The Outrageous Fate of a Quebec “Leprechaun”

By John Goddard, Author The Man With The Black Valise, co-author Honking for Freedom.

One of the more extraordinary stories to emerge so far at the Emergencies Act inquiry in Ottawa comes from Steeve Charland, leader of a Quebec group that fed Freedom Convoy protesters and gave them parking space far from Parliament Hill.

We’ve all seen video of convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber being publicly arrested on the eve of the police crackdown against the demonstration. Partly, the arrests were to encourage the crowds to disperse, but the OPP came for Charland one full week later and 100 kilometres away at Vankleek Hill. They cuffed him. They jailed him. They charged him with mischief and counselling mischief. Judicial authorities then kept him in jail for three weeks, 10 days of which he spent in solitary confinement, until releasing him on strict bail conditions pending trial. If convicted, the chance of him being sentenced to even one day in jail is unlikely. All his bank accounts were terminated

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Charland is 48 years old and lives in Grenville, Quebec, halfway between Ottawa and Montreal. Online, he calls himself “L’Artiss” — “The Artist.” When an inquiry lawyer identified him as “self-employed in the firewood business,” he quickly added that he is also a writer, speaker, and blogger. Mainly, however, the inquiry focused on his role as leader of Les Farfadaas, an activist group he founded in 2020 dedicated to helping the poor, the homeless, the unemployed, and the politically marginalized.

“Farfadaas” means “Leprechauns” or “Elves” in English. The group’s flag depicts a gnome-like cartoon figure flying an upside-down Quebec flag against the backdrop of the Parti Patriote flag of the 1830s. A yellow star in the upper-left corner signals support for Quebec nationalism. The flag is irreverent, maybe even defiant, but scarcely menacing.

Charland sports a beard, ties his hair in a pony tail, and “looks like he stepped out of a French Canadian folk song,” writes Donna Laframboise in her blog “Thank You, Truckers!,” the only English Canadian journalist I saw pick up on his testimony to the judicial inquiry, formally known as the Public Order Emergencies Commission. It is examining Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act against the truckers. When Charland testified in early November, he spoke in a polite, often droll manner, eliciting laughter from the public gallery to the point where the judge more than once threatened to clear the hall.

“Under the Farfadaas crest, we find the sign of the middle finger,” government lawyer Caroline Laverdière said in cross-examination, referring to clothing and badges the group sells to raise funds. “And the hand and finger form the words ‘F-You.’”

“Fuck you,” Charland corrected her.

“Okay,” the lawyer said.

“I don’t mean you,” Charland clarified.

“Not me, personally,” the lawyer said with a smile, getting the joke, and people in the audience laughed again.

Charland told the inquiry that when he first heard of the Freedom Convoy one week before its expected arrival in Ottawa last January 29 he wasn’t interested. He thought the protest was only against the new COVID-19 mandate for cross-border truckers. When he understood that it was for everybody who opposed mandates, lockdowns, and curfews, he changed his mind. On January 29, his group and its supporters formed their own 107-kilometre-long convoy from Lachute, outside Montreal, to Gatineau, across the river from Ottawa. They weren’t truckers. They drove cars, pickups, and camper vans.

“A convoy of citizens,” Charland called it.

In Gatineau, he rented an undeveloped construction site as a parking lot for $1,000 a day. His members opened a pop-up kitchen to feed anybody who came, including the homeless. The group established a second kitchen on Wellington Street at Parliament Hill. Food, clothing, fuel, and cash donations poured in. Forty-two Quebec truckers explicitly requested support and Les Farfadaas helped them. From his Winnebego in Gatineau, Charland coordinated the activity and made trips each day to Ottawa on foot, at one point giving a speech from the flatbed truck that served as a stage opposite the Peace Tower. He never met the official convoy organizers, he told the inquiry. He communicated regularly with various police services. He consistently promoted non-violence and the protest remained non-violent.

Lawyers representing parties hostile to the protest kept questioning him about trucks parked where Sussex and Rideau Streets meet in downtown Ottawa. Drivers in the lead trucks blocking the intersection were Polish immigrants, the inquiry heard. In the vicinity of trucks farther back, people were seen wearing Farfadaas clothing and badges. Repeatedly, Charland said he didn’t know the people, he didn’t talk to them, and he was not aware of ever being at the intersection.

After the protest, the OPP arrested Charland at the request of Ottawa Interim Police Chief Steve Bell. On its own, the National Bank terminated Charland’s accounts. Under the Emergencies Act, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland had ordered banks to freeze accounts of people she identified, but apparently she did not name Charland. No freeze order came from the RCMP or the federal finance department, the inquiry heard. At first, the National Bank imposed restrictions on Charland’s accounts, such as daily withdrawal limits. In mid-May, with one month’s notice but giving no reason, the bank permanently shut the accounts.

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