Paul Leschied

Organization / Affiliation
Convoy participants, Windsor

Paul Leschied spoke 323 times across 1 day of testimony.

  1. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I'd like to affirm.

    19-146-07

  2. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Paul, P-A-U-L, Winfield, W-I- N-F-I-E-L-D, Leschied, L-E-S-C-H-I-E-D.

    19-146-10

  3. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-147-24

  4. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-148-01

  5. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah.

    19-148-04

  6. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-148-07

  7. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah, correct.

    19-148-12

  8. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Fifteen (15) to 20 kilometres from downtown Windsor, yeah.

    19-148-15

  9. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I co-own a contracting business that serves the greater Windsor-Essex County area.

    19-148-19

  10. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I've lived in Essex County area for the better part of the last 44 years, other than the time I spent at university and briefly in Alberta for a -- as a commercial helicopter pilot.

    19-148-23

  11. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would just say, like many other Canadians, I'd grown a little wary with the -- I guess the direction of our basic fundamental rights and freedoms kind of being transformed into privileges that can be granted or revoked based upon our personal compliance with whatever the latest mandate or bylaw that's being passed down by our federal, provincial or municipal leaders. That led me to be a little concerned as a father of three young children, the direction that this country's heading in, and so I participated in several peaceful, lawful protests, so that people's voices could be heard with these same concerns.

    19-149-02

  12. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, we had various fundraisers for people that have been negatively impacted, or had job losses, or had their businesses somewhat run into the ground, or not being able to make ends meet. We've had various freedom rallies at the flag, I guess that you would call it, at the downtown Windsor area of Riverside and Ouellette Avenue.

    19-149-15

  13. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I wouldn't say I was there for the weekly rallies. There have been weekly rallies and I was -- I did my part to offer whatever assistance or support that I could at several of these events over the last couple years.

    19-149-23

  14. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, I just I've made a lot of friends and that would attend some of these rallies in the area that have similar concerns that I do. So, you know, through text message, periodic meetups where people might be discussing what they would like to do or what action maybe they would like to take next.

    19-150-03

  15. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    More just, like, personal interactions with friends that were involved in the same sort of things.

    19-150-12

  16. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I wouldn't say that there was very many formal organizations. It was kind of a loose organization with people coming and going and that would be about it.

    19-150-17

  17. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, like I said, it would be some people that were involved with this maybe prior to me getting involved, and then I would meet certain people over the course of these events, and ---

    19-150-23

  18. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    --- that would be about it.

    19-150-28

  19. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, I offered support where I could. I thought I was a calming influence on a lot of these events when perhaps maybe things got contentious or, you know, offer support in terms of setting things up. You know, we would have a sound stage, perhaps, and you know, I would offer support, and moving things from Point A to Point B, or hauling things from somewhere to wherever the venue happened to be at.

    19-151-03

  20. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-151-13

  21. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I was aware of those, yes.

    19-151-16

  22. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No, I did not.

    19-151-19

  23. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-151-22

  24. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-151-26

  25. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Mostly social media, and then, you know, I had a couple of friends that were heading up there at various points during the Ottawa demonstrations.

    19-152-02

  26. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-152-08

  27. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-152-13

  28. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I knew that there was slow rolls going on. Was there rumours about this event or that event going on? There's all kinds of things being shared across social media, but I was not aware of any organisation for an event that was going to start on February 7th.

    19-152-18

  29. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Very loosely. Like, I mean, you might have heard somebody suggest, "Oh, well that would be a -- that would be an interesting idea", but nothing that would ever have been something that I was involved in discussing.

    19-152-25

  30. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-153-04

  31. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I'd estimate round 9:00 p.m.

    19-153-07

  32. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah, I would usually go after my young children were put to bed, and I would head down from between the hours of eight and nine until maybe twelve to one o'clock in the morning.

    19-153-10

  33. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    So where I went was at the intersection of Girardot and Huron Church Avenue, which is approximately a half kilometre south of the egress point of the Ambassador Bridge southbound on Huron Church.

    19-153-16

  34. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-153-26

  35. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah. Yeah, somewhere between the purple and maybe just a little bit south of that.

    19-154-01

  36. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    So Girardot would be if you see the second cross street, I see you there as a little -- where it says Dot Avenue beside it and you see like an intersection there, that would be where the intersection of Girardot and Huron Church would be.

    19-154-05

  37. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-154-12

  38. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    There was probably three to four pickup trucks blocking or straddling both sides of Huron Church Avenue north and southbound at that intersection.

    19-154-15

  39. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-154-21

  40. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    See, they weren't driving when I got there, they were just kind of straddled across, like perpendicular to Huron Church Avenue so that they were impeding the traffic at Girardot and Huron Church.

    19-154-24

  41. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would say three to four.

