Brigitte Belton
Brigitte Belton spoke 376 times across 1 day of testimony.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, sir.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Just for reference.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, I was born in Ontario. I was baptized at Saint Peter's Lutheran Church on Bay Street. I lived in Toronto for 16 years, but would travel holidays back to Ottawa for my grandparents, who were -- immigrated here with my mom from Germany. And I grew up pretty normal, I guess, and moved when I was 16 to Ottawa over a man and had three wonderful children and moved back after my divorce to the Toronto area and became a truck driver.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I live in a very small place called Wallaceburg, Ontario, and it is a border community. All truck traffic goes southbound.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, that’s a little further north. I'm probably smack dab in between Windsor and Sarnia.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
In -- just on December -- I believe it was 19th I got my licence.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Of 2014.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
And of 2015 on February 6th, I started driving for Schneider National, which is no longer in Canada after the mandates came in.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah. We got essential, meant essential, my husband and I. He resurrected his business that had been stale for about two and a half years. We bought a truck from Manitoba and was preparing to grow a trucking company. We were hoping to provide Canada with a Landstar option style company, as Canada doesn’t have that for owner- operators. We were hoping to grow this over the next few years. We took possession of the truck in October of 2021 -- or September, I think it was, 2021, and we signed -- finally got signed on with Landstar in October of 2021. And from there, we really honestly didn’t think the government would change the definition of essential to only when necessary.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, I was.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes. Windsor is typically a very hard, difficult border to cross, regardless of mandates. Once the mandates came in, they were unreasonable, and it was not the first issue with Windsor, it was the second issue with Windsor, and the third incident with CBSA during the COVID years.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, I was locked in their compound, not allowed to leave when I posted that video. I was afraid that I was going to be taken away by Windsor Police. I thought that time was the time they were finally going to take a truck that they did not own, take a load that did not belong to them, take my dog and euthanize him, and take me to jail. That’s what I thought that night. And I was done with CBSA. I was done with the crap Canada was going through and I was definitely done with the behaviour of Canadians.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Actually, not really. I think it’s maybe my fourth video on TikTok. I had been repeatedly put in Facebook jail. I guess most of us now, in my situation, use that as a badge. I think one of my comments was something about somebody eating crayons and I got banned for 33 days. So this was probably a double hit on this one. I think it was 55 days total at this time that I was being restricted from reaching out to my community on Facebook so I had taken to TikTok. I thought it was just really people just running along cars and jumping and singing but it was so much more.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, I was on Facebook. Again, I was censored on Facebook. My first real big censor on there was when I had explained to people that Florida was never closed, that the only blockade for people getting in and out of Florida was on I-96, that I-75 and I-10 were wide open because I had been there. But our reporters here were telling people they couldn’t get to Florida, which was total BS. Everybody could go in and out and the only restriction was on I-96, and I believe it was only for New York Residents at that time.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Right from that night, the first impact was noticed as my husband was asking me to stop; I actually passed three truck stops not even realizing I had passed them on the 401 eastbound. When I finally pulled in the Flying J in London, it was full; there was no parking. London police are known for ticketing trucks, so I left. On my exit from the London truck stop, you get to a dead-end and you have to turn right. On that right turn, I did not see a minivan and I nearly killed the people in that minivan on that night. I pulled out. I proceeded down the highway and I stopped at the very next stop. I realized at that point, I was -- I was just over the moon upset. I stopped at the Husky and I pulled in the back and I said goodbye to my husband. I told him, “I’m done.” I couldn’t do it. I told PEOC when they called me that night on the phone that I was done. I told the Wiley driver that came up to console me I was done. I couldn’t live that way anymore. Every time I came back into Canada, we couldn’t buy clothes. We couldn’t buy supplies to work. We worked eight months with no sanitizer, no facemasks, nothing. We had no bathrooms. We had no showers. We were refused everywhere we went. You have no idea what it’s like to pee in a park on your way home from work because nobody -- “nobody”, meaning Subway -- in Chatham would let me use their bathroom and I just delivered a frozen of Subway bread. It was the same store I was supporting and they wouldn’t let me use their bathroom. You have no idea how demeaning those Covid measures were to our industry and yet I felt it my duty to support Canadians and bring you the goods and services that many hoarded.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, I remember the smugness of our Prime Minister.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That would mean that the truck that my husband just purchased would go bankrupt. At that time, JBT -- I had gone to that trucking company looking for Canadian-only loads and to move the truck -- his company truck over to JBT. We were refused because of a vaccine mandate. We were also looking for companies even just to drive. The rate had dropped from approximately 50 to 60 cents/mile to 38 cents/mile. It was slave labour. We then -- and that was for Canadian-only. And Canadian-only loads, I have to tell you, between Ontario into Manitoba are some of the worst roads you’ll ever drive. There are no places to stop. Nobody cares about the people up in Northern Ontario and yet truckers do it every day and it’s a death highway. It’s a death trap.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
So during all of that, there was very little solution for our truck. It would mean bankruptcy of the company.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, and my husband and Chris Barber both told me convoys never work. They just never had a woman do it.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
The idea was actually to work like CBSA. CBSA had a strike during COVID. They felt they didn't have enough money or enough benefits. They left truck drivers sit on the bridges. I was lucky I was only there for the two hours without food, fuel or a bathroom. Friend of mine was there for 14 hours stuck in the backup and the backlog from the CBSA. So I thought, well, if CBSA can disrupt our country and be just fine, and have a settlement within 24 to 48 hours, truck drivers could do the same. We'll just follow CBSA's lead, and that's what we did.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah, I had been trying throughout the month of December, especially the more that our Prime Minister hit the airwaves threatening Canadians with consequences, his favourite word, I kept continuing, looking on Tik Tok because I found out you could use the search bar and put in truckers and find truckers, and I put into their comment bars: Convoy 2022, Convoy 2022. And I just kept going until somebody responded and thank God for Chris Barber.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
We did. We touched base. I believe our first exchange was on or about the 1st of January or 2nd, on or about the 2nd of January where he agrees, and I build a flyer and we go from there.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes --- (VIDEO PLAYBACK)
