Defiance of COVID-19 public health rules Anti-abortion and anti-homosexuality rhetoric
Artur Pawlowski (born March 28,1973) is a Polish-Canadian evangelical street preacher and political activist. He is pastor of the Cave of Adullam congregation in Calgary and previously led the Kings Glory Fellowship (KGF). Pawlowski is also founder and pastor of Street Church Ministries (SCM),a group no longer recognized as a religious or charitable organization by the Canadian government.
Pawlowski was born on March 28,1973,in Kożuchów,Poland. By 1990,he was living in Greece with his family. He emigrated to Canada in 1995 and became a Canadian citizen on February 2,2004.[1]
Career
Pawlowski is a Protestant street preacher[2] the founder and pastor of Street Church Ministries[3] and a pastor of Kings Glory Fellowship. In January 2010,the Canada Revenue Agency revoked the charitable status of Pawlowski's Kings Glory Fellowship,citing a lack of financial transparency and deeming the organization to be exceeding the CRA's cutoff for how much time charitable organizations can devote to “non-partisan political activities".[2] Lack of clarity on how the organization spent its money was also cited as a reason for its charitable status being revoked.[2] By 2021,Pawlowski was pastor of The Cave of Adullam congregation in Calgary and of the Street Church Ministries.[4]
In 2012,for his support of Israel,he received the Honorary Chaplain Position for the Province of Alberta from the Christian Friends of Canadian Magen David Adom (CFMDA).[5][6] In 2011 Bishop Dr. Gerry Kibarabara,[7] the secretary general of United Christian Churches of Kenya's Supreme Council,presented Pawlowski with honorary ordination for his humanitarian work in Africa.[8] He is the first to hold such a position for the province of Alberta. On April 28,2012,the Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB),a membership-funded conservative business group in Canada,awarded Pawlowski the 'Free Speech Award'.[5]
As of October 2013,Pawlowski continued to hold "prayer meetings inside the Calgary City Hall's main atrium despite eight years of legal issues including "several court cases,hundreds of bylaw tickets and trespassing notices.".[9][10]
In 2014,Pawlowski was fined for his attempt to participate in the 2012 Calgary Stampede parade with his followers without official permission.[11]
In 2015,Pawlowski appeared at a press conference with a member of his congregation along with a Calgary Transit bus driver who had been fired for refusing to drive Calgary's pride-themed rainbow bus.[12] The bus driver said he was fired for being Christian.[12]
In early 2023,he formed a new political party,the Solidarity Movement of Alberta. On May 8,it became a registered party with Elections Alberta.[16]
Views
Pawlowski opposes abortion and homosexuality.[17] In 2014,Pawlowski endorsed Ric McIver's leadership bid of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta.[18] A campaign photo featuring McIver and Pawlowski with a message condemning homosexuality was on display at Pawlowski's Street Church.[19] Pawlowski stated that the 2013 Alberta floods were caused by God's vengeance over LGBTQ+ Albertans.[12]
Activities during the COVID-19 pandemic
In December 2020,Pawlowski was fined for failing to wear a mask and failing to have a permit for an anti-mask demonstration held in late November 2020.[20]
In February 2021,Pawlowski marched in and led an anti-lockdown rally in Downtown Calgary while holding a tiki torch during the daytime.[21]
During Easter 2021,police were called to Pawlowski's congregation over reports that Pawlowski and his church were not following COVID-19 public health orders.[22] Pawlowski described the police and a Public Health Inspector as "Nazis" and "Gestapo" and demanded they leave the congregation. The police left without taking any enforcement action.[23][24][25] Later,Pawlowski was arrested by the Calgary Police Service and charged for organizing,promoting and attending an illegal in-person gathering that violated evidence-based public health orders.[26] Pawlowski was found guilty on June 28.[27]
On September 27,2021,after returning from COVID-19 themed events in the United States to Canada,Pawlowski was arrested by the Canada Border Services Agency at Calgary International Airport,before being released later the same day.[28][29] He was being charged with disobeying a court order and failing to wear a mask.[29]
On October 13,he was sentenced for his earlier CPHO conviction,receiving a $23,000 fine and 18 months of probation.[30] His probation conditions include being ordered to obey public health orders,to remain in Alberta,and to explain whenever they speak publicly that their views are contrary to public health experts and scientific consensus. He was also required to pay Alberta Health Services' estimated $20,000 legal costs.[30][31]