    19-155-02

  42. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No. I parked much further away on a side street.

    19-155-05

  43. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-155-08

  44. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    They would be on foot. Other than those three to four cars that were involved there, everybody else would be on foot.

    19-155-11

  45. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    When I got there, maybe 40, 50, somewhere in that range.

    19-155-16

  46. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    On the sidewalks, some in the intersection of that area.

    19-155-20

  47. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-155-24

  48. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    So there would have been police vehicles at the intersection near, I guess on the east side of that road where the Assumption High School area is.

    19-155-26

  49. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    So I didn't discover that until after I left that evening, and then I had seen that there was Windsor Police vehicles at several of the intersections surrounding the general area.

    19-156-03

  50. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-156-09

  51. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I didn't observe that at the Girardot intersection, which is the only spot that I really walked.

    19-156-14

  52. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Not on February 7th, no.

    19-156-19

  53. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Well, my impressions at Girardot was that there was semi-trucks backed up on both north and southbound lanes for as far as my eyes could see. So I had no reason to really walk along all of the other semi-trucks on the road that were just sitting there idling.

    19-156-22

  54. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes, that's correct.

    19-157-01

  55. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would estimate one o'clock in the morning.

    19-157-04

  56. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    When I left, there was probably a dozen or so protesters left there, and I had assumed that that would be a one-off type of event and it would be over by the next morning, or later that night.

    19-157-08

  57. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I think I might've asked, like "is anybody planning to stay here beyond the evening" because the numbers had dwindled as -- in the three or four hours that I was there, and I had just assumed by one o'clock in the morning, when it was kind of apparent that there was more police presence in the area than there were protesters, that this wasn't going to go on for any length of time.

    19-157-15

  58. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, I remember asking a friend the next morning "Is anything still going on at the Ambassador Bridge or Huron Church area?", and he said, "Yeah, it's still going on", which I was very surprised of. And so, yeah, I went down the second evening about the same time.

    19-157-24

  59. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-158-03

  60. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I had never seen any of the people in the three or four pickup trucks or SUVs that were there that night, prior or since.

    19-158-07

  61. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    So on that second night, the protests seemed to be centrally located at the southbound egress point from the Ambassador Bridge, so those lanes would have been blocked. Northbound, I believe there was maybe one or two protest vehicles on the northbound area, but the entire perimeter, I guess, of the College/Huron Church intersection was cordoned off by police vehicles.

    19-158-14

  62. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Okay, I would say three of the four parts and then the southbound Huron Church just south of College Avenue that was where more of the protest vehicles that didn't fit on, say, the northside of where the egress area is from Ambassador Bridge, they had started to park on that south section of the southbound lanes of Huron Church south of College Avenue.

    19-158-23

  63. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    People or vehicles?

    19-159-04

  64. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would say perhaps 40 vehicles, a few large semi-trucks, and probably between 100, 150 protesters. Again, the numbers fluctuated over the times that I was there, usually dwindling as the evenings got later.

    19-159-06

  65. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would say from my interactions with other people, the crowd dynamic might have changed from the daytime to the evening times. But from the times I would get there at 9:00 until 1:00 o’clock, which was my average times that I would have been there, the dynamic would have stayed the same, just the numbers probably would have dropped off as people left to go home.

    19-159-12

  66. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, there would be music, the National Anthem would be sung, you know, periodically. There would be food being shared amongst anybody and everybody that was -- wanted to be part of that. Generally just a peaceful gathering of people that were there for various reasons.

    19-159-21

  67. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Not really specifically. Its probably largely assumed, the reasons. I mean, I think I spoke to a few of the truck drivers who expressed their reasons for being there was more in line with the fact that they were about to face losing their ability to cross the international border without compliance with the mandates to cross and drive their trucks to and from the United States.

    19-160-01

  68. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    There was.

    19-160-10

  69. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-160-13

  70. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Exactly.

    19-160-15

  71. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I don’t think I really spoke in depth with some of the strangers that I was meeting for the first time about why they were there.

    19-160-18

  72. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I think it was just assumed to me that they were there celebrating or expressing their peaceful right to protest.

    19-160-22

  73. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Well, it certainly had grown. Definitely seemed to be a little bit more organized than on the first night when things were a little bit more new. They generally seemed to be -- from the ones that I was able to interact with, or witness other people interacting with, very friendly and cordial with the protestors that were there.

    19-160-27

  74. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Not more than to be a party in perhaps talks that they were having with other people, other than to offer hellos or greetings to some of the officers that might have been in the areas where I was.

    19-161-07

  75. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    On that second night, certainly there was a lot of -- I shouldn’t say a lot. There was some police officers that would suggest, “We support your right to be here,” or, “We’re happy that --” maybe not the word happy, “We’re in support with what you’re doing here and everything seems to be peaceful.” That’d be about it.

