way.
Because I found the email.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: By stage, you mean it was wrong? Yep. They dropped it.
Tamara Leech: Even though you're some 30 days? Yep. 30 days in jail. Terminated. I lost my job. I was my I was terminated. My position was terminated.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: By that point? Yeah. Did you you said you've got a husband there? Yes.
What's your husband's head shoot away for this?
Tamara Leech: We are no longer together.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Oh, shit.
Tamara Leech: Because of this? Well, it's definitely a part of it. It's been
it's been,
difficult.
I mean, our lives have totally switched upside down.
And then in my case is
is in my case, it's like me.
Like, it's mean, like, the woman, I guess, as it sounds
old school, but, I mean, you know, it it's his wife that's getting all this attention and in the limelight. And
and,
so it just it just exaggerated
a lot of existing
old meeting to stop? No. Because I I never would have. Yeah. He never would have really knew that. Yeah. He he he was
selectively supportive
sometimes. So
so, yeah, that's
that's been another thing. So I mean, it's really
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: turned my life Let's go let's go back to your 30 days. You get your 30 days, you're in custody for another 30 days. Same jail you was in before.
Yeah.
Tamara Leech: Yep.
No solitary confinement this time though. You have other women?
I ended up in dorms.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: 1, 2, 3, 4 in a dorm?
12 to 14. 12 to 14 in a dormitory?
Tamara Leech: 1 bathroom.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: What were the crimes of the ladies in there? Murder,
Tamara Leech: lots of drug addicts,
lots of psychiatric
issues is what I saw.
Yeah. It was
a I I saw a lot of things. I was really lucky. Like, they they they left me alone and and,
you know, I got along
with them for the most part.
They didn't cause me any problems. I mean, the first time I was in there, the first lady I met was probably in her late fifties, and
I remember she did. Like, I introduced myself, and she seemed actually quite nice. She'd been in there for a long time. She was and she just looked at me, and she looks at me in the eyes, and she says, you don't belong here.
And I said, no. I don't.
So,
so so I was in cell block, of course, at first.
I went about 6 days without a shower. They weren't giving us yard time.
We didn't get access.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Because of COVID, it would have changed all the stuff because of COVID as well. And that's why I was in
Tamara Leech: solitary confinement for about a week. The first time was the COVID rules. Right?
So then the second time I go in,
they asked me the same thing. Do you wanna get vaccinated? I'm like, no. Do you wanna take the test? No.
So I'm in a cell block with this lady,
2
schizophrenics.
One of them 6 months 5 or 6 months pregnant.
And
that was
something.
That was something.
The second or third day that I was in cell block, they ended up putting another girl in there, who slept at a mat on the floor
because they were overcrowded.
And
so we had no room. I still worked out but I ended up having to, like, work out in this little tiny space between the door and the toilet.
This young woman was quite disturbed. She would save, like, her garbage, her food garbage and stuff and hide it.
And, like, they come and collect it after you eat so you don't get bugs because she felt that she was getting messages and energy
from this garbage.
And they would have episodes,
really nasty, nasty episodes,
like psychiatric
problems.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Yeah. It was it was something then When you say all this out loud I'm sorry. When you say all this out loud or you hear this story,
you've just organized a bloody protest in one of the most democratic freedom country there are in the planet.
We thought. We thought.
That's the thing.
If this behavior if what has happened to you, any of the truckers,
would have happened in Russia.
Every politician
in our in our parliament would have been screaming about it.
I'm sorry I interrupted you there. That's okay. I'm just so shocked to be hearing the story of In Canada. In Canada. This is what's happening in Canada. So you've default okay.
18 days you're in there. No. Another 30 days. Another 30 days. Yeah. Well, then you get bail after 30 days. Do you? Yeah. I did. Yeah. And a judge granted me bail.
Tamara Leech: And,
and then I just went back home. Well, actually, I I hung out there for about a week.
I had
been in communications with a gentleman who'd reached out to me. Who's the guardian angel you spoke about earlier?
He was a guard
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: A prison guard. At the courthouse, and he was a transport driver. And what why did you say he's been guardian angel? What what happened?
Tamara Leech: Because the day that I was denied bail so the second time I was in, we had my bail hearing. This justice of the peace comes in.
And,
and I thought he was asking good questions. He seemed to be like he was very fair minded.
So but he even
put me off for his decision for 5 5 days. And in Canada, you normally like, they want you out of there right away. If if you don't need to be in jail, they don't want you in jail.