Justice Adam Germain ordered Pawlowski and his brother to add a disclaimer to any public statements criticizing COVID-19 public health measures stating that their views were "contradicted by the majority of scientific opinion."[32] Pawlowski appealed the ruling on Charter grounds,claiming that the order violated their right to free speech.[32] On 25 November 2021,Justice Jo-Anne Strekaf of the Alberta Court of Appeal countermanded the ruling until the case was heard on its full merits on 14 June 2022.[33] Both Fox News and the National Post called the Germain ruling a "compelled speech order".[34] The Alberta Court of Appeals subsequently suspended the sanctions due to AHS procedural issues,and considered the 3 days in prison and 10 months of probation served,as well as a $10,000 fine,as suitable punishments for the offences committed in violation of public health orders.[35]
On 2 January 2022,Pawlowski was arrested on Crowchild Trail and "charged with one count of breaching a judge's order that restrained [Pawlowski] from attending any illegal public gathering".[36] Authorities "confirmed a protest took place at Health Minister Jason Copping’s home on Saturday afternoon".[37] The bail judge imposed "conditions that [Pawlowski has] no contact with Copping and [does] not attend his residence" while he waited for a trial on the merits.[36]
Pawlowski was arrested on 7 February 2022 at the Coutts,Alberta border crossing blockade after encouraging protesters to back out of an agreement they had made with RCMP to leave the area.[38] The protesters were demanding the lifting of vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers,as well as the lifting of other pandemic-related public health restrictions. Pawlowski gave a speech to protesters in Coutts a week earlier,saying that "for freedom to be preserved,people must be willing to sacrifice their lives. This is our time." He was charged with mischief over $5,000 and interrupting the operation of essential infrastructure under Alberta's Critical Infrastructure Defence Act.[38]
On 16 February,Alberta Provincial Court Judge Erin Olsen denied bail for Pawlowski,saying "there is a substantial likelihood that the accused will,if released from custody,continue on offending."[39] Olsen also clarified that inciting others to criminal activity would not be protected by the right to free speech in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.[39]
After Pawlowski's lawyers submitted a release plan to the court,Justice Gaylene Kendall overturned Olsen's ruling on 25 March and granted release conditions. Pawlowski was ordered to pay a $25,000 cash deposit,put under curfew and forbidden from attending protests,and the court required sureties from Pawlowski's wife and son.[40] Pawlowski remained in custody pending a bail hearing on earlier charges,but was released on 30 March.[41] In late July 2022,the Alberta Court of Appeal recognized procedural issues around how the public health order was applied and acknowledged that the time he had already served were sufficient punishments for ignoring public health orders,thus returning some of the fines that Pawlowski has paid.[42]
In February 2023,Pawlowski was on trial at Lethbridge Court and pled not guilty to charges of mischief,breaching a release order,and damaging or destroying essential infrastructure during the Canada convoy protest at Coutts.[43] The charges partly relate to a speech that Pawlowski delivered on February 3,2022 which encouraged protestors to defy police orders to clear the area.[43] On 2 May 2023,he was found guilty of mischief and violating his release conditions. Justice Gordon Krinke did not make a ruling on the charge of breaching the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act due to a constitutional challenge submitted by Pawlowski's lawyer.[44]
Coutts is a village in southern Alberta, Canada that is a port of entry into the U.S. state of Montana. It is one of the busiest ports of entry on the Canada–United States border in western Canada. It connects Highway 4 to Interstate 15, an important trade route between Alberta, American states along I-15, and Mexico.
The Independence Party (TIP), also known as the Alberta Independence Party from 2001 to 2019 and the Independence Party of Alberta after 2019, is an Albertan provincial political party.
Adam Germain is a former provincial level politician, lawyer and current Court of Queen's Bench Justice from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1993 to 1997.
Marlaina Danielle Smith is a Canadian politician, former lobbyist, and former columnist and media personality who has been serving as the 19th premier of Alberta and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since October 2022.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) is a Canadian legal advocacy organization specializing in a social conservative approach to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The libertarian organisation has partnered with several right-wing backers in the United States.
