Convoy leader Tamara Lich attends July 4 party at U.S. ambassador's residence in Ottawa

Convoy leader Tamara Lich attends July 4 party at U.S. ambassador's residence in Ottawa

Lich is serving a conditional sentence for her role in the 2022 protest and had to obtain permission to travel

Tamara Lich, who was convicted of mischief for her role in the 2022 convoy protests, was invited as a "media personality" to United States Ambassador Pete Hoekstra's official July 4 celebrations in Ottawa on Sunday.

After being sentenced to 12 months of house arrest in October 2025, Lich said she had to obtain permission to travel from her home in Medicine Hat, Alta., to attend the event at Lornado, the ambassador's residence in Rockcliffe Park.

Lich posted photos of herself with Hoekstra at the event, which featured a flyover of American F-35 fighter jets.

"I had the opportunity to speak with Ambassador Hoekstra and thank him, the President, and the American people for their heartfelt support throughout the Freedom convoy and ever since," Lich wrote in a social media post.

Lich was not available for an interview but told CBC in a text message that she had obtained an exemption to travel to the event.

"I had to send a request to my PO [probation officer] at Med Hat Community Corrections for a work exemption detailing all travel arrangements, stops, accommodations, and location of any event I attend. It's all pre-approved before I leave my residence," she wrote.

"I'm very diligent with following my conditions."

Lich was found guilty of mischief in April 2025 following a highly publicized 42-day trial alongside co-accused Chris Barber for their role as organizers of the protests known as the Freedom Convoy.

The Ottawa protest gridlocked the city's downtown for three weeks in 2022, leading the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act, an action the courts later found to be unlawful. The federal government is appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada to justify its use of the act to clear the protests.

Lich is appealing her conviction, for which she was given an 18-month conditional sentence that included 12 months at home with limited outings per week, followed by six months under a 10 p.m. curfew. Crown prosecutors are appealing several other charges for which Lich was found not guilty.

Lawrence Greenspon, Lich's lawyer, told CBC Lich keeps in regular contact with her probation officer about work-related travel, calling this "the latest example of that."

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Lich is now a contributor to far-right media outlet Rebel News and hosts a podcast with Barber, the Saskatchewan-based trucker who was charged and convicted alongside her.

It was due to this work that Lich was invited to the ambassador's July 4 celebration, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa said.

"The Embassy released an open media invitation to cover the 250th Independence Day celebration," the spokesperson wrote in an email to CBC, describing Lich as a "media personality" who "was registered to cover the event by her outlet, along with a wide range of other media entities."

Hoekstra's statement on the event read, in part: "This anniversary is also a launch pad to look toward a future where, under President Trump’s leadership, we are forging new partnerships, championing innovation, and defining a new era of diplomacy."

Lich is expected back in Ottawa for a court appearance later this month.

Campbell MacDiarmid is a reporter with the CBC Ottawa bureau