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Kathy was our Calgary -- it says right there Calgary. She was our Calgary road captain, leader, organizer.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It happened overnight. Once Chris and I started taking to the airwaves, it literally exploded overnight.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It should be every.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Our plan was to slow roll in place, not necessarily block borders. That was never the plan. It was to slow traffic, be a nuisance, but be within our legal rights to protest.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Putting information such as this out on Tik Tok with our email address, our phone numbers. Both Chris and I had conversations regarding how much our phone was ringing and we had no time for anything else. I would frequently stay up until three a.m. answering text messages, emails, messages through Tik Tok for information. I'd been contacted from the Yukon, from Nunavut, from B.C. through to Newfoundland.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes. I mean, the idea never shifted. It was always for the mandates. I received a message from the Women's Federation of Trucking, and Shelly is a friend of my husband's, has been for quite some time. They've done cancer convoys together. She had contacted me with Mr. Bauder's convoy information, and I remember saying to her, "Those are my dates. I'm going to have to call him and tell him to change his dates." I wasn't planning on working together. However, James is a good salesperson, and he told me he had a lot of resources. He had done a convoy before, and that we could work together.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
He just told me he had a convoy.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not really. I have gone back through my emails. Somebody had asked me to sign it, his MOU, basically gave me a rundown of what it was, and I went over and I signed it just as support. I've never read the full document.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I have no proof he isn't.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
At the same time actually.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It was ---
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I was talking with James regarding the dates and him offering a whole bunch of support. And he had mentioned that Pat King was trying to get a hold of me. I'm, like, "Who's Pat King?" And we did a three-way call to connect.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
January 12th.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, sir.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, there were.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I do know that it was being presented to the other convoy, who I would say the core group of the leadership, Dale, Joe, myself and Chris, whether we were going to work together, what was being put on the table, and of course, our silly truck driver selves was mixed into there. So it was just a basic, you know, are we going to do this as a group or are we not, and I believe the consensus was that we were. I believe it was Joe that spoke up first that said, "I guess we're going to Ottawa."
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Jensen.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Evans? That's kind of with a question mark on the end of it. I believe that's his last name.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Well, we were growing very, very fast. Pat King had a huge media presence, so he claimed. His claim is true. And that helped us reach out to more people. James Bauder also had a huge media presence, which helped us reach even more people. At the time convoy started I had less than a thousand followers, I was new to TikTok. Chris had explosive numbers. I think he was in the 160s; I can't give an exact number. So these gentlemen had the numbers to get going. I had the passion, the drive, and the heart.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, I don't typically go spy on people.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not really. I like to judge people on how they behave with me or to me.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I'm going to take your word for it.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah. I'm from southwestern Ontario. I believe I also expressed I would be doing Sarnia as my own personal, but I dealt directly with ADT Truckers, the Yonkers, David Steinberg, Steenberg, sorry Dave, and a whole lot of others, Mike and Andrew, throughout Ontario. Ontario being my home, it gave me the ability to grow faster in the area. They knew out in the western provinces, so they had their connections there.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
As long as we get the time to get all the information out we can go forward.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That was set prior to even Chris Barber agreeing. I was going forward whether he agreed or not. I was just lucky that it was him that did agree.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I had a very good idea of what the Sarnia would look like. I understood a lot of the geographics of the highways throughout Canada, I've driven them for quite sometime. I did realise that some routes we couldn't get close enough to the border that we would have to push back into the city centres just so that we could keep rolling and not block things, we could actually get around in a loop. So those were all coming into play and they were all thought of. There was no intention to block anything, just to slow things down and just be a nuisance I guess. To be heard, to be seen.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, that -- well, I'm familiar with the term, I'm familiar with James Bauder, and James Bauder can talk about his bear hug. I don't know his in and out workings, that's his organisation.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I was on a Live where James probably, and I accepted two t-shirts and two stickers, maybe one sticker, but I think there were two.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
And a keychain.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I kind of roll my eyes when James talks about the MOU, to be honest.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, I guess.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
To end the mandates so I could go back to work and every other essential worker could become essential again.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I actually believed that the Prime Minister wouldn't run away and he would come and meet with us. I believed that our voices would be heard, I believed that we were validated in our complaint, and that after two years maybe somebody would care.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Around which time?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I don't have a date that I met Tamara Lich. I can estimate approximately the 14th of January.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not all of them.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Chris, myself, James, Pat was lead on media. There were -- there's a lot of leaders. Tamara was not considered an organiser or a leader. She was never presented to me that way. She had offered to do the Give -- GoFundMe, I apologise, and Facebook media. That's where I understood her to start and stop her involvement.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes. It was difficult as I was receiving phone calls from all over the country.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I believe -- it came out later, someone provided a document to hand out to the truck drivers to sign up. A lot of that didn't happen due to the chaos at each of these stops. Canada came to welcome us, Canada came to travel with us, and Canada came to support us.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
He was responsible for his province.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
For his group.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That's correct, he was our support. He stated that he would provide us with support, places to park, information, a group of people that would welcome us and assist us. I don't think he failed on that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
At the beginning?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not that I'm aware of. Again, however, each leader had a group of individuals that they worked with, so it expanded outwards.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s what they tended to be called. I considered everyone I spoke with to be their own leader, to follow the direct -- the idea that we had envisioned and go from there.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
