Calgary preacher guilty of mischief for urging truckers to continue Coutts border protest

Calgary pastor Artur Pawlowski is guilty of mischief for encouraging truckers to continue blocking the Canada-U.S. border crossing during a 2022 protest that lasted more than two weeks, a Lethbridge judge has ruled.

"Mr. Pawlowski intended to incite the audience to continue the blockade — intended to incite protesters to commit mischief," said Justice Gordon Krinke in delivering his decision on Tuesday afternoon.

Pawlowski was also charged criminally under Alberta's Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (CIDA) for remarks during a 20-minute speech to protesters in Coutts, Alta.

Krinke found Pawlowski "counselled other persons to interfere with the use of Highway 4 in a manner which rendered it useless." However, he reserved issuing a ruling on the charge of willfully damaging or destroying essential infrastructure until the defence's constitutional challenge of CIDA has been dealt with. 

Lawyers Sarah Miller and Chad Haggarty previously issued a notice to challenge CIDA as unconstitutional.

On top of the mischief conviction, Pawlowski was also convicted of breaching a release order to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

The bulk of the Crown's case against Pawlowski consists of the video of the pastor's speech on Feb. 3, 2022, during which he urged protestors to hold their ground.

On that day, protesters made a deal to leave the border crossing and head to Edmonton. In his speech, Pawlowski told them not to give up and said there were not enough RCMP officers to deal with the situation.

"The eyes of the world are fixed right here on you guys. You are the heroes. Don't you dare go breaking the line," Pawlowski said in the video.

The protesters ultimately decided to stay and continue their on-again, off-again blockade. 

The defence argued during the trial that Pawlowski was expressing his opinion and didn't incite the crowd to do anything.

The blockade began in late January 2022 to protest COVID-19 health restrictions. It impeded Alberta's main U.S. border crossing for more than two weeks.

More than a dozen people were charged in connection with the protests and blockade, including four men accused of conspiracy to commit murder.

Pawlowski was also charged with violating COVID-19 protocols nearly two years ago, but the charges were stayed by the Crown in December.