CALGARY, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) — A Canadian pastor has been arrested for refusing to apologize to a librarian who hosted a “drag queen story hour” for children.
In the afternoon of December 3, Calgary police arrested Christian pastor Derek Reimer for refusing to comply with a court order mandating that he pen a formal apology to a Calgary Public Library manager who he criticized for promoting a children’s “drag queen story hour” in 2023.
“Do you know why you’re arresting him? He won’t say sorry for his beliefs,” an independent Canadian journalist under the handle Dacey Media asked police during the arrest.
BREAKING: Pastor Derek Reimer arrested after refusing court-ordered apology
Reimer is taken away in handcuffs as his son screams in the background
Free speech is under attack in Canada. pic.twitter.com/uou5892SKh
— Dacey Media (@chrisdacey) December 4, 2025
Present at the arrest was pro-freedom pastor Artur Pawlowski and Reimer’s son. Videos of the arrest quickly circulated on social media, with many Canadian activists condemning it as targeting Christian and pro-family values.
“Canadian pastor arrested for refusing COURT ORDERED LGBTQ APOLOGY,” former Ontario teacher turned pro-family advocate Matt Alexander wrote on X.
“Derek Reimer is taken away,” he continued. “He protested a drag queen story hour and has faced legal repercussions for years. Religious freedom is gone.”
“Welcome to Canada, where freedom of religion and expression are no more,” another Canadian wrote. “A pastor who would not apologize for opposing drag queen story hour has been arrested and could receive up to 2 years in prison. Pray for pastor Derek Reimer.”
At the time of his arrest, Reimer was serving a one-year house arrest, which he had previously appealed, as reported by LifeSiteNews. Last Wednesday, he was in court to go over his sentence conditions.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, in 2023, Reimer’s Mission 7 Ministries lawyer Andrew MacKenzie filed an appeal to a sentence of one year’s house arrest and two years’ probation handed to the pastor before Christmas for protesting a “drag queen story hour” event targeting kids at Calgary’s Saddletown Library in the spring of 2023. Government lawyers had been seeking to sentence Reimer to jail time for his protest against the LGBT agenda.
Reimer told LifeSiteNews at the time of his house arrest sentencing that his trust in the Lord was keeping him strong despite the conditions placed upon him.
He also informed LifeSiteNews that he is only allowed to leave his house with the approval of his probation officer but noted that, when it comes to preaching, “God comes first.”
Reimer has asked Shannon Slater, who was the library manager, why the library was hosting such an event. After Slater did not answer, she told Reimer to leave, and he did.
However, Reimer had published his interaction with Slater on social media. He was ordered to write an apology letter to Slater, which was due at the end of last week. Reimer told local media that he would not submit the letter since for one to be “sorry,” one has to “admit fault” that “you’re wrong.”
He noted how this is admitting one made a “mistake” and that is what an “apology is.”
Reimer also noted how he told the court he went “into my freedom of conscience and a thorough study and my understanding of it, mixed with freedom of expression and religion,” and that “it explained and constituted that you have to express to the court your deeply held religious views of why this is a violation of your conscience and why you can’t do it.”