When we had our initial contact. I mean, when I talked with Southwestern Ontario leads or road captains or organizers, whatever you'd like to call them, it was very clear this is what we are doing, this is how we'd like to do it in your area, this is possible, and we're always going to be about safety. A lot of these drivers that stood up to take leadership roles were business owners, independent contractors, or just owner-operators in general. They know how to do logistics. I don’t need to tell them.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Is there something specific you're looking for?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I had been in contact with OPP Brian from Sarnia. We were on the same page. I was following his advice. I was instilling it into the drivers that I was working with that safety is number one. And we went forward. The day we arrived on the 23rd was overwhelming.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
There was too many people to count. The truck stop at Wyoming at Exit 25, I've never seen more than maybe 100 trucks in there, and that day, it was hard to get a lane in and out of the truck stop. It was a snake. You had to snake around. London was no different, and neither was any other truck stop or our planned stop along the way.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
They would just roll in with us, a lot of them.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I'm sorry, what was?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I took 402 down to the 401, 401 to the 416, 416 to I believe it was the 417 to Pinecrest, Pinecrest to Carling, Carling to the Parkway, and I was blocked in with the rest of the trucks at the intersection for the last bridge before Wellington.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
The trucks remained there the whole time. I was in my pickup truck. I didn’t bring a big truck to Ottawa. It would be easier for me to assist and help people move around in my pickup truck. So I took my pickup truck and I was able to turn around and go back the other way, so I was in and out same day.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s where the map ---
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
--- sent us. That’s where the police sent us, and that’s where we went.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I honestly can't tell you if I did or did not. I am sure I did. I had a lot of phone calls coming in and a lot of police talking with me along the way. Once Sarnia met up with the GTA, Dave Steenburg took over lead, as he had the most vehicles. So I'm sure he can answer those questions and we did communicate between myself, my -- Andrew, the Yonkers, ADT Trucking. We were all in communication. We all knew each other at this point. We had approximately three weeks to two and a half weeks to prepare, so we were definitely constantly in communication.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
My understanding is yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
My pictures show that where the police officers moving the barrels and my truck is going through where he directed.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That wasn’t during. That was probably posted afterwards.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Canadians finally peaceful. Canadians supporting each other. Canadians finally not separated or segregated in any way.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That would be questions for James Bauder. He had the information, had made arrangements, and we were following his lead on that. So those organizational details went to him. I was following what was sent to me from his organization, and I do believe I had to request it on the 28th, as I hadn’t received it. But we were following the directions. He had done this before. I was following his direction.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
After everybody was parked?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I went up to Arnprior to meet my buddy, Chris.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I hugged him.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not that night. I stayed a relative’s home.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I went back up to Arnprior on the 29th and I led my stack and the rest of the convoy in. I knew the area. It’s easier when you have a pilot car that knows the directions and the city streets. We were again told to go through onto the SJAM; however, a portion of the convoy was, unknowingly to me then, directed by overhead signs to use different streets. Some of us were already on the SJAM and others were being directed by overhead signage.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I was on the SJAM so I wouldn’t know.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, sir.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
On the SJAM.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Well, the SJAM comes right up. We -- the Ottawa Police had moved whatever barricade or blockade, whatever they had preventing vehicles from moving forward, allowed Chris and myself to move up onto Wellington Street. I parked right beside this building, off the roadway. Chris found a parking spot on Wellington and that’s where he parked Big Red. Tamara and Chris got out.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I understood what James Bauder had told me. I believe we had permits. I’m not sure if we did or not. I didn’t doublecheck anybody’s work.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I came in and out of the city almost every day for approximately five days. I had no problem getting in and out of the city. If you learned how to snake around the city, it was open access. I did understand there were some concerns about where trucks were and, Chris being Chris, was taking care of that, so I let him do that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I should rephrase that. I didn’t let him do that; we agreed he would do that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Oh, there was so much to do. I made designs for sweaters for the show up on -- at Parliament Hill. I donated food to the Youville Centre, which I’m a former girl of. I helped with logistics when I could. I helped with mapping. I helped -- my hand was in every pot, although I was not in one section. They tried to -- Tom Morazzo kept trying to fit me into a box and I said, “I’m sorry, I don’t fit into the boxes. I’m up here,” and I just went off and did whatever wherever anybody needed me.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I had a call from a City of Ottawa resident that her and a few of her family members were having a hard time reaching a food bank. So I told her to give me her number, I would work on getting her support to get to the foodbank that she needed to since taxis, buses, and other transportation were not coming into the city. And that’s what I did; I passed her number off to John. I do not know his last name. And I do know he’s from Ontario. And I passed her number off to John, checked with him, made sure that was taken care of, and away we went. So when a fire came up, if I could put it out, I’d put it out. If I couldn’t, I’d pass it on.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It was posted all over the internet.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Love, unity, people happy. This had been two years people had been supressed, two years people were struggling, two years that our government had told us, “Shame your family. Do not allow them to come to Christmas. Do not allow them to come at Easter. Do not allow them to come to your home if they are not vaccinated, if they don’t wear a mask.” There was a lot of hate in Canada and the Toronto Sun supported it -- or the Toronto Star, excuse me, supported it. People were evil towards each other, and that is not what I saw in Ottawa. I saw love. I saw unity. I saw Quebec with Alberta. I saw Ontario with Quebec hugging. I saw people happy. It was the best thing that happened to our country in two years.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
One of the ministers complained they were getting harassed and they had work to do in Ottawa. We had been harassed every day for two years.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I mean there were people drinking; maybe it wasn’t in an LCBO licensed establishment. But I saw food not being checked by food agencies either. Is that the risk? I guess we all took it and we survived.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Up at Parliament Hill on Wellington.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That was the day I arrived, I believe.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
If you can do it without clutching, I'm impressed.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Media.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not involved.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I spoke with ADT Trucking, who called me and asked me if we could block the Windsor border, and my response was, "No way. Continue to slow roll."
