New charge laid against Coutts border blockade protester accused of breaching police barrier
CBC
One of the protesters arrested following weeks of border blockades at the Coutts, Alta., crossing is facing a new charge stemming from an incident when a police barrier was breached by trucks and tractors.
Joanne Person, 62, is charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle stemming from an incident on Feb.1 when the situation at the protest turned violent.
On that day, RCMP had set up a checkpoint about 20 kilometres to the north of Coutts, in the town of Milk River.
As police approached a group of vehicles, some breached police barriers to join the demonstration.
The incident led Mounties to pause enforcement actions.
Person already faces weapons and mischief charges. She is the only one of the 13 people arrested in connection with the blockades who does not have a lawyer.
The 13 people each made a brief court appearances Tuesday morning. They will all be back in court on March 28.
Most of the accused face charges of mischief to property over $5,000 and possession of a weapon.
Four also face an additional charge of conspiracy to murder for an alleged plot to kill RCMP officers.
All of the men charged with conspiracy to murder — Chris Carbert, Christopher Lysak, Anthony Olienick and Jerry Morin — remain in custody.
Lysak had a bail hearing earlier this month but a judge refused to release the accused.
Carbert and Lysak both have ties to a group with white supremacist beliefs.
The on-again, off-again blockade of the busy border crossing by people opposed to COVID-19 health restrictions lasted more than two weeks.
The arrests followed an RCMP raid of trailers on Feb. 14, when officers seized guns, body armour, a large quantity of ammunition and high-capacity firearm magazines.
Kamloops Coun. Bill Sarai has apologized after admitting he secretly recorded his argument with Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson in January 2023, then sent a snippet of the conversation to the mayor, suggesting someone else had recorded it.
Yellowknife city council removed $550,000, intended to operate its own dog pound, from the city's draft budget on Monday.
The RCMP says it's considering deploying Mounties-in-training to help police the Canada-U.S. border as political anxiety over border control mounts in the face of tariff threats from the incoming Trump administration.
The death and destruction in the Crosschild family didn't stop at the domestic murder of Autumn, a 25-year-old Indigenous woman killed by Brandon Yellowfly, the man she once wanted to marry.
Josh Smee imagines a future in which food banks no longer exist in Canada, because people don't need them.
The Toronto Transit Commission board has voted to ban electric bikes with lithium-ion batteries from TTC vehicles and stations from November 15 to April 15 each year due to safety concerns.
Prince Edward Island now has a law on the books to regulate service dogs, but it could be two more years before it comes into effect.
The partner of a man who went missing near Chetwynd, B.C. more than six weeks ago says she believes their dog, which disappeared at the same time, has been found alive.
WARNING: This story contains details of sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
Multinational food corporation Cargill said on Tuesday it plans to cut roughly five per cent of its staff, or about 8,000 jobs.
The season's first blast of winter weather continued Tuesday in the region and north of the city with some schools and school purpose vehicles cancelled and plows out in force on the roads.