    19-161-14

  76. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-161-22

  77. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, the previous night, I wouldn’t suggest that there was -- I didn’t remember seeing barricades. I would say that there was police cruisers at intersections, and I guess if that represents a barricade, that would be what I would say on night number one. And then night number two, they would have some of those construction, like, orange construction wooden barricades at some of the intersections in the area.

    19-161-26

  78. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    On that second night, yes.

    19-162-09

  79. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    So I remember noticing around -- between somewhere around midnight and maybe 12:30, a couple trucks that -- semi trucks or large size trucks had entered -- or had had to go around the Tecumseh Road/Huron Church intersection to go down some of the residential streets that would be west of Huron Church. And you could hear the horns. And they entered, I believe, at College Avenue and Huron Church, where there would have been a police cruiser and orange barricades. And upon them arriving at the intersection, I saw the police officers get out of the vehicles, remove the barricades, and allow the trucks to enter into that intersection, and then basically direct them to park on the southbound lanes of Huron Church Avenue south of College Avenue.

    19-162-13

  80. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, generally, I think in that second night, there was an ability for vehicles to leave later on in the evening if they were not planning to remain parked on Huron Church Avenue that night. I’m not exactly sure where they were facilitated to come and go. I know there’s a couple intersections there that would allow you to exit to the west of Huron Church, and perhaps they were being -- the cruisers maybe would have allowed some of those trucks or passenger vehicles to exit at that point. I don’t remember actually witnessing how they were getting out.

    19-162-28

  81. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I just remember -- I guess I’m deducing this from the fact that there was different vehicles there, say on night two, from the subsequent nights, and I can only assume that they had to have been able to leave on their own accord with police cooperation.

    19-163-12

  82. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-163-25

  83. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I had heard that there was -- there was -- about some protestors that wanted to, perhaps, blockade the Wyandotte entrance to the Ambassador Bridge. I never went over there to see it. I know that there was some protestors that perhaps wanted to be involved with blocking the Tecumseh Road and Huron Church intersections. But I never really walked to the Wyandotte area to see what was really going on.

    19-163-28

  84. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    It would be like the ancillary entry, whereas the main entry would be northbound Huron Church into the Ambassador Bridge area.

    19-164-11

  85. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    The northbound entrance to the Ambassador Bridge?

    19-164-16

  86. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Oh, the Wyandotte one. Again, I didn’t go there. I just remember hearing some protestors say, “It’s blocked.” And then you’d hear, “It’s not blocked.” And then, “It’s been given up in negotiations for emergency use vehicles to come and go.” But again, I never saw it with my own eyes to be able to say when it was blocked, when it was not blocked.

    19-164-19

  87. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would have just -- I would have been hearing this third hand from somebody who maybe would have heard those negotiations prior to my arrival.

    19-165-01

  88. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    To the best of my knowledge, the northbound entrance to the Ambassador Bridge was always open, and I believe it was being used by law enforcement, or perhaps CBSA, to come and go, because that’s a very large, like, two or three lane entrance point to the bridge. And it was secured from night number two until the end of the demonstration by law enforcement. And it was never really impeded by protestors, although, because Huron Church was basically blocked by -- or secured at Tecumseh Road by Windsor Police Services or other law enforcement, that you couldn’t get to that northbound area as a -- no vehicle could really get into that area.

    19-165-06

  89. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Periodically I believe I would see some, but it was a very small contingent that was at that intersection.

    19-165-20

  90. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    And this is on the Wednesday, we’re talking?

    19-165-25

  91. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Largely the same as the previous night. Perhaps a little bit larger, maybe, in the number of people that were there. But the same sort of things going on, National Anthems, food, more or less a cordial atmosphere amongst everybody that was there.

    19-165-28

  92. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah, but I mean it would die down from being a party as the evening got later and colder and...

    19-166-07

  93. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I never saw that.

    19-166-12

  94. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I didn’t see that.

    19-166-15

  95. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    So it started to become more apparent that it looked like they were preparing -- I believe seeing police vehicles that didn’t look recognizable to me as Windsor Police Service vehicles there. I remember seeing around midnight or 1 o’clock, like, a green pick-up truck with several, what I can only estimate would be, like, SWAT team-type members dressed up in the back of the truck, kind of coming out of that northbound entrance area into the Ambassador Bridge. And they would come and, I don’t know, either do whatever that it was that they were practising to do, or if they were trying to gather information. And then -- and then they would leave.

    19-166-18

  96. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    It didn’t look to me like a vehicle I had ever recognized as a Windsor Police vehicle. And it -- I believe it was like a green, like, F250 or F350-style vehicle.

    19-167-03

  97. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would say that was on Friday, I think, is when I would gather that I started to hear some of those suggestions.