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I don't know who called me from ADT.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
In Sarnia?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I saw Tik Tok videos of farmers on the roadway. Only through social media did I have contact. I had no idea that was planned. I had no idea anything like that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No. Even my Tik Tok suggests that I don't know anyone at the Coutt's border, but I thought they had a lot of gumption, I guess you could say.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Could you repeat that question?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Coming back from where?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I saw him every day. We were in the same hotel.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
We all have conflict with each other. It's human nature.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
There were concerns expressed about pretty much all of us at one point in time.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It had nothing to do with me.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, he offered to pay for the sweaters that I designed.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
We hugged in the street, we livestreamed together. He was doing his job as media when it came to me.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
There were criticisms of all of us from somebody.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I've already said no.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Wouldn't be the first time, probably won't be the last.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not while I was in Ottawa. I did not show up as often at the Sheraton where Keith Wilson and Tamara and Chris were mostly stationed with a few others. I felt more comfortable at the Arc doing more of the humanitarian style helping and just being me.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Did I physically go out and do that?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I did have one or two -- let me restart that again. I had one or two times where I put envelopes together. Due to transparency, I had requested that we film those, so that when we got the money, we counted it, we put it into envelopes, and they were distributed. The group over at the Sheraton got a little upset with us, as they were handing out $500 and Drew had suggested we hand out 2,000 since 500 is not a large number.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That would be Chris Barber, Keith Wilson, Tamara Lich, Joe Jensen, Dale, Ryan, Miranda.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I believe it was Drew. I could be incorrect.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
They got $2,000.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
They were upset. They said we made them look bad.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I'm assuming I wasn't there.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I heard the agreement was not valid.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Through social media.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, I heard the report and moved on.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Okay.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah, could be.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah. I don't know how I got it, if I took it myself, but I have no recollection of how that got to be, but I always forwarded information onto my Tik Tok.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Because I believed it to be fake.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That's what I was told by whomever was around me. It was fake news, so that's what I posted.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
The Ottawa red zone or Ottawa as a whole?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, I left on the 18th in the red zone.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
To Ottawa West to a family member's home.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Because the police were about to attack Canadian citizens.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, sir.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I understood the government officials stated that they had notified organisers their bank accounts would be frozen. My husband notified me my bank account and his bank account were -- and our business bank account were frozen. And at 10:04, on the 17th, is when I received a phone call from a person stating they were from the Royal Bank, and that they had frozen my accounts. They had a very nasty exchange with me because they had no right to do so. I told them to open the accounts. They told me to call them when I left Ottawa, and I said, "you need to open my accounts." We ended the exchange. I realised other people in the room were also getting that same phone call. Whether it was the same person making the phone call, I do not know, but I do know other people in the room were getting the same phone call.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I had no money.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I had to ask for money or let people know that I didn't have any money. And I was lucky enough that two gentlemen on the street actually understood my truck payment was coming due and I was a few hundred dollars short, I think it was six-something I was short. They together, collectively, sent me enough money to cover my truck payment. A woman by the name of Massena (ph) was kind enough to give me $100, which helped because it put gas in my pickup truck to go. And from then, we had to scramble on how we were going to pay for medication for my husband and how we were going to pay the mortgage.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
You'd have to ask my husband, he takes care of that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
March. I don't have a specific date.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I don't have a specific date, but it was March.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I just want everybody to know that we weren't there to disrupt the city residents, we were there to be heard. I had given 32 emails, approximately, to MPs and MPPs, 32. Not one of them did anything for me. I followed how things are supposed to go. You first go and you complain. You try again. You try again. And when CBSA sent me a reply pretty much "Suck it up buttercup, this is the way it's going to go, and you're about to lose your job, so don't worry about it", what did you want me to do? Sit down? Lie down? Lose everything over a mandate that was really no longer effect in the U.S.? That's what my country was asking for me. That's what Canadians that were supporting vaccine mandates were asking of me, to lose everything because they were afraid, because our government did a very good job at scaring people, making them so afraid that today still some wear face masks. Many of us here are not.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That propaganda hurt our country. And having our Prime Minister say that there will be consequences for the unvaccinated, and "we don't want them sitting beside our children on planes and trains and automobiles." And the amount of -- I'm trying to control my anger over this gentleman. But the wording that he used was division, the whole time. Pit one person against another. Shame them. Make them comply, and if they don't, they will. I'm sorry, I draw the line when my government wants to throw something into my body I cannot remove. That is where I draw the line. Bodily autonomy, it is mine. It is not my government's.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, Your Honour.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Good afternoon.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I understood Keith Wilson was directing her and taking care of it. He's a lawyer. There should be no concern.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
The Tik Tok video was actually not even about Tamara. Everybody has taken that so out of context. The Tik Tok was regarding the Unified People of Canada or whatever. I have an embassy. It's called the Canadian Embassy. This embassy was trying to associate with the convoy. I didn't know any of the organizers or if they were with -- involved with Tamara. I know they had stated they were. I had never seen them before. I was trying more to denounce what they were doing. They had said they were advisors of Tamara. I was concerned over a comment in a car that had been made over spending money on a building. I did voice my opinion in the car that we were here to end mandates. When we were done working with the government or getting our five minutes with them to speak with them that we were planning on leaving. There was no longer a plan to stay.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
With my team, yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Welcome to my life. You guys threw a lot at me in a short period of time.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I could pull it up on my phone faster.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah, those were things that had been posted on a Telegraph site. Who posted them I'm unaware. We were very, very concerned over safety of, you know, protesters and stuff like that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It's a platform that steals a lot of space from my phone. That's about the best way to explain. It's pretty much just a messaging, a fast way of messaging through a group of a bunch of people.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I have no idea.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Right.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I may have another pair.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not necessarily, but I understand they've been put in a very rock and hard place kind of position. Had I known they showed up to tow tow trucks, I wouldn't use their service. That's me. I am sure a lot of other truck drivers would have felt the same.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
We do that with lots of things. We don’t like what Coca-Cola said, we don’t buy Coke any more. We don't like what somebody says about children or animals, we don’t buy their product any more. It's the same thing. Tow truck services are a product. If we don’t like what they do, we don’t have to buy their service.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I wouldn't buy their service. They weren’t in support of the Canadians.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
As I said, it was more directed to St. Bridget's, but ---
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
She did.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
The threat was that if I used my voice and did any more media that she would include me in the lawsuit with the City of Ottawa.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
If I was silent -- there was no, "If you're silent", but that was the threat.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s correct.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
As did millions of Canadians that demanded people get vaccines and demand that they wear masks and demand that they be thrown to the ground. Yeah, I understood what had happened over the last two years, and I'm sorry they were affected for three weeks, but I suffered for three years -- well, two years.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, that would be ludicrous.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I wasn’t part of that (audio skip).
