The Democracy Fund’s 2024 Annual Review

REACH

In 2024, our social media posts have received over 3,586,457 views, and we currently have over 61,862 followers and more than 17,608 subscribers to our weekly newsletter!

• This year, we have helped hundreds of Canadians, achieving roughly a 95% success rate. 

• We have saved our clients almost $366,000 in COVID-related fines, bringing our total to approximately $56,366,000!

• TDF's work has been highlighted in over 70 news stories by various news agencies, including Rebel News, True North, Western Standard, Epoch Times, CBC, and CTV. Our accomplished legal team has actively engaged in media interviews, playing a pivotal role in educating the public about legal proceedings and developments in civil liberties issues within Canada.

LEGAL WORK

Our legal team has helped thousands of Canadians from all walks of life in the fight to protect civil liberties, saving Canadians over $56 million in COVID-related fines!  

• In 2024, we continued to provide legal representation to Canadians charged during the Freedom Convoys.

• We've initiated a fundraising campaign to support Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich and her legal team led by Lawrence Greenspon. We are committed to covering Lich's legal battle, including the ongoing criminal trial and any forthcoming appeals. The trial was expected to last only about 14 days but stretched deep into 2024, with 45 days of trial. 

• We have represented 27 clients who were criminally charged with crimes related to the Freedom Convoy protests. Most of our clients have had their charges withdrawn or received stays. None of our clients received a criminal conviction or anything more serious than a conditional discharge.

• We continued to represent over 200 clients in provinces across Canada charged with the Quarantine Act and COVID-19 related offences. In Ontario and British Columbia alone, we have successfully had charges withdrawn, stayed, or achieved acquittals for approximately 120 clients.

• TDF lawyers had public gathering charges withdrawn against St. Catharines resident Terri Haydar. Hadar, a retired correctional officer, was charged for attending a peaceful protest in April 2021 under COVID-19 legal restrictions. 
  
  
•  We secured the successful withdrawal of pandemic-related social gathering charges against the former mayor of West Lincoln, Dave Bylsma.
  
  
• Pastor Derek Reimer was acquitted of all charges related to a protest against a Drag Queen Story Hour in Calgary. Pastor Reimer was physically removed from the event for protesting what he believed was inappropriate exposure of sexual themes to children. 
  
  
• We've committed to representing 33 (and counting) members of an Ontario Amish community who were fined nearly $300,000 for allegedly failing to complete the ArriveCan app, among other violations. Many of these individuals were not properly notified about the tickets or trial dates, leading to convictions made in their absence. TDF lawyers have successfully reopened many of these tickets and will continue to work to clear these fines. 
  
  
• The Democracy Fund (TDF) has won an appeal for a man who received a criminal record in connection to the protests that shut down the Ambassador Bridge in February 2022. TDF was heavily involved in representing the rights of protestors in Windsor. It sent lawyers to the city to provide summary legal advice to protestors, made legal submissions to the court, and represented over a dozen protestors criminally charged in connection to the protests. With this successful appeal, not a single TDF client ended up with a criminal record.
  
  
• The Crown Attorney's office withdrew all charges against Waterloo resident Randal Linton, who faced potential jail time and fines for attending a 2021 anti-lockdown rally. TDF's advocacy resulted in the withdrawal of the charges, highlighting the importance of vigorous defence counsel in protecting individual rights.
  
  
• We committed to defending Dr. Roger Hodkinson in his legal fight regarding several complaints brought against him by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA). The CPSA charged Dr. Hodkinson with professional misconduct for his statements about the COVID-19 vaccine and lockdowns.
  
  
• Prosecutors withdrew criminal charges against TDF client James Hearn, who was charged after he filmed the outside of a Toronto police station from a city sidewalk. Hearn was arrested after a police officer claimed to feel "harassed and intimidated" by his conduct.
  
  
• TDF paralegal Jenna Little secured the withdrawal or stay of 109 COVID-19-related tickets from across Ontario, involving multiple charges per ticket. Fines for each charge were typically $5,000, with potential total fines for conviction on all charges reaching approximately $681,250.
  
  
• Bruce Jordan of Salt Spring Island, BC, was acquitted of hosting an event in a private residence contrary to temporary public health orders made under British Columbia's Public Health Act. Jordan would have been fined $2,300 if convicted. 
  
  
• TDF Lawyers filed a written legal argument with Alberta's Court of Appeal on behalf of Artur Pawlowski. In February 2022, Pawlowski was convicted of inciting mischief for a speech he gave to protesters in Coutts, Alberta.
  
  
• The Crown withdrew an ArriveCan ticket for another client facing $6,255 in fines upon returning to Canada after a long stay abroad. 
  
  
• Together with "cancelled" author Meghan Murphy, we fought to ensure free speech rights were respected. Ms. Murphy was unfairly denied booking a venue based on the topic of her event; "Inclusivity, Gender Identity, and Women's Rights." After a legal letter from TDF, the venue revised its booking policies. Ms. Murphy was successful in having her event rescheduled and securing her free speech rights. 
  
  
• Our legal team partnered with lawyer James Kitchen to represent former school board trustee Monique LaGrange. Ms. LaGrange is taking the Board of Trustees of Red Deer Catholic Separate School Division to court for removing her from the Board because they took offence to one of her social media posts. 
   
• TDF had ArriveCan fines dropped for a client who ran a cross-border business during the pandemic. The client faced approximately $6,800 in fines for alleged non-compliance with the ArriveCan app and related regulations. 
  
