A truck convoy of anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate demonstrators block the highway at the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – A Crown prosecutor says two men convicted of mischief and weapons offences at the 2022 border blockade at Coutts, Alta., should spend nine years in prison.
Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert were convicted earlier this month of public mischief over $5,000 and possessing a firearm dangerous to the public peace.
Olienick was also convicted of possessing a pipe bomb.
A jury found them not guilty of the most serious charge they faced – conspiracy to murder police officers.
Crown prosecutor Steven Johnston has told a sentencing hearing the case isn’t about the right to protest government policy and that believing in a cause doesn’t excuse committing a crime.
The blockade was one of several held across the country to protest COVID-19 rules and vaccine mandates.
Olienick and Carbert were charged after RCMP found guns, ammunition and body armour in trailers near the blockade at the key Canada-U.S. border crossing.
More guns, ammunition and two pipe bombs were located at Olienick’s home in Claresholm, Alta.
Justice David Labrenz is expected to hand down the sentences Friday.
Two other protesters charged with conspiracy to commit murder at the blockade pleaded guilty earlier this year to lesser charges.
Christopher Lysak was sentenced to three years for possession of a restricted firearm in an unauthorized place. Jerry Morin was sentenced to 3 1/2 years for conspiracy to traffic firearms.
Those sentences amounted to time the men had served in pretrial custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