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I understood there were two locations we were to go, but that the police had redirected us. Once we got together at the ARC, we started to hear concerns, and I believe the guys were working on it, doing whatever they could to deal with the logistics issues. I did not deal with the logistics issues in Ottawa.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, and I went where the police directed us, which was nowhere near your residents, by the way.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That means your residents were further north.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Ours were on the SJAM. There was no residents where we had been. We were in front of the War Memorial.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I believe that’s the War Memorial.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, it was further back.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It was not right directly with the truck.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I'm not opposed to mask mandates. I'm opposed to women who are victims of violence to be forced to wear them or be thrown to the ground.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I observed video from Canadian Tire and Costco both where securities threw people to the ground. Also, a woman in BC that had no hands, arms from the elbow down was refused service at a grocery store because she couldn't put a mask on. So the general public lacked empathy and sympathy for those that could not comply.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Absolutely, but we have never locked up the healthy, ever.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Everybody had their own belief. Some wore masks, some didn’t. There were people on the street that wore masks.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I don’t even believe there was a mask mandate in effect at that time.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I observed maskless people. I didn’t see protests. You might want to talk to those that caused the issue. That was not me.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Sir, I’m a victim of violence and I won’t put a mask on to make you feel better.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
So when I have to go through what I have to go through and take Ativan because you want me to wear a mask, and then you don’t want me to drive a car however I live in the country, I take issue to that. I can’t walk home. I don’t live in a city centre like you do. So yes, there are issues on both sides and there is no compassion on this side. That is the issue. You are painting this exactly like the Toronto Star did. You have no empathy for us.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, because I’m a female victim of violence and you need to respect that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That was asked answered. Yes, the answer was yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I didn’t have those interactions.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, sir.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, Tamara did an amazing job at raising funds for us.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s correct.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Twenty-four (24) to 48 hours.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Canadians thought our voice needed to be heard and we needed to be supported.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
We thought we would get a meeting.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Because Justin Trudeau did exactly what he’s done for the last two years. He literally came out and called us a whole bunch of names. I’m sorry, sir, but if I came and called you a whole bunch of names and said that your ideals and how you felt didn’t mean anything to anyone, how would you feel? And that you losing your job, your income, your way to pay your wife’s expenses to put food on the table for your children was irrelevant, how would you feel? So because of his actions, there are consequences, and that meant we stayed.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I didn’t say that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I’m saying we were looking for a meeting.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Some sort of response would be good.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Or a response.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Most of the time.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Joseph Bourgault from what I understand.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s where truckers live.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Correct.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I understand the same.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not everything.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, I may have been dealing with something else at the time.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I don’t know that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I don’t know who paid for what.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I know of two instances.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
You’ll have to ask them.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, that’s the end of my understanding.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
And he was over at the Sheraton.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
We would ask them.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, they have a purpose; they’re warning signals.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
So we’re noticed, yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
So could be a racetrack, an airport, several other things.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Well, I noticed on your lawsuit, you didn’t list every child that came and honked a horn. They are also responsible, are they not?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
They were -- no, they were used by the drivers. Some were having fun. I do know that Chris and the rest of them had talked; we needed to get the horns down to a minimum. We also needed to do some sleep time because some were in the city making louder noises. We did try to assist citizens.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It’s not that we left you out to dry. We tried to assist citizens.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not that I’m aware of.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I don’t know of a schedule for the horns.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I said organizers tried to control the horns. I never went out except for once during some speeches on the Hill where there was a vehicle that was making excessive noise. Actually, I think there were maybe two of them. I went up to both and I said, “Look, guys, that’s enough.” One complied, one didn’t.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I wouldn’t know. You’d have to ask the other organizers.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
In emergency use.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
From what I understood, his direction was, if you’re in trouble, to honk your horn.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s correct.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, I never said that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Absolutely. If we could have lessened the events to the citizens, absolutely. We weren't there to disrupt the citizens, we were there to have our government finally hear us after two years. I did my due diligence, sir. I wrote 32 letters. I went the right way, and no one listened to me. So I don't know what you expect of me, but bringing my truck, well, I brought my pickup truck, I didn't bring a big truck. Did they notice me? Did somebody finally try and come and talk to me? The answer to that is still no. So what do I need to do have my government, that is elected, to talk to me? To help me solve my problems. You had horn honking. I watched people get thrown to the ground. I watched children in parks getting thrown off their skateboards by police officers. No one helped those people. Matter of fact, people were supporting this kind of behaviour. This is not the behaviour of a free country.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I feel for them, I honestly do, but I feel for those truck drivers that were about to not be able to feed their families. Many of those drivers had their whole families in those vehicles. With no income they lose their home. Kids are raised in a truck until school age. We had a one-month old baby that the City of Ottawa took fuel from and we had to find accommodations so it didn't freeze to death. Which is more inconvenient? Not having fuel and watch your child freeze to death or listening to a few horns? I am sorry that your clients feel that they are entitled to $460 million for horn honking. Who was going to replace my income if I took a vaccine that killed me so my husband could survive? Not any one of your clients I guarantee you.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
