{{Infobox person | name = Pat King | image = Pat King.png | birth_name = Patrick James King | birth_date = 1978 or 1979 | birth_place = Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario | citizenship = Canadian | organization = United We Roll (campaign)
Patrick James King [1] (born 1978 or 1979) is a Canadian far-right activist, [2] and conspiracy theorist [3] from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, who lives near Red Deer, Alberta.
He is known for protesting COVID-19 mandates. He has led the Wexit movement advocating for secession from Canada of Alberta and other western provinces, led the United We Roll movement, and acted as a regional organizer for the Canada convoy protest, which aimed to overthrow the democratically elected government.
King was arrested on February 18, 2022, at the Canada convoy protests in Ottawa and faces multiple charges. He was released on bail on July 18, 2022.
Prior to being ordered by the courts to stop, [4] King was highly active on social media, [5] his Facebook profile had 341,000 followers in July 2023. [6]
In 2019, King was an organizer of the Wexit movement that advocated for Canada's prairie provinces to secede. [7] [8] [9] [10]
King was a co-organizer, [11] and a driver [12] for the United We Roll yellow vest protest in 2019 and spoke of the importance of a gas pipeline, and the employment benefits of the oil and gas industry. [13] [5] He also spoke of the national benefit of the Albertan economy and the lack of support to Albertans in 2019. [13] King later stated that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation distorted the messages of the movement. [14]
King was part of a right-wing counter protest to an anti-racist demonstration in Red Deer in 2020 where he was noted for saying: "That’s patriots kicking antifa out of their towns!" [15]
In September 2020, he organized a second counter-protest in Ponoka and threatened violence against anti-racist protests who he characterized as Antifa. [15] [16]
In August 2021, King and Chris Sky visited Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and spoke as part of a No-Vaxx Pass tour, in which they advocated for Canadians to defy the rules about vaccine passports. [17] Also in August, King incorrectly claimed that his actions led to easing of COVID-19 public health measures in Alberta. [18] [19] [20] His misunderstanding was a result of him misreading court documents rejecting his appeal against a parking ticket. [18] This led to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms stating that: "It is unclear whether Mr. King fully understands the legal process he is involved in." [1]
In October 2021, King broadcast a video, falsely claiming that the Canadian military had set up a base at Black Lake Denesuline First Nation and were forcing COVID-19 vaccinations on women and children. [8] The video went viral, resulting in pressure upon the Athabasca Health Authority and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations to put out statements, correcting the misinformation. [8] [21]
In November 2021, King claimed there was no evidence that COVID-19 exists, in a social media message. [22] In December, King said of the public health measures: "The only way this is going to be solved is with bullets." [23]
King has accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of stealing the 2021 Canadian federal election and in the lead up to the Canada convoy protest advised his social media followers to stock up on food and supplies as preparation for "what's coming". [24]
King was a regional organizer and one of the highest profile promoters of the 2022 Canada convoy protest in Ottawa. [25] [24] Responding to a question about the impact of noise on Ottawa residents, King expressed amusement. [26] In the lead up to the Ottawa protest, MP Jeremy Patzer stated that he had no association with King after meeting him as the protest convoy passed through Swift Current. [27]
King suggested that someone was going to make Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “catch a bullet” one day. [28]
King was arrested on February 18, 2022. [29]
King was arrested on February 18, 2022, during the convoy protests as part of a police operation aimed at peacefully ending the occupation. [30] He broadcast the arrest via his Facebook page. [30] He was charged with mischief, counselling to commit mischief, perjury, obstruction of justice, counselling to disobey a court order, and counselling to obstruct police. [31] [32] He was held in the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre. [33]
King was denied bail after the Justice of the Peace determined that there was a substantive likelihood of King reoffending given his criminal history and the overwhelming case presented by the Crown. [31] His lawyer had argued for bail due to the risk that King could catch COVID-19 in jail while awaiting trial. This prompted the judge to address the irony of the situation: "an individual whose raison d'etre is to protest vehemently against public health measures designed to reduce the spread of COVID, would now suggest that the delay or the potential for being infected at a detention centre could impact the court's decision." [34]
On March 24, 2022, an additional four charges were laid against King, who is now co-accused with Tyson George Billings, bringing the new total to ten charges: two counts of obstructing police, two counts of intimidation, one count of counselling intimidation, one count of disobeying a court order, counselling to commit mischief, mischief, counselling to disobey a court order, and counselling to obstruct police. [35] King was granted bail on 18 July 2022, and forbidden from using social media, contacting convoy leaders, or organising convoy-related protests. [4] King's trial is scheduled for November 27, 2023. [36] A request to relocate the trial away from Ottawa was initially rejected by Superior Court justice Kevin Phillip in April 2023. That rejected was set aside in June by Phillip after a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, two days after his decision, altered the standard by which Justices may deny applications. [37] In July 2023, King was permitted by the courts to restart using social media to fundraise for his legal costs, which had reached $170,000. [6]
