GREATER SUDBURY, Ont. — As one of the leading figures in this year’s so-called Freedom Convoy to Ottawa, Sudbury’s Jason LaFace has been targeted in a class-action lawsuit that seeks $306 million in restitution.
He is one of 17 people named in the initial round of legal documents in a class-action lawsuit, though lawyer Paul Champ said more defendants are to come, with the licence plates of more than 400 semi-trucks jotted down, from which they have names of approximately 300 thus far.
Other notable defendants listed thus far include fellow organizers Chris Barber (Swift Current, Sask.), Patrick King (Red Deer, Alta.) and Tamara Lich (Medicine Hat, Alta.).
LaFace is also currently seeking public office as the Ontario Party’s candidate for Sudbury in the June 2 provincial election. During this year’s convoy of truckers and their supporters opposed to COVID-related mandates, he was identified as a “road captain” for Northern Ontario.
The convoy made its way across Canada through various paths and converged in Ottawa in late January and early February, where they blocked off several blocks of the city’s downtown core for several days, blaring semi-truck horns and idling hundreds of vehicles throughout.
The lawsuit, Champ told Sudbury.com, is approximately 10 per cent for the “pain and suffering and discomfort that was caused to the people who live and work in downtown Ottawa.”
The lion’s share, he said, is in relation to “lost wages and business losses for all the businesses that were shut down in downtown Ottawa and all the workers that were laid off in that period.”
Further, people affected by the convoy have reported suffering the hearing disorder tinnitus as a result of truckers blaring their horns at all times of the day and night, and there’s concern about respiratory issues due to more than 400 trucks idling within several blocks of the city’s downtown core 24 hours per day for several days on end.
As a human rights lawyer, Champ clarified that he cares “very deeply and passionately” about the right to protest, but that the Freedom Convoy’s participants went well over the line.
Their tactics, he said, “were designed to cause harm to others and in particular, a third party.”
“When they came into Ottawa their plan was to completely block the streets downtown Ottawa, where over 12,000 people lived in the area they blocked off, as well as a couple hundred businesses that were operating previously,” he said.
“They were blowing air horns and train horns from very early in the morning until very late at night with the intent and purpose of making life miserable for people in downtown Ottawa because they thought they would be able to persuade the government to capitulate to their demands.”
Freedoms aren’t limitless, he said, adding that if they were, “we’d be in a state of chaos.”
Someone’s personal freedom to swing their fist ends, he clarified, when it comes into contact with someone’s nose.
“Why don’t I drive on the left hand of the street? That’s interfering with my freedom. Ugh, traffic lights, who says I have to stop on red? That’s interfering with my freedom…It’s pretty easy to recognize the juvenile foundation of this quote-unquote 'philosophy' that some of these Freedom Convoy protesters had.”
Champ’s office has created a website for the Ottawa Convoy Class Action, which can be found by clicking here. It includes the names of its defendants, with LaFace the only person from the Greater Sudbury area listed thus far.
Area residents saw the convoy make its way through Greater Sudbury in late January, during which hundreds of people lined its stretch through the municipality to cheer participants on. At least 137 Sudbury-area donors later contributed to a GiveSendGo fundraiser to help the truckers and their supporters while they were camped in Ottawa.
Sudbury.com reported on the convoy from its stop at Nairn Centre, where LaFace identified himself as a leading organizer and spoke about the effort on camera.
When told about his name being included in the class-action lawsuit, LaFace issued an emailed response to Sudbury.com’s inquiry, noting, “Don't know anything about it nor do I care to give it any energy.” He also denied having been served any legal documents.
Not so, Champ said.
“We just served LaFace the original claim just about a week ago,” Champ said. “We were having a hard time tracking him down.”
LaFace played a fairly significant role in the convoy, the lawyer said, including in its more problematic components.
“It’s my understanding that on the ground he was one of the primary liaisons with the truckers who he had organized and was working on the ground to ensure that those truckers remained motivated and interested in staying on the ground, blocking the streets of Ottawa and continuing with their honking and idling 24 hours a day, which are the main focus of harms that are in the claim.”
The nuances of the class-action lawsuit will continue to roll out over the course of the coming months, Champ said. The goal is to file a motion for certification in February, by which time more defendants are expected to be named.
A handful of plaintiffs represent groups of people affected by the convoy’s occupation of downtown Ottawa, which included a dozen city blocks, thousands of residents and a potentially hundreds of businesses.
Thus far, Champ said his office had been contacted by more than 1,000 people directly.
“Make no mistake, it’s fully supported by the people in downtown Ottawa,” Champ said, adding that they’re lining up experts to determine the medical harm from sound pollution, air pollution and the economic losses that came as a result of the occupation.
Like everything else, the $306-million estimate remains fluid.
“We’re still measuring how serious the medical harms were,” he said. “We may end up actually increasing the amount on the claim.”
Sudbury.com reached out to the Ontario Party regarding LaFace being named as a defendant in the class-action lawsuit but did not receive an immediate response. Party Leader Derek Sloan’s Sudbury campaign stop earlier this month affirmed their strong support for the convoy.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