And your clients ---
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
--- supported vaccine mandates.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That's not the word I used on my video, but that's the word I can use here.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, that was just in blocking the border completely, just doing that act. They were in -- all in. They were all in.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I'm assuming so, I wasn't there.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I do have to say the horse thing was brilliant. That was just the most beautiful scene I had ever seen coming across.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I believe I started that with Tamara, and yeah, as well as Mr. Marazzo.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Manage me, distance me. I found my own way and I found where I served the public better, and that's from the heart not the sleeve. So I found my place.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes. I'm a truck driver, an independent truck driver and business owner, and I've been a business owner several times, so yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It depends on what their message was. If their message was incorrect you'd be correct about that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not likely.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I assisted when asked.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
You can suggest that but you weren't there.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I went along with a lot of the things that made sense.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
If it didn't make sense -- I make horn honking, I can understand why people want that reduce, absolutely. However, when the government goes and says you can't honk your horn but we want you to leave, they obviously didn't read the Schedule 1 of a truck, which means you have to honk your horn in order to leave the city. So what, did you want to us to leave or did you want us to stay? We couldn't complete a Schedule 1.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I did not witness that.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I do not.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That's what he agreed to. He agreed to put out media for us, to put us through to his followers that would allow us a broader reach. Just kind of like, I don't know, when you do a newspaper ad, except it was free, so thank you Pat.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I'm not sure I understand your question.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Right. He also had his own podcast.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I know some of the organisers asked him not to do so much. I do remember in one news conference that Pat and I were in together that my job was literally to make sure that Pat didn't ramble. Pat likes to go on, and my whole job was to sit there and nudge him if he decided to ramble.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, but it was true information. They just didn't like the truth in Canada.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
You're welcome.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I can.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That's correct, but it wasn't from RBC, it was actually from a police officer.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, when I called it at a later date it was a police officer.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I believe he was Toronto Service or from the Toronto area.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s what he stated.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I was already informed prior to his call by my husband.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
His business account, which had my name on it, to pay for expenses; his and my joint household expense account; as well as my personal bank accounts were all frozen. He informed me at approximately 8:00 a.m.-- could be sooner than that -- and I got the call at 10:04 by the person claiming to be from the Royal Bank.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Now, I believe they were a police officer because I called the number afterwards.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Not directly. A few months later.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, I screenshotted the message when they called. I screenshotted their phone number.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I'd have to recall the number. Would you like me to try?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Because they had no connection with the Royal Bank.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I did not speak to them. I called them back and got a message machine. It stated their name and no association with the Royal Bank.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
You're correct.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s fair, yeah. He dealt more with that. I was dealing with, of course, other situations, other people not having money, trying to help truckers get home. The freezing of the bank accounts created a larger problem than solving the problem.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I can't be -- I can't nail down a time for that. I know it was a very long time that I did not have access to funds, or it felt that way.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s right. A friend went and made that mortgage payment for us. They went and deposited the money for us, so that would be correct.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Other than the $100 that was gifted to me by another participant, I couldn't put fuel in my pickup truck. I live nine hours from Ottawa, so I couldn't get home. I couldn't pay for my husband's diabetic medication. We were looking for solutions to that, because the money we had, we had to decide what that was going to pay for, his -- the one unfrozen bank account, which wasn’t a main bank account. That’s not where we put all our expense money. So my expenses are now -- he's trying to cover. He's trying to cover his expenses. He's trying to cover his business expenses. He's trying to cover everything out of a very small account that’s just meant for him to do with -- you know, buy groceries or food in the U.S. Our lifestyle is a little different and it's very hard for people to understand that do not truck. There is usually a joint account to pay things that either husband or wife can do, because we never know when we'll be home. My estimate time away is approximately 289 days a year, equivalent to 4.5 trips around the earth in a year. So we need to work together to make sure our bills are paid.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s correct.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I did not have access to that. That is his personal bank account. So he had access to money on the road. I was in Ottawa nine hours from my home and I had access to nothing.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
How it affected our business?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
We ended up having people - - we actually, I believe, just deferred the payment a month. We had to call and defer the payment.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, not Blue Water. Yes, it was Windsor Ambassador Bridge, yeah.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
November 17th? It's either the 16th or the 17th.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Twenty twenty-one (2021).