So we had the bail hearing. 5 days later, I go back for the decision.
And this justice of the peace actually had me stand up like you see in TV and read off all my charges,
which had never happened to me before.
Turns out he was a procurement officer for Parks Canada before he came, became a justice of the peace deciding people's fates.
And
he went up one side of me and down the other. He compared my charges to
firearms charges. I was looking at 10 years in jail.
I was a danger to society.
Again, releasing me to the public would put the administration of justice into disrepute. Like this guy
hammered me.
So
I went downs back downstairs. They took me back downstairs in leg shackles and handcuffs,
to the cells.
And court days are the worst days because they take you from the remand center in the morning, and you could sit in a cell whole day sitting there waiting. Yeah. Nothing with nothing. Yeah. Get me back to jail. So I get back downstairs and
I get to my room where there's 4 cells and there's a gentleman and his partner waiting there.
And he's looking at me from over his glasses, and he says,
I just want you to know that it breaks my heart that you're in here. Because they would take off my handcuffs and shackles to put me in.
He said,
I'm so sorry that they're doing this to you. And his partner's like, you know, stay strong. And I said, I will.
Don't give up, he said. And I said, I won't.
And,
anyways, he was so kind, and I got tears in my eyes. And I try to never I have a really hard time showing vulnerability even though you wouldn't know, but the amount I cry.
But,
you know, I was very grateful. Like I said, it's just that little bit of kindness.
And so he puts me back in the cell block and then it's time to leave.
And he takes me back out, and he put he's like, I just want you to know it breaks my heart that I have to put these handcuffs on you.
My church is praying for you every day. You know, thank you for what you're doing. Freedom isn't free.
And he didn't shackle me.
So
and he and then he made a joke he's like well I'm driving you back he said I'm gonna put you in the front it's the best spot and he said I'm a good driver
It's the least bumpy spot, he says.
So we get back to the
Reman Centre, and there's another transport. So what they do in Reman is you have to go into one building where they scan you,
through a machine to make sure you've not shoved things anywhere.
And
so we so we get there, and there's another transport in there.
And so
we pull out to wait outside, and it's a beautiful, beautiful July day.
And all of a sudden, the doors to my little cubicle
open.
And, like, there's sunshine, and
he starts talking to me just like I'm a normal human being. Right?
Takes takes my handcuffs
off. So me and him, his partner, were just sitting there talking, and he tells me, like, he is from
Poland.
He escaped Poland. I I get his whole story,
and it was, like, heartbreaking.
And
so then so then all of a sudden it's time to go and they closed the door but they didn't put my handcuffs back on. So we pull into the into the
detention center
and thank gosh I was on the other side not the side that faced where the scanning machine was
and his partner opened the door and I'm like, I'm sure he's never heard this before. I'm like, can you please put my handcuffs on? I don't want you guys to get in trouble.
She's like, oh, wow. Thank you. And I was like, oh, well, like, I don't even know what would happen to you guys.
So he puts my handcuffs
on, go in, do the thing, come back out,
and he's walking us into the women's portion of the cell.
And he thanks me again.
And I said, no.
I said, thank you
because you were an angel sent from God for me today.
And I said I'll never forget never forget it.
And every day
when I would get outside and run laps,
you just find little things.
And I would look I do a lap and I look at this brick and that brick
became
Robert.
And every lap I would do I was like I'm this is for you Robert. I'm not gonna give up. I'm gonna stay strong.
And after my book came out
I realized that I didn't change any names in my book.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So you're worried by him?
Tamara Leech: And I wondered if if he lost his job,
if he hated my guts,
if I let him down.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Not I think so. And
Tamara Leech: I ran into him in court one day when we were back for our trial,
and I know I had a moment of panic.
And,
he came up to me and he said, miss Leech,
he said, you know, I can't do anything, but you know where I stand.
And I just said
because of course I can't I can't react. There's cameras everywhere.
And I just sort of, you know, went and sat down and started crying because I would just sick to my stomach that I had negatively impacted his life in some way after
he was just so kind.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: So
Tamara Leech: I was just glad that he was still there.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: You know? When you come out, so when you get out of jail after 30 days,
how long ago was this?
Tamara Leech: This was the summer of 2022. I was released 2 days before my daughter's birthday.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Are you free now?
No.
You're still waiting charges?
Tamara Leech: Our trial started on September 5th last year, and this is a mischief trial.
And we're hopefully going back to wrap up mid to end of August.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Do you mind if I ask?
How much does that cost to fight this trial so far?