    19-167-11

  98. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah, I would say so.

    19-167-17

  99. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I think most of the protestors were still -- still were, still were of the opinion that they were not going to leave until some level of achievement had been made for the purposes of their demonstration.

    19-167-20

  100. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Perhaps maybe a discussion with somebody that they were seeking to have a conversation with. I guess I can only speak for hearing some of the drivers of the larger trucks that were going to be faced with losing the ability to perform their job if they weren’t going to comply with a mandate, and so that was their, in my estimation, reason for being there.

    19-167-27

  101. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would say some of the protestors and certainly the ones that were in the profession of driving heavy trucks. But again, I’d be assuming what -- what every person’s reason that wasn’t a truck driver was there; why they were there.

    19-168-09

  102. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    There’s nothing like that.

    19-168-16

  103. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct, yeah.

    19-168-20

  104. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, I was not aware of the details of the injunction. I had heard that it was being discussed. I showed up on that night, the same way I did on the previous four nights, to be part of a peaceful demonstration and observe with my own two eyes what was happening and in the backyard of my own community that I’ve been a part of.

    19-168-23

  105. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Not very much, to be honest.

    19-169-03

  106. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I wasn’t sure when perhaps it had been granted, I just knew that it was in talks. That was about the extent of it.

    19-169-06

  107. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-170-13

  108. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-170-16

  109. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No. I was never told any of the -- what you just read off there.

    19-170-19

  110. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-170-23

  111. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-170-27

  112. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I think I just got the sense on that Friday that they were going to put a -- put an end to this protest. And the following Saturday, again, I -- I’m only able -- I was only able to go at these later times in the evening, after I’d worked all day, and again, put my children to bed at night. And on that Saturday, it was kind of clear that things were escalating to the point that this was going to come to an end, and there was no reason for me to head down to it.

    19-171-01

  113. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, I might have heard it on the radio.

    19-171-11

  114. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No. Again, I was just there to -- I was there to witness what was happening so that I could know what was actually going on down at the Ambassador Bridge demonstration. Because I figured that was probably the only way I was going to know really what was happening is to witness it with my own two eyes.

    19-171-15

  115. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would say that there was a lot of, perhaps, exaggeration of what was happening at the demonstration in Windsor. It was certainly being painted as something that I didn’t witness for the five days that I was there, which was simply a peaceful protest of people that wanted to have their voices heard.

    19-171-25

  116. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, I remember seeing videos or clips on the mainstream media showing trucks, like, backed up across the Ambassador Bridge beyond that first night, which did -- I mean, I think they cleared the Ambassador Bridge within 12 hours or so on that first night, s that was never -- that was never going on the rest of the week. There was only, like, four to six semi trucks that were involved in impeding or blockading traffic on that southbound Huron Church area, and it certainly made -- the coverage certainly seemed to make it sound like it was much larger in scale and scope than that.

    19-172-05

  117. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, I don’t know what the actual economic impact is ‘cause that’s not something I study or really learn or know about.

    19-172-18

  118. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, not just what I’m seeing in Windsor, but I mean I kind of observed the same sort of misrepresentation from what I would hear from friends that were in Ottawa versus what was actually being shown on television in regards to the nature of the demonstrations that were going on.

    19-172-23

  119. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-173-08

  120. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah, that’s correct.

    19-173-16

  121. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-173-20

  122. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    That would have been my assumption, yes.

    19-173-24

  123. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-173-28

  124. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    There were certain groups that the police would be talking with, but not like, one central group that would seem like they would be engaging with on a routine basis.

    19-174-03

  125. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah.

    19-174-12

  126. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No. It was a leaderless movement that I didn’t see one focal point that was being discussed, discussing things with law enforcement on a routine basis.

    19-174-15

  127. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I can only speculate. I mean, the police brought it to an end. How things would have unfolded if that didn’t happen, I don't know.

    19-174-23

  128. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No, I didn’t get that sense.

    19-175-01

  129. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I wouldn't say that would -- I guess that would be an assumption that I made, that you know, they wanted to have their voices heard because they had largely been silenced and they had no other -- they probably felt they had no other option as to who could they talk to regarding the mandates that were coming that would force them or cause them to be able to lose their ability to do their jobs crossing the international border.

    19-175-05

  130. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah. I never saw any politicians came to engage with anybody there.

    19-175-18

  131. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No, I wouldn't say that I went there with any goals.

    19-175-23

  132. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-176-24

  133. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-176-27

  134. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Me personally, no.

    19-177-03

  135. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, I just -- I was there to observe what was happening and to support other people that were there for their particular reasons to conduct themselves in a peaceful, lawful protest.

    19-177-05

  136. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I can't say that other protesters -- there's probably other protesters that may have accepted this offer, but I can only speak for myself.

