CALGARY — Alberta's top court has upheld the conviction of a Calgary pastor for his role in protests against COVID-19 public health measures that blocked Alberta's main Canada-U.S. border crossing for more than two weeks.
Artur Pawlowski was convicted last year of mischief and breaching a release order for his role in the blockade at the Coutts, Alta., border crossing in early 2022. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail but given an equal amount of credit for time he had already served.
Crown prosecutors told Pawlowski’s trial that his impassioned speech to the truckers at Smugglers Saloon in February 2022 fanned the flames of unrest and convinced them to stay at the border crossing for another two weeks. "I am satisfied Mr. Pawlowski intended to incite the audience to continue the blockade, intended to incite protesters to commit mischief,” Justice Gordon Krinke said as he delivered his verdict.
Krinke said the speech to supporters came at a time when many were looking at leaving the border and protesting elsewhere when Pawlowski urged “sacrifice and heroism in support of a just cause.” “Some of the protesters were thinking of leaving. He told the protesters the whole world was watching.
He told the protesters not to break the line." The judge noted that Pawlowski was not involved in the planning of the so-called “Freedom Convoy” and didn’t play a major role with his appearance at the border blockade but was not remorseful for the harm he had caused. Pawlowsk.