King has a history of anti-Muslim, white nationalist, and far-right conspiracy theories. [7] [25] He has shared videos online promoting the white genocide conspiracy theory, [26] [38] including saying on social media "There’s an endgame: It’s called depopulation of the Caucasian race." [24]
King accused the government of Canada of permitting Islamic State terrorists to enter Canada as refugees, of "normalizing pedophilia", and of adopting an immigration policy to “depopulate the white, Anglo-Saxon race.” [7] He has advocated against a carbon tax, arguing that it puts Canadians at an economic disadvantage. [39]
King has said that the only way to end Canadian public health measures against COVID-19 may be achieved "with bullets". [40] King also commented that Justin Trudeau was going to catch a bullet. [40]
In 2021, he claimed that the Holocaust death toll of 6 million was overstated. [41]
King was born in 1978 or 1979 [42] in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. [14] King lives in Innisfail, Alberta, near Red Deer. [1] [14] [43]
King has asserted his Métis heritage, specifically affiliating himself with Garden River First Nation, and having family connections to the Thessalon First Nation. However, Garden River Chief Andy Rickar has contested this claim, stating that King has “[he] no ties to Garden River." Furthermore, the local Métis community maintains that he does not meet the criteria for membership in the Métis Nation of Ontario. [34]
Western alienation, in the context of Canadian politics, refers to the notion that the Western provinces—British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba—have been marginalized within Confederation, particularly compared to Ontario and Quebec, Canada's two largest provinces. Expressions of western alienation frequently allege that those provinces are politically over-represented and receive out-sized economic benefits at the expense of western Canadians.
Artur Pawlowski 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.
The Maverick Party, formerly known as Wexit Canada, is a Canadian federal political party. It advocates for constitutional changes to benefit, or the independence of, Western Canada, which includes British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The party has its roots in Alberta separatism and advocates the use of grassroots politics.
Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, which was formed through the merger of Wexit Alberta and the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta in 2020.
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.
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.
The yellow vests movement was a series of protests in Canada inspired by the yellow vest protests that began in France in 2018. Unlike the French gilets jaunes protests in 2018 and 2019, the Yellow Vest Canada movement incorporated xenophobic rhetoric in their messaging, and have been described as "frontline extremists, hate group, alt-right, and far right.
The following article is a broad timeline of the course of events surrounding the Canada convoy protest, a series of protests and blockades in Canada in early 2022. The protest, which was called the Freedom Convoy by organizers, was "first aimed at a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers" when the convoy of hundreds of vehicles, including semi-trailers, headed towards Ottawa, Ontario the nation's capital, starting on January 22. The protesters quickly changed their messaging to include demands that all COVID-19-related public health restrictions be lifted.
Tamara Lich is a Canadian activist who has organised for the Canada convoy protest in Ottawa, the Maverick Party, and Yellow Vest protests in Canada. She is a musician and a former logistics worker.
Benjamin Joseph Dichter was a leader in the 2022 Canadian convoy protest. He is a truck driver, author, and podcaster and a former gemologist, former print shop operator from Toronto, Canada. He is the founder of the LGBTQ conservative group LGBTory.
This timeline includes entries on the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. This includes investigations into the origin of COVID-19, and the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. Social media apps and platforms, including Facebook, TikTok, Telegram, and YouTube, have contributed to the spread of misinformation. The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) reported that conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 began on "day one". CAHN reported on March 16, 2020, that far-right groups in Canada were taking advantage of the climate of anxiety and fear surrounding COVID, to recycle variations of conspiracies from the 1990s, that people had shared over shortwave radio. COVID-19 disinformation is intentional and seeks to create uncertainty and confusion. But most of the misinformation is shared online unintentionally by enthusiastic participants who are politically active.
Christopher John Barber, and usually known as Chris Barber, is a Canadian trucking company operator, and activist who co-led the Canadian convoy protest. He was arrested on February 17, 2022 and released on bail the next day. His courtroom defence had yet to be heard as of January 2024.
Canada Unity is a group that campaigned against COVID-19 mask mandates and vaccine passports during the Canada convoy protest.
James Ralph Bauder is a Albertan truck driver, the cofounder of Canada Unity and an organizer of the Canada convoy protest.
Tom Marazzo is a Canadian military veteran, former teacher, and leader in the 2022 Canadian convoy protest.
Tyson George Billings, also known as Freedom George, was a key figure in the Canada convoy protest.
Daniel Bulford is a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer who became the head of security for the Canada convoy protest in 2022.
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."