    19-177-12

  137. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I have some friends that had gone up to Ottawa, and I would interact with them or ask them how things were, wherever they were at.

    19-177-17

  138. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah.

    19-177-22

  139. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-177-25

  140. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    They were just people that wanted to go up and support in whatever ways they could from our region.

    19-177-28

  141. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I guess you'd have to define. What do you mean by "leadership of the Ottawa protests"?

    19-178-06

  142. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-178-10

  143. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I think I had a brief exchange just to ask if there was any sort of connection between what was happening in Windsor and what was happening in Ottawa, and I got a categorical no response to that.

    19-178-12

  144. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-178-19

  145. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    There were so many rumours throughout the entire week of oh, there's -- the convoy is coming down to Windsor, and hundreds of vehicles coming down to Windsor. And I was just trying to figure out, like, what perhaps is actually going on here and what might be going on here in Windsor.

    19-178-22

  146. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Just that there was constant rumours of more trucks are on their way from this location or that location.

    19-179-02

  147. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-179-07

  148. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-179-09

  149. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-179-12

  150. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-179-14

  151. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, I can only speculate the reasons why other people decided to choose that location.

    19-179-18

  152. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Certainly, it's ---

    19-179-22

  153. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    It's certainly a strategic reasonable -- a spot where you could garner some attention that might allow you to have your voices heard, if that was the intention.

    19-179-24

  154. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    After 9 o'clock at night, no, I didn’t see anybody that would be considered a child. I mean, there might have been some teenagers there, but no, it was usually an adult crowd when I would arrive.

    19-180-03

  155. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-180-09

  156. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No, I never heard about that.

    19-180-14

  157. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-180-18

  158. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-180-21

  159. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Not that I was aware of.

    19-180-25

  160. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I think you've covered everything in my statement there.

    19-181-01

  161. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-181-13

  162. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-181-17

  163. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-181-21

  164. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Sure.

    19-181-24

  165. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Sure.

    19-182-14

  166. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-182-18

  167. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah, I would agree with that.

    19-182-22

  168. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-182-27

  169. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would assume so, yes.

    19-183-02

  170. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-183-05

  171. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-183-09

  172. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Sure.

    19-183-14

  173. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-183-18

  174. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-183-22

  175. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, I didn’t participate in any of the slow rolls, but I was aware that they were going on at certain times.

    19-183-26

  176. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-184-04

  177. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, my only understanding is that a blockade was set up at Girardot and Huron Church on February 7th.

    19-184-07

  178. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-184-12

  179. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I can only assume that.

    19-184-15

  180. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-184-19

  181. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I did not park my vehicle at Huron Church and Girardot. I would have been on a side street far west from that intersection.

    19-184-24

  182. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    That’s correct.

    19-185-03

  183. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-185-07

  184. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    The side streets or perhaps like the strip-mall plaza up near Tecumseh Road east of the intersection at Huron Church.

    19-185-10

  185. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would usually walk down the sidewalk on Huron Church Avenue towards the College intersection.

    19-185-16

  186. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would just intermingle with some of the people that perhaps I recognized that would be in the general area.

    19-185-22

  187. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes, of Huron Church and College Avenue.

    19-185-26

  188. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-186-04

  189. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    “Relevant information”? I would just say “general information”.

    19-186-08

  190. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-186-12

  191. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes, just of what I was seeing.

    19-186-15

  192. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes, observations.

    19-186-18

  193. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    “Observations”, that’s best.

    19-186-20

  194. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I agree, yeah.

    19-186-23

  195. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-186-27

  196. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-187-02

  197. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Not that I was aware of.

    19-187-05

  198. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-187-11

  199. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    That’s fair, yeah.

    19-187-15

  200. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-187-18

  201. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes. I would say law enforcement was building up prior to that Friday, though.

    19-187-23

  202. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Absolutely, yes.

    19-187-28

  203. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    “Escalating” by -- what do you mean, in regard to protesters or ---

    19-188-03

  204. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    There was definitely a perception and I had overheard a couple of law enforcement officers suggest that maybe, “You’ve made your point. It’s time to go home now.”

    19-188-08

  205. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I did not, no.

    19-188-14

  206. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct. Correct, yeah.

    19-188-18

  207. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, that would be an assumption as to why they decided to be there beyond then.

    19-188-21

  208. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Can you repeat how you want - - how you asked that question?

    19-188-26

  209. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    It became apparent. I mean, you saw the militarized police vehicle staged there and it kind of looked like there was going to be an abrupt end put to this protest.

    19-189-03

  210. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    They were there. I'm not exactly sure where.

    19-189-10

  211. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would have heard it from third-hand information after the fact.

    19-189-14

  212. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I had heard that that was going on, yes.