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
On that day, when I crossed in, I tried to explain to the Windsor border CBSA agent that I could not wear a mask, that my visor that I usually used had been broken during the trip. But he would open the window and go, "Put on a mask," and he would slam it. And he would open it up and yell, "Put on a mask," before I could answer again, and slam it. We finally got to the, "She's not got one", and I tried to explain. It was not good enough. He was on some sort of power trip, and he told me to enjoy my time with the Windsor police. I took that as a threat to my safety and security as a Canadian entering my country.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No. My interaction first was with a CBSA officer that was yelling at me to get back into my truck. I had waited a long time for them to come see me, so I was like, have we gone back to the old rules where you got to go in? So I went to go in and I was yelled to get back in my truck. I got back in my truck. I did as I was told. And then I had the officer ask me if PHAC had called me. I believe at that point, they hadn’t. The second time, they had. PHAC said they were waiting on police to arrive to issue a $6,000 fine or of that nature.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s what they called them, yeah.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes, sir.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I actually have it within my files. I believe it was 2020, possibly August. It's in my files. I don't have it right in front of me.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I was on the Bluewater at that point. The CBSA strike was more than one bridge. It was unilateral. It was all over the news.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It was entering almost in reverse mode. It was extremely slow. I sat on the bridge. I looked down and from my location you can see their parking lot. And in front of their parking lot, they had their picket signs. They had approximately three or four agents who walked, pointed at the trucks upon the bridge, turned around, walked backwards, walked so slow to their gates, I'd never seen them walk so slow before. You'd think they were on vacation.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
They did not care about Canadian truck drivers or American truck drivers coming in, not one bit. My buddy was there for 14 hours. A lot of these drivers, especially for the garbage removal, go in and out a couple of times a day. That could have meant that any one of those truck drivers didn't have a full supply of medication on them. They didn't care what happened to those truck drivers. Canadian government didn't care what happened to those truck drivers. Doug Ford didn't care what happened to those truck drivers. CBSA's top management didn't care what happened to us either.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
He was also at Bluewater.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
We left on the 27th.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That's correct.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That's correct.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, sir.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I don't know what was referenced earlier today.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I'm sorry, the date again?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I may have been there on the 23rd. I would have to recheck my logbooks. I did come in late into the convoy. I was having issues with my load. When I had left to Alberta, I ended up being delayed, and I did arrive back to the convoy late to get started. I had a gentleman by the name of Carl start my Sarnia, so I may have been a day late, which meant I would have gone there, parked, dropped my trailer and then joined the convoy.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, I was only a day behind.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Absolutely, yea.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Thank you.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That would be the direction of Freedom Corp and Keith Wilson and J.C. Siap (phonetic), I assume.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
With Chad.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I have no idea what they’re entitled.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Privilege means I would have had to sign on a privilege.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I have the ---
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Those documents were provided to me afterwards.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
But they said they don’t want anything outside, after that timeframe.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Right, but they don’t want all the truth out. They only want selected truth out.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I think he did confine ---
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
One of the first meetings that I went into was with Tom Quiggin, Chris, TBOF, James Pelozzo (phonetic). I don’t believe there were any lawyers present at that time. Tom Quiggin had come in and looked at Tamara and said, “This is all because of you.” I asked Chris to deal with that and to solve that issue so that people understood that that was not exactly true. Her fundraising did amazing. She did a great job. But she did not start the convoy. And I didn’t want that to go on, that fake kind of presentation, I guess. I don't know. I wanted it to be cleared up. It ended up that Chris asked me to not divide, not to create an issue, to go along with things. And we repeatedly had those conversations amongst us, Chris and I, for me repeatedly asking him to clear up this fake narrative that had been presented and that just kept being presented.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That would have been on a Zoom call thereafter, though.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
After ---
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah, well after.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That’s why I was saying some of that is well after.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
As soon as we got to Ottawa, there were issues, and they continued and started to magnify.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah, it just seemed like - - I provided the lawyers with a complete list of organizers. Not one of those names showed up on the Freedom Convoy documents for the NFP. My name didn’t show up on there. I understood that the Freedom Convoy Corp -- dealing with the monies that we had raised as a team, and we were to be a team. My name didn’t show up. I was obviously being omitted.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It seemed we took a lot of direction from Keith Wilson.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Just in whatever documentation that I’ve provided.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Again, that would be after the EA.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
There was a video where he’s telling people to come to Ottawa. I do not know what video that is.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I’m looking for it. Hang on a minute.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Is it this one that we’re referring to?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Can you indicate the three places that we wanted to focus?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
And on the second paragraph.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yes.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Page 2, paragraph 2.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
If you wouldn’t mind.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Well, Keith Wilson was writing -- writing the speeches and directing what we said. Many times, he came into a conference room and he goes, “Let’s get the messaging straight,” and he said, “What are we here for? Mandates. What mandates. All mandates.” This was the message that started the convoy. So was he out of touch with what was going on? Did somebody not fill him in? This message was already in place.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I believe he says that in this one as well. I don’t think we marked but he did make the statement that he came board on a flight with -- as others that he picked up along the way.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I’m not sure what you’re referring to but if we’re still on this document ---
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I don’t know where the document is; I’m sorry.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I’m not sure which one we’re referring to. This is why I had some help from Rebecca because everything got jumbled this morning when it was sent back to us. I have no idea where my documents are at this point. I find it extremely unfair that this has happened. If they would have left the naming that I had on the documents, I would have been able to pull these up for you and we could have referenced and Rebecca and I -- or Jane and I would have been able to be more effective up here.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Rebecca has a list of the documentation. If she could come up here, she can show me what it is that we’re pulling, if that would be all right with everyone.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I’m sorry.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Jane, it says: "On February 2nd, Wilson travelled to Ottawa on a chartered flight with Ewa." I'm sorry, Ewa.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I'm sorry. And I'm going to butcher your last name, so I'm just not going to do it: "...Dwayne Lich, Chad Eros and others, Wilson and Ewa boarded the flight in Edmonton, and others were picked up along the way."
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That's not what you were looking for?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
The email where we were instructed not to talk about anything to do with the plane?