  
• We successfully had all criminal charges against William LaFramboise dropped. Mr. Laframboise was charged with mischief for allegedly leading the Ambassador Bridge protest against COVID-19 restrictions in Windsor.
  
  
• TDF sent a letter to UNESCO opposing its online censorship action plan, stating that empowering the government to arbitrate truth would be both dangerous and destructive. The project would enable the government to regulate digital platforms and moderate "misinformation" and "disinformation." After receiving our letter, the UNESCO Chief of Station agreed to meet with TDF lawyers to discuss the problems inherent in any attempt to censor "misinformation" or "disinformation." 
   
• We committed to funding the defence of three men charged with mischief in Lethbridge, Alberta. The men, known as the “Coutts Three,” are Marco Van Huigenbos, Alex Van Herk, and George Janzen. All three are alleged to have been leaders of the 17-day trucker protest against COVID-19 restrictions that shut down the Coutts border in February 2022.
  
  
• TDF sent a letter to the City of London urging them to reject a proposed bylaw amendment that would ban displaying images of fetuses on public property, arguing it targets pro-life expression.
  
  
• Our legal team sent a letter to Elections Canada and Minister Dominic LeBlanc, raising concerns about a new policy aimed at monitoring and deterring "misinformation" and "disinformation" in election-related content. A week later, the government abandoned its proposed legislation to censor such online content.
   
• We represented a young couple with two young children who were fined over $13,000 for alleged ArriveCAN non-compliance. The couple was navigating the challenges of parenthood with a new baby while grappling with financial strain. Like many Canadians during the pandemic, they struggled to secure employment amidst regulatory mandates. After weeks of negotiation with the Crown, TDF was able to secure a stay of their ticket.
  
  
• Our client, Pastor Derek Reimer, was ticketed for silently praying at Calgary's Municipal Complex in March 2023. Prosecutors claimed he violated a bylaw prohibiting religious events without a permit during business hours. We argued that the bylaw may amount to an unconstitutional prayer ban, and the charges were dismissed.
  
  
• We were pleased to announce that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has formally withdrawn charges against Dr. Jean Marc Benoit for allegedly making posts on X during the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily about inadequate data, lockdown harms, conflicts of interest, treatment alternatives, and VAERS data (vaccine injuries).
  
  
• Our legal team has represented 13 clients who were criminally charged in connection to the Freedom Convoy protests in Windsor, Ontario. All of those clients have either had their charges withdrawn or discharged – not a single TDF client ended up with a criminal record.
  
  
• The Democracy Fund stepped in to assist Ontario doctor Dr. Ian DePass, whose hospital privileges were suspended by the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance for failing to comply with its vaccination policy. In his appeal, Dr. DePass won the right to present current evidence on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine.
  
  
• The Crown has dropped all charges against William Dalton, a Democracy Fund client arrested at the 1 Million March 4 Children in Ottawa in October 2023. As seen in a viral video, Dalton was repeatedly tased despite being subdued during the peaceful protest.

EDUCATION

We were thrilled to have put together our third annual Student Journalism Conference, where we flew dozens of young students to Toronto for a three-day intensive journalism boot camp. Students heard from leading speakers from independent media worldwide, and some of these students have already been hired in newsrooms across the country!

This year's conference theme was misinformation/disinformation, fact-checking, and reporting on forbidden subjects. These are crucial battles Canadian journalists have been forced to face due to the government's online censorship.

• This year, we hosted our third annual Student Journalism Conference in Toronto. Twenty young Canadians interested in pursuing a career in civil liberties-oriented journalism attended, and 11 speakers spoke.

• Speakers at the Journalism Conference included Ezra Levant and Sheila Gunn Reid of Rebel News, Andrew Lawton of True North, Sue-Ann Levy, David Freiheit (aka Viva Frei), and several others.

• To further our public education mission, we have kept a close watch on numerous civil liberties issues in Canada and have published public statements expressing our concerns about internet censorship and free speech.

• The Online Harms Bill C-63 Brief was published to outline the basics of the Bill and what it means for Canadians. This detailed brief was shared online by thousands. In 2023, The Democracy Fund (TDF) met with representatives of UNESCO to discuss UNESCO's policy of supporting online censorship. This year, TDF particularized its concerns in a letter to UNESCO, which can be read here.
  
  
• Not only have we fundraised for Tamara Lich's legal battle, but our team of lawyers have been reporting live from the courtroom in Ottawa every day of the trial. We live-posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) and published daily trial summaries and legal analyses on our website.

• When the Federal Court ruled that the invocation of the Emergencies Act was illegal, TDF's legal team continued to keep the public well-informed on this decision, which helped to rehabilitate our country as one that respects and is governed by the rule of law.

EVENTS

In addition to our own journalism conference, we also participated in other freedom-oriented events such as:

• TDF Senior Litigator Mark Joseph attended Rebel News Live event in Toronto to deliver his talk: Defending Civil Liberties: Reflections on Pandemic-era Legal Practice.

• TDF's Adam Blake-Gallipeau attended Ottawa's annual March for Life to offer legal guidance on free expression rights and civil liberties for those participating in the demonstration.

• The Democracy Fund was a proud sponsor of an International Women’s Day event organized by Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights (caWsbar) titled "Reality Based Women Unite" in Toronto. This event featured prominent speakers like Amy Hamm, Meghan Murphy, and Linda Blade; the event will focus on women's rights and protections.