    19-189-19

  213. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, that'd be an assumption.

    19-189-23

  214. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Say that again? They were or they weren't?

    19-189-27

  215. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-190-02

  216. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I believe so.

    19-190-05

  217. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, I was not there that day.

    19-190-08

  218. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, I would have been watching it on social media like anybody else, to see what was actually happening on that February 12th.

    19-190-12

  219. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-190-17

  220. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Well, I mean, certainly vehicles came and went from that intersection that I was witnessing on those first -- or that second night.

    19-190-21

  221. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    That was one of the reasons. Correct.

    19-191-01

  222. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, as a small business owner that has largely not been economically impacted over the last couple years, I wanted to show support for several of my other fellow business owners who either lost businesses or were barely able to make ends meet, who wanted to have their voices heard, that had largely not had that opportunity or had been silenced over the previous year regarding these mandates that were adversely affecting their ability to conduct business.

    19-191-04

  223. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I can't speak as to how that would have affected other business owners.

    19-191-16

  224. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    That's correct.

    19-191-20

  225. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    That's correct.

    19-191-24

  226. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-191-27

  227. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Somewhat, yeah.

    19-192-03

  228. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would agree that there is - - that the last part of your statement that there was an impact of the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge.

    19-192-17

  229. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, I wasn't there to see what was going on, but I can only assume that Bluewater would have been far busier because they were not able to cross at the Ambassador Bridge.

    19-193-07

  230. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes.

    19-193-21

  231. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-193-24

  232. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Sure.

    19-194-01

  233. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Just regular text messaging or Telegram. I -- perhaps there's others, but that would be to the best of my recollection.

    19-194-04

  234. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    One of those two, I would assume.

    19-194-09

  235. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    They would have been on my phone, yes.

    19-194-14

  236. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-194-18

  237. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Sure, no.

    19-194-21

  238. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    That’s correct.

    19-194-28

  239. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Just through clips or third- party information that I would have received. I certainly would have seen clips or heard on the radio, perhaps, their assessment of what was happening there.

    19-195-04

  240. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-195-11

  241. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I just overheard discussions that there was talks of an injunction on that -- towards the end of that week.

    19-195-14

  242. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-195-20

  243. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No, not specifically.

    19-195-25

  244. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Repeat that question again.

    19-196-01

  245. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    That would be an assumption. I mean, I’m not involved in he automotive industry, but it would be a viable conclusion.

    19-196-09

  246. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    That’s correct.

    19-196-14

  247. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-196-19

  248. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, I was there -- I was there to support friends that I know have been negatively impacted over the last couple of years in various professions regarding these mandates that were being put in place.

    19-196-23

  249. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I don’t -- you’d have to get more specific for me to answer. (SHORT PAUSE)

    19-197-02

  250. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    That’s correct.

    19-197-18

  251. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I just would say that it looked like there was going to be an abrupt end put to the demonstrations that were going on all week, and like I stated before, I was only ever available or had an option to attend late in the evenings, and it was pretty apparent that it was being put to an end and I wasn’t going to go back in the evening on Saturday to be a part of that.

    19-197-22

  252. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I just made my assessment based on the overall stance that the police had taken towards the end of the week, that things were going to be put to an end, and the rumours that I had heard swirling that, you know, there was paddy wagons or police vehicles staged to be able to conduct mass arrests.

    19-198-06

  253. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct.

    19-198-17

  254. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah.

    19-198-19

  255. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah.

    19-198-23

  256. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    It was more the context of they weren’t sure of the particular individuals that were shouting these slurs at the police. Because I didn’t know any of them, and neither did they. And I guess the context was more regarding the nature or the purpose of why these slurs were being used, and that would be the extent of it.

    19-198-26

  257. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah.

    19-199-06

  258. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    That would have been their assessment that it was a possibility.

    19-199-09

  259. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, this is just what I’m hearing thirdhand from friends that were saying that they observed this particular activity.

    19-199-14

  260. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    It wasn’t my -- it was not my -- I was not alleging these; I was just hearing this thirdhand information.

    19-199-19

  261. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I think the context might be that the protest was peaceful for the entire week, and there was no reason for any of the people that I knew, or any of my friends describing people that they knew there, to engage in violence. That was never the intention of anybody there. So it just seemed perhaps out of the ordinary or it didn’t fit with the general stance of the protesters for the entire week that I was there, the five nights that I was there.

    19-200-21

  262. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, this would be the speculation that perhaps there was people that wanted to have some sort of a violent end to this five- or six-day demonstration.

    19-201-03

  263. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, this would be my speculation hearing from there, whether it was protesters or if it was in fact agents provocateurs that you’ve gone over here that wanted to have some sort of a violent clash with police. Because for the entire week I was there, there was no violence being directed towards the police. And so it just seemed, from my friends that I had discussed this with, it didn’t fit in line with the goals or reasons for any of the people I knew that were there.