Tamara Leech: Between Chris and I, we're just about at 3 quarters of a $1,000,000 in legal fees.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: That's what this is about. Yeah.
They win anyway.
The process is the punishment. Do you feel the process is the punishment? Definitely. But they don't win.
Tamara Leech: Okay. They they can't win. We've already won.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Because they're by doing these actions, they're waking more people up. Do you see yourself as are you willing to be that model that Absolutely.
Because it's worth it. Because as they behave in this way,
Tamara Leech: they're exposing themselves. Yep. And it's a how they're treating me and Chris and many other people is a reflection on them,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: not on us. When so sorry. Let me ask you again. When when did you get your verdict?
Tamara Leech: She we're hopefully gonna wrap up on the 23rd August, our trial. Okay. And then she can take as long as she wants. How do we what what's the worst case for you in this case? The crown prosecutor is seeking 10 years in prison.
The prompt?
Now let me put that in perspective for you. Have you ever heard of Paul Bernardo?
Paul Bernardo and Carla Homolka were 2 serial killers in Canada that lived in Ontario k. That
tortured,
raped, and murdered
2 teenage girls.
This was in the nineties, I think.
Paul Bernardo's trial,
well, they also murdered her sister,
Carla Homolka's sister.
His trial lasted 4 months,
and Carla Jamalco was sentenced to 12 years.
So that tells me
that they are terrified
of us.
And
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: But what but what do you I know.
Tamara Leech: They're terrified of the movement. They're terrified of the unity. The unity together. But what do
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: you what does the prospect of a 10 year prison sentence feel like to you?
What do you think?
How do you how have you dealt
personally
with all of these obstacles, all of these these these these these these actions and this what you've been through, we put a lot of people in a very dark place
to try and deal with it mentally. Mentally?
How yeah. I know you've talked a lot about
push ups, running.
Yeah. How
how have you as a as a mother, as a lady dealt? How have you dealt with this? Have you been in very dark place?
Tamara Leech: Has it had enough the desires? I mean, I don't I definitely have my days where I feel very frustrated,
but I'm I I'm a very optimistic person. I don't like to be I'm not gonna be angry all the time.
I take everything a day at a time. Like, people come up to me all the time. Well, what's your next step? What are you gonna do next? Well, I don't know. It was about to ask you that. What's next for tomorrow at each?
Everything that everything that has happened to me,
I feel
very protected
one way or another.
Do I don't think that they're gonna get 10 years in jail,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: But it doesn't matter. Surely there will be outrage from the Canadian public. I would think so. I would think so but But then they need to win.
So they need to win. So they need in my eyes, they have they can't lose this case. Yeah. Do you have a
Tamara Leech: jury? No. Oh, so you're in trouble. So they they No. We have a great judge. Okay. No. We wouldn't want a jury in this case. If we had a jury of from people that are in Ottawa,
like, they're gonna go and pick the ones that They handpicked the people. That's right. Because the data, they can understand how people politically think, mindsets on views, so then when they're picking their juries, it's even more dangerous now. So, no, we opted for a a judge and we actually I I do I know a lot of, the judiciary has been politically pressured that's a given
just based on some of the convictions that we've seen from other truckers that were there,
but we ended up with a
very great judge
and,
I
I she's impressed me. She's
not for one side or the other. Like, she's very fair.
She's not known to,
put people in jail unnecessarily.
She's seen all the evidence that they've presented. We didn't even mount a defense,
like, we didn't even call any evidence because all we saw there is there was this video of us say be peaceful and peaceful and respect the police. Right?
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Do you think
I I know that the trucker convoy, I I think, broke the back of COVID worldwide.
Yes. It did. So I know you've gone through a lot. Mhmm. You've been in prison, but you probably had a massive desired effect
Tamara Leech: on the global scale. The COVID died after that. I mean, they were like, if that was the case, we should all be dead. That should have been the biggest super spreader event in the history of it. I think other countries probably got worried
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: that we're enforcing it in a similar way. So congratulations to you for the sacrifice. I always say through sacrifice I just remind myself through sacrifice comes success. Yes. Through sacrifice comes success. Yeah.
So And
Tamara Leech: the moment that I realized that I had zero regrets was when,
the summer after my second or the winter after my second arrest I took my grandson to the toboggan hill in Medicine Hat
and we're halfway up this big hill
and I looked around
and I saw
fathers
with their little toddlers
and I saw groups of teenagers
and I saw families and I saw kids
going up and down this toboggan hill
laughing and just having so much fun.
