Charges withdrawn against 'alleged leader' of Freedom Convoy blockade of the Ambassador Bridge

Demonstrators block traffic on Huron Church Road near the Ambassador Bridge border crossing in Windsor, Ont., on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. (Bob Bellacicco / CTV Windsor)

According to a news release from The Democracy Fund (TDF), charges have been dropped against William Laframboise.

“Mr. Laframboise has always maintained his innocence,” TDF lawyer Alan Honner said. “He insisted on his right to trial, and we believe he would have been acquitted had the charges not been dropped.”

Honner said the charges were withdrawn Wednesday by the crown attorney who told the court it was “not in the public interest to prosecute Laframboise given the evidentiary challenges of the crown’s case”

TDF also noted the charges were withdrawn because the court has other “serious matters that were vying for trial time in a backlogged court system.”

On Feb. 7, 2022, protestors with the Freedom Convoy blocked access to North America’s busiest border crossing.

They were protesting the Trudeau governments COVID-19 mandates, specifically those forcing transport truck drivers to be vaccinated in order to cross the border.

The bridge was closed to all traffic for one week, until Feb. 13, after police arrested 42 people, many of whom were charged with mischief.

According to Honner, Laframboise was identified by authorities as one of the organizers of the protest but he wasn’t arrested until six months after the protest ended.

“His arrest was the result of an ongoing police investigation which sought to identify an organizer of the protests,” according to TDF news release.

Laframboise is the last of TDF’s clients who were facing trial for their alleged roles in the protest.