    19-201-09

  264. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-201-20

  265. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I have no idea.

    19-201-23

  266. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I think we had a gathering of anybody that was a witness to the Ambassador Bridge demonstration in order to offer a written statement of their own witness testimony of what they saw for the five or six days, or however many days any of those people were there.

    19-201-26

  267. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Some time in the summertime, I believe. Late summer, perhaps.

    19-202-05

  268. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Thank you.

    19-202-09

  269. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    When I began attending or when the mandates began?

    19-203-17

  270. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I believe it would be in 2021.

    19-203-21

  271. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Several of the rallies at the Great Canadian Flag at the end of Oleta Avenue and Riverside Drive. One of the rallies in front of the Health Unit on Oleta Avenue and, you know, various fundraisers that were being held to support people who had, you know, suffered economic consequences during the past couple years.

    19-203-26

  272. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, some of the fundraisers might have been geared towards something specific, but generally it was to create awareness or give other people the opportunity to have their voices heard or gather with other people that maybe were sympathetic to some of the adverse effects that they had been experiencing over that last couple years.

    19-204-06

  273. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Well, certainly, you know, I have friends in, you know, professions of nursing or firefighting that had lost their jobs to these mandates. Several small business owners who had been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy because they were no longer able to conduct business due to the mandates that had been passed down from federal or provincial politicians.

    19-204-16

  274. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Certainly I would be there to support individuals that I knew who were negatively impacted over the last couple years.

    19-204-26

  275. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Oh, absolutely. There was a grave financial impact to several people that I know in small businesses and other lines of work.

    19-205-03

  276. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I’d guess somewhere between maybe 1,500 to 2,000, perhaps.

    19-205-12

  277. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    From the -- from the standpoint of like social media or are we talking legacy media?

    19-205-15

  278. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct. Yeah, it would be -- it would be shared around the various social media platforms.

    19-205-19

  279. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yeah. Yeah, I would say it was promoted on social media. It was at the same place. And there -- there would likely be 1,000 or so other protestors or gatherers to support the silent protest that the EMS and Windsor fire department were conducting.

    19-205-26

  280. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    If you -- if you stuck around, I guess, to listen to the various speakers that would be giving their -- giving their speeches those particular days.

    19-206-08

  281. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No.

    19-207-03

  282. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I’d be speculating, but yeah, I believe there was some people who had written emails or made social media posts to the Mayor, Drew Dilkens, of Windsor at the time.

    19-207-07

  283. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, there was various groups that were -- that were helping to organize these events and bring in different speakers. Yeah, largely the same -- same people were -- were organizing or having these gatherings.

    19-208-13

  284. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Correct. Yeah.

    19-208-21

  285. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No, I never ---

    19-208-26

  286. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No, I had never seen them before.

    19-209-01

  287. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Throughout the week or on this particular February 7th?

    19-209-05

  288. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    So the original blockade that I was witness to was at Gerardo where the vehicles had straddled Huron Church. I don’t know that I would say particular lanes were open. I can attest that I saw one truck driver, who had suggested to some protesters that he was diabetic and he needed to move through the traffic in order to get his medication or whatever it was that he needed, and the protesters moved their vehicles to allow him to pass through the southbound Huron Church area.

    19-209-10

  289. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    There was no jersey barriers on that first night, no. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Okay. And did they obstruct or close down any lanes?

    19-209-22

  290. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    They definitely secured several areas around the perimeter with police vehicles. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Okay. And what would you say that the ratio was between police and protesters the first night?

    19-209-26

  291. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    By the end of the evening, there was in my estimation substantially more police personnel there than there was protesters. MS. LANI ROUILLARD So granted that, you know, according to previous counsels' questions, there were auto plant shutdowns, this is the busiest border crossing in North America, it's a vital crossing of the border, and it controls the trade for millions of dollars in our country back and forth, do you think the police were capable of shutting this down on night number one?

    19-210-03

  292. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I believe if they would've have chosen, if that was their objective on night number one, certainly the few vehicles at Girardot and the dozen or so protesters that would've been there when I left, I believe they could've shut that down if that was the intention. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Okay, thank you. And when you were at the bridge, and I'm just going to speak generally about that week, the days that you were there, of course, what kind of an environment was it? How did you feel there?

    19-210-13

  293. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    It was just a peaceful gathering, music, food being shared. Very cordial. MS. LANI ROUILLARD And you said you weren't there during the daytime, so that's fine, but when you were there in the evening did you see any families?

    19-210-22

  294. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Not in the evening times, no. MS. LANI ROUILLARD How did you know that families were there in the daytime?

