Anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate demonstrators gather as a truck convoy blocks the highway at the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022. A Calgary pastor is expected to learn today whether he will be found guilty for his participation in a convoy protest last year that blocked Alberta's main border crossing into the United States. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – A judge has found Calgary pastor Artur Pawlowski guilty of mischief for his role in protests against COVID-19 public health measures.
The protests at Coutts, Alta., blocked the province’s main border crossing into the U.S. for more than two weeks in early 2022.
Justice Gordon Krinke also found Pawlowski guilty of breaching a release order.
Pawlowski faces another charge under the Alberta Critical Infrastructure Defence Act of wilfully damaging or destroying essential infrastructure.
However, Krinke says he can’t rule on that charge because the defence has given notice of a constitutional challenge.
Separately, several people were also charged after RCMP found a cache of guns, body armour and ammunition in three trailers during the blockade, with four men facing counts of conspiracy to commit murder.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 2, 2023.