And I thought I wouldn't change. I wouldn't trade a single second
in jail for that moment
because that's what we were fighting for.
You know? Smiles, seeing people's faces,
families,
our future.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Freedom. Freedom. I'll just say well, tomorrow
I'd say that's one of the most
inspirational stories I've heard. Wow. Thank you. I've heard a lot. I bet you have.
Because it's it's it's to me anyone who just doesn't back down or thinks admirable but to not back down on the issues, to be a mother of 3 and throw yourself in the
in the fire. It's,
Tamara Leech: I'm very blessed.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: That's a fascinating story. Tell me then, your book Hold the Line, you've certainly held the line. When did this come out? Where do people buy it? It's available on Amazon and also through the convoybook.com.
Tamara Leech: Convoybook.com.
Rebel News graciously helped me to,
help me through this whole process. They approached me,
after my second arrest
and approached me about writing a book, and I remember we were just even discussing, like, the the length. Right? And and Ezra was like, oh, it should be about 200 pages. And I'm like, 200 pages? Well, I think I could probably sit for you to talk to her for another 20 hours. Yes. Like, this is like a Lord of the Rings, like, trilogy with prequels and sequels. I mean, there's so much more that isn't in it, but, you know, it's really important
that people understand what happened here. The freezing of the bank accounts,
how Canadians were vilified,
how we were treated just trying to peacefully protest, and all and just all we wanted
was for somebody to come out and listen to us,
for somebody to come out and talk to us, and they couldn't even do that.
So I'm really proud of it. It's an easy read,
and it was also very therapeutic because for the 1st year, I I wasn't allowed to say anything. It's a bestseller. Right? It was a best seller. And you know how many mainstream,
agencies have come and did a review? None. 0. Good. You don't want them. Yeah. That's right. Exactly. Exactly. You don't need them anymore. We are the media. Yeah. We are the media. That's right. We are the media. Yes.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: If you will if anyone's watching this who's
sees their country going down the wrong path, anyone women seeing a home, what advice would you have for them?
You've been there, you've done it, you've thrown yourself in, you've held you've held the line. What advice would you have to the average average Brit or average person who's
afraid that freedom's disappearing?
Tamara Leech: Drop the but.
Drop the but.
I have so many people come up to me all the time and they say I support you, but I wanna help you, but I wish I could have been there, but
so many
that if there was no buts, there would be no problem. Would have won already.
You know, and it just starts with one thing. This started with a phone call between me and Chris Barber. This is an insane do you know what this is? This is a perfect example.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: I say it all the time. Ordinary people doing
extraordinary
things.
Insane.
Tamara Leech: Inspirational. Brilliant. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Thank you for your time.
My pleasure. If you watch this, where can the people follow you tomorrow?
Tamara Leech: On Twitter at Leech Tamara
and on Facebook. I'm also on Facebook. I do have a website that'll be coming out right away. I can't remember the domain, but
I would I would say Google it, but don't use Google because a bunch of other things are gonna come up. But I will have a website coming out that's gonna be listing. Chris and I are really busy right now trying to go in to help other people raise money for their own legal cases or for the vaccine injured. That's kind of a mission that we're working on now,
to help these people get the support that they need. So there'll be like, our events will be posted on there and and stuff like that and, and, updates on our trial and stuff. So yeah.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Okay.
Would you be interested in would you come to the UK? I would love to. July 27th?
Tamara Leech: If I can. We have the biggest rally that London's gonna have seen. I'm not allowed to go to protests.
It's a festival. Oh, well, if it's a festival,
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: that's a different thing. If I call it a festival,
Tamara Leech: music festival Okay. I can't see why I can't go.
Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧: Have a look and find out. As I said,
I wanna thank you, people who put me in a position to travel and hear these stories. It's a fascinating job. I have the best job in the world. I enjoy it. I hope you took inspiration from this lady.
And I hope you can like and share this content and continue to support our work. Thank you.
Carry on watching for more interesting guests. I'll talk to anyone. I'll debate anyone. I'll hear anyone's
story. If you want to help me along that way, it's not free. I need your support. If you can support my family, that gives me my peace of mind. It means I can continue to do the work I do. I appreciate every bit of support as do my children. Gives me the ability to fly them out here to see me so I can stay in constant contact with them. I'm the platform and I'm censored, so I need you. I need you to share this content, and make sure you stay tuned for upcoming weekly guests,
interesting guests, exciting guests. I'm Tom Robson, and this has been my podcast,
Silence.