The Sweetgrass–Coutts Border Crossing connects the town of Sweet Grass, Montana, with the village of Coutts, Alberta, on the Canada–United States border. I-15 on the American side joins Alberta Highway 4 on the Canadian side. Similarly, BNSF Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) connect. A primary conduit for cross border trade estimated at CA$6billion, it is the busiest crossing for both the province of Alberta and state of Montana, and among the busiest west of the Great Lakes.
Compelled speech is a transmission of expression required by law. A related legal concept is protected speech. Just as freedom of speech protects free expression, in many cases it similarly protects an individual from being required to utter or otherwise express a thought with which that individual disagrees.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The province of Alberta has the third-most cases of COVID-19 in Canada, behind only Ontario and Quebec.
Randy Alexander Hillier is a Canadian politician who served as a member of provincial parliament (MPP) in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2007-2022. Hillier represented the riding of Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston as an independent MPP from 2019 to 2022. This riding contains much of the dissolved riding of Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, which he represented from 2007 to 2018. Hillier was initially elected as a Progressive Conservative (PC) Party MPP, remaining a member until he was removed in 2019. Despite announcing that he would run for election under the banner of the Ontario First Party in November 2021, Hillier announced in March 2022 that he would not seek re-election.
The COVID-19 protests in Canada are protests that began in April 2020, with protests in Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, and Ottawa against the Government of Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent measures.
Christopher Saccoccia, widely referred to as Chris Sky, is a Canadian conspiracy theorist known for his involvement in the anti-mask, anti-lockdown, COVID-19 denial and anti-vaccine movements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Saccoccia faces a number of legal issues and criminal charges including for allegations of uttering death threats against Ontario Premier Doug Ford and other public figures and for assault of a police officer, among others. Saccoccia ran for Mayor of Toronto in the 2023 by-election, placing ninth.
The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta.
A series of protests and blockades in Canada against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions, called the Freedom Convoy by organizers, began in early 2022. The initial convoy movement was created to protest vaccine mandates for crossing the United States border, but later evolved into a protest about COVID-19 mandates in general. Beginning January 22, hundreds of vehicles formed convoys from several points and traversed Canadian provinces before converging on Ottawa on January 29, 2022, with a rally at Parliament Hill. The convoys were joined by thousands of pedestrian protesters. Several offshoot protests blockaded provincial capitals and border crossings with the United States.
Patrick James King is a Canadian far-right activist, and conspiracy theorist from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, who lives near Red Deer, Alberta.
Heinrich (Henry) Hildebrandt is a Mexican-Canadian religious leader, activist, and alleged conspiracy theorist. In 1991, Hildebrandt became pastor of a fundamentalist Church of God (Restoration) congregation in Aylmer, Ontario, a group described by former members as "controlling" and "cult-like". Hildebrandt also has the title of Apostle in the global presbytery of the Church of God (Restoration). In, what some suggest, is an effort to fulfill church prophesy and attract new members, Hildebrandt became an outspoken critic of COVID-19 restrictions and led his congregation in defying restrictions on gatherings since April 2020, which he alleges is a government conspiracy to destroy the true Christian church.
Diagolon is an imaginary Canadian alt-right organization, conceived by podcaster Jeremy MacKenzie. The US Department of State's Bureau of Counterterrorism has called it a far-right "extremist" group. It was mentioned in news coverage of.the Canada convoy protest.
Jeremy Mitchell MacKenzie is a Canadian right-wing activist, military veteran, Plaid Army podcaster, the founder of far-right group Diagolon, and a Canada convoy protester.
In February 2022, four Canadian men were arrested on allegations that they conspired to kill Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers. The arrests occurred during the Canada convoy protest on the Coutts, Alberta, side of the Sweetgrass–Coutts Border Crossing. According to police, the plot was part of a wider plan to alter "Canada's political, justice and medical systems."
The premiership of Danielle Smith began on 11 October 2022 when she was sworn in by Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, Salma Lakhani. Smith won the 2022 United Conservative Party leadership election to replace then Alberta Premier Jason Kenney on October 6, 2022, and was appointed as the 19th Premier of Alberta. Her cabinet was sworn in on 22 October.
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