    19-210-27

  295. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Well, I mean, I had other friends that had either gone during the day times or shared pictures and videos of, you know, children playing soccer or, you know, having a festive atmosphere with children and families during the day time hours. MS. LANI ROUILLARD So if you were there in the evening, when the children weren't there, did you ever witness anybody trying to use or threatening to use a child as a human shield?

    19-211-02

  296. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No. No, I didn't see that. MS. LANI ROUILLARD And did you witness any acts of vandalism, looting or disorderly conduct by the protesters?

    19-211-11

  297. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No. No, no. Quite the contrary. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Did you see any illegal weapons?

    19-211-14

  298. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Did you see any registered weapons?

    19-211-18

  299. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Did you witness any acts of violence?

    19-211-21

  300. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Was there ever a time that you felt unsafe while you were at the bridge?

    19-211-24

  301. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Never. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Did you feel like you were being surveilled or watched?

    19-211-27

  302. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, it was pretty clear with the -- there was drones that were circulating overhead, and some of the law enforcement personnel there would have cameras or smartphones I guess scanning around the area to gather their own Intelligence I can imagine. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Were you one of the people impacted with your bank account? Was your bank account frozen?

    19-212-02

  303. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    So I lost access to my bank account on February 18th. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Okay, tell me about that. What happened exactly?

    19-212-09

  304. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    So I just -- I had gone to my bank to deposit a cheque from my business that I had written to myself, and upon trying to use the ATM I got a -- an error message or a message that it was not going to allow me access into my bank account. I tried a second ATM machine and got the same error message. I tried my online banking when I got home via my computer and continued to get messages that were not allowing me to access my own bank account. MS. LANI ROUILLARD And when did that change? How long did it last for?

    19-212-13

  305. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    So I was able to access my account I believe on the following Tuesday, which would be after the family day holiday weekend. MS. LANI ROUILLARD So is that a period of about five days, then?

    19-212-23

  306. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    About four days, give or take. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Four days? Okay. Did you ever find out why?

    19-212-28

  307. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Okay. Thank you. And just a follow-up question from a previous counsel. Do you need to ask permission to park at a mall in Ontario in the parking lot?

    19-213-04

  308. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Not that I'm aware of. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Okay, thank you. So I'd like to go and revisit some earlier testimony from Inspector Dana Earley, and this is testimony, I believe it was earlier today or was it yesterday, and we've been talking about an exclusion zone or essentially an area that was controlled by the police. Are you familiar with that area?

    19-213-08

  309. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Yes. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Okay. And let's just define it. What did they mean by that, just so we can get them on the record? What was the exclusion zone or the controlled area?

    19-213-15

  310. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I believe the controlled area was at the southern border where Tecumseh Road and Huron Church Avenue intersect. MS. LANI ROUILLARD Okay. And could we please play a video, and the code on it is CFF6X014, and it's a multi-media file. (VIDEO PLAYBACK)

    19-213-19

  311. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    To my knowledge, the exclusion zone ended at the intersection of Huron Church and Tecumseh Road East.

    19-216-18

  312. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    Again, I wasn’t there. I wasn’t there on the days of Saturday and Sunday when this -- when the police were putting an end to the demonstration.

    19-216-25

  313. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    But I believe there was videos of these arrests taking place in areas in the general vicinity.

    19-217-01

  314. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No, I believe they were controlling up to Tecumseh Road and pushing protestors onto the other side of Tecumseh Road outside of the exclusion zone.

    19-217-08

  315. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I would be saying I know it based on previous testimony that’s been given yesterday perhaps.

    19-217-19

  316. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I guess the exclusion zone was never something that I was told when I was there at the event. I’m just basing it on where I saw the police had their barricades set up and the general area around the entire demonstration.

    19-217-23

  317. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    It would have been something I would have discovered after the demonstration was over.

    19-218-02

  318. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    From listening to the testimony here, and perhaps videos on social media that occurred after I was no longer participating and attending the demonstration.

    19-218-06

  319. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I think that when you saw, like, video assessment of the end on the Saturday and Sunday, they were basically showing where protestors were being pushed out of their area that was going to be secured for them to be able to reopen Huron Church Avenue to truck traffic onto the bridge.

    19-218-12

  320. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    No, I knew that there was negative impacts to businesses in the Windsor and greater areas beyond Windsor as a result of the blockage at the Ambassador Bridge.

    19-218-23

  321. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, I had been concerned over the past couple of years of the impacts that were happening to our businesses from a whole bunch of different -- for a whole bunch of different reasons.

    19-219-01

  322. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    I mean, I’m concerned for anybody’s businesses that are negatively impacted. But to gauge whether one is more severe than another, that wasn’t something that I really ---

    19-219-07

  323. Paul Leschied (Convoy participants, Windsor)

    --- considered.

    19-219-12