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Right.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
That was a Signal message.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I don't know what it's been numbered, and I'm not sure ---
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
The email was to a group of us in regards to they had found out somehow about the plane and they were curious whether the lawyers and Chad and Mr. Lich had come in and followed mandate requirements. I didn't think it was a big deal, but we were told we were not allowed to talk about it.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Keith Wilson.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Right. We don't have it. Okay, the CBSA letter came in December, and it basically made no accommodations for those that couldn't wear a mask, those that - - they just wouldn't make accommodations. And I had had a PHAC there at one point in February of 2021, and they woman's name was Jessica, and she had given me exemptions. My company that I was working for at the time even wrote a letter based on her name on the face mask requirements from PHAC that they give you. She wrote her name, said that if there was any problems just to refer to her. That never happened. So every time I went through there was an issue. It depended on what agent I got, whether the issue was a small issue or a massive blown out fight between CBSA and myself.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
My husband actually took the initiative because I was done. I didn't plan on staying. I didn't plan on breathing. Couldn't do it.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I planned to end my life and give him everything, but for some reason I was here to cause a ruckus I guess. And I couldn't do it as fast as I would like to do. My husband went ahead and filed the complaint first on my behalf. CBSA wouldn't allow it. I told them that I was afraid of repercussion at the border, that this would continue to strain the relationship between myself and CBSA. And after their letter of basically not providing accommodation, following the rules of Ontario, which were -- you didn't have to be masked if you actually had a valid medical reason, I think going back to a terrible time in your life is a valid medical reason, and they minimised the suffering and the experience with them at CBSA. And I wrote them back and I said, "Please don't underestimate what you've done." I had at that point started on a downward spiral of rapid weight loss. My southbound trips were fine, but my northbound trips were unable to sleep, tossing and turning, not eating, losing rapid weight, shaking driving up to CBSA. At first, it was just a little bit, then it became more and more strenuous, more stressful, and it just started compiling. Shaking driving from Texas to Ontario and actually being so overwrought on the second day that I had to take a day, and I couldn't move, I couldn't get out of bed. I had to take a day to kind of get my stuff together and continue on. So it was a very traumatic experience, although CBSA thinks they were just doing their job.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I was asking for help. Help. I wanted help. I wanted someone to help me. Some of those messages I believe start with "9-1-1. "Help. I need help." Randy Hillier, Roman Baber, Lianne Rood, maybe even Monte McNaughton, I know there were letters to him. I went federal, I went provincial. Nobody listened. Nobody helped.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I don't want to listen to your staff member when I'm having an issue that is life- changing, I want to talk to you. I want to sit down with you, whether it's with a Tim Horton's coffee or a bottle of water, and let's figure out the problem and find some solutions. But those weren't available.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Approximately 32.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah, it was November 11th. I was 14, and I was visiting, and being a teenager with attitude I sat while the services started and the minute of silence. My grandfather grabbed me by the back of the shirt, by the back of the collar, lifted me up and he said, "You'll stand here and you'll respect our dad." Afterwards, after the time had passed on the television, I remember we were watching it on the television, I went to sit back down, and he made me stand for a full minute. After -- when we were done I was ordered to go to the kitchen table. I sat with him while he explained to me what it was like to be in Nazi Germany. He told me about the snitch lines, that if you wanted your neighbour's piano and they weren't going to give it to you, you just called up the Nazi snitch lines and they would take care of the family and you would go and get their belongings. They -- he talked to me about children who would go to school and the teachers would ask "What did your parents talk about last night?", and they would come home and find their families murdered because they said bad things about Hitler. The warning signs were here. We had people snitching on people at Christmastime enjoying family members, because there might have been sick people in a home that that person doesn't own. And then we watched Quebec police officers pull people out of those homes, throw them to the ground and arrest them because they were spending time with their family. We were headed down the road that my grandfather talked to -- talked to me about. I don't want to live that way. I want to live the way we have been in Canada. I want us to be united again. I want us to look at people and smile as we walk down the street. That works everywhere but the GTA. I mean, I want us to get back to where we were in 2019, that's all I want. It's not that much to ask for. We're not that far away. And we need to stop yelling at people and dividing and pitting each other against each other. We have a Prime Minister that was a former drama teacher and all he has done is -- has made Canada full of drama. He's very good at what he does.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Providing it's allowed to be addressed in court, so I do believe that it's still valid and still exists.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
ADT Canada was a company. I just got the ADT phone number. I know Ben was one of the heads -- had owned the company, but the number came from the company number, so I can't recall who I was talking to at that time. It very may well have been Ben, but I'm not sure.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
If the Windsor border should be blocked and absolutely not, I said.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah, continue to slow roll, which is what the whole convoy was originally built on was that we would slow roll in a convoy together across Canada.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
It was Ambassador.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, no, this would have been before the Windsor blockade happened. I was asked should it happen, and I said no.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Slow roll as had we been. What happened was, a lot of the convoy came to Ottawa, but in each region, there were people that couldn't make that trip, so they continued supporting us in their region.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Yeah, I did go -- I went to Ottawa west first, to a family member, and then I went up to Arnprior. I actually have a video on my Tik Tok where I'm telling Chris to hurry up because I haven't got to meet him yet. Him and Tamara, I think, I'm saying, "Hurry up, guys." But in all fairness, they didn't know I was going there to meet them, so I do have a Tik Tok out on that day.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
I had to be fair. I mean, I couldn't bust them up for not being ---
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, I wasn't there for quite a few days. I actually came in and out of the city. And as long as you know how to snake through the city, there was no issue. I got in I believe it was on or about the Wednesday before I was offered a room, and I was told by Tom Marazzo that I should get a room there because I needed to be more accessible instead of coming in and working late, going home -- well, going home, going to my family's home and coming back in the morning so.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
Oh, no, sir. I paid for parking and when -- I have those parking passes if you'd like to see them. And I also have the little pass from the ARC where I parked my vehicle. I never parked on the street.
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Brigitte Belton (Freedom Corp / Convoy Organizers)
No, I'm respectful.