CALGARY, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) – A provincial judge has denied Canadian Christian pastor Artur Pawlowski bail. He will be forced to stay in jail until at least March 11.
As first reported by Rebel News Wednesday, Alberta Provincial Court Judge Erin Olsen ruled that the Calgary preacher was a threat to “public safety,” because he refuses to comply with COVID health rules.
Olsen concluded “that the provision of cash bail with or without conditions of release would be unwise and fruitless, given the accused’s recent history of paying fines and costs potentially with other people’s money.”
Olsen also claimed that Pawlowski’s recent speech to protesters at the Alberta/Montana border could be looked upon as a call to violence.
She noted that Pawlowski is looking at a total of three charges, due to a speech he gave at a protest at the Alberta/Montana border which the government claims “aided and abetted mischief and interfered with critical infrastructure.”
On February 8, Pawlowski was arrested for the fifth time by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak at a peaceful Freedom Trucker protest at the Alberta/U.S. border, near Coutts, Alberta.
The police had been staking out the Christian preacher’s home, according to Pawlowski’s son, Nathaniel.
According to Rebel News, Pawlowski is facing “trespassing and mischief over $5000 criminal charges, in addition to being charged under Alberta’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act for allegedly abetting the Coutts, Alberta trucker blockade.”
According to Rebel News, “Pastor Artur is the first person ever charged under the Act, but it is a charge that many suspect is not likely to stick.”
Pawlowski’s supporters have been holding daily protests in support of the preacher outside the Calgary jail where he is being held, demanding his immediate release. They have said they will gather outside the prison every day until he is released.
Pawlowski’s son Nathaniel said that his dad’s jailing is a government “vendetta.”
According to Pawlowski’s brother Dawid, Artur’s conditions in jail have been “filthy.” He has been treated “horribly” and was even denied access to fresh drinking water, Dawid said.
Pawlowski is being represented by attorneys Sarah Miller and Chad Haggerty with the help of Rebel News. They are raising money for his legal fees at savearthur.com.
The preacher last spent time in jail after being arrested on New Year’s Day in what could be described as a highway takedown for allegedly breaking a court order. He was released after one night.
Pawlowski made international headlines after he and Dawid were arrested in a first highway takedown in May 2021 for holding worship services contrary to Alberta’s COVID rules affecting church service capacity limits.
He and Dawid spent a total of three nights in solitary confinement.
PETITION UPDATE (2/24/22)
VICTORY - Trudeau revokes Emergencies Act
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday that his government will revoke the Emergencies Act (EA) despite it being approved by the House of Commons on Monday.
Trudeau had said at the beginning of the week that the EA was still needed because his government was worried about further freedom-oriented activity from Canadian truckers and patriots.
The drastic change in governance comes as the Canadian Senate has spent the last two days debating whether to approve the EA when a national emergency is not present.
Conservative Senator Leo Housakos has led the charge in the Senate, and he gave an impassioned speech today against using the EA under the circumstances.
“This country is deeply divided like I’ve never seen,” Housakos said. “It’s moments like this when the executive branch of government and every prime minister has an obligation to put the nations interests above the interests of himself, his party, and partisan politics.”
Thank you for signing this petition which urged world leaders to condemn Trudeau's use of the extraordinary powers in the Emergencies Act to suppress the Charter Rights of peaceful Canadians.
Please read the latest article from LifeSiteNews about Trudeau's about face: 'BREAKING: Trudeau gov’t dropping Emergencies Act early after pressure from Senate'
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The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, is using police-state tactics to attempt to suppress the civil rights of the Truckers' Freedom Convoy protesters, those brave men and women who have called for an end to the mandates and a return to freedom.
This past Tuesday, Trudeau took the outrageous step of invoking the Emergencies Act (EA) in his ongoing battle against the truckers (and freedom, in general), and has officially moved to FREEZE the bank accounts of participating protesters.
And, in the latest dramatic development, police - some in riot gear, others on horseback - have started to move in, to attempt to disperse what has been a peaceful, democratic protest.
This kind of authoritarian police-state action cannot go uncondemned.
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition which asks world leaders to CONDEMN these strong-arm tactics and urge Trudeau and his government to use restraint and allow the peaceful protests to continue.*
The EA, which replaced the War Measures Act in 1988, permits the federal government to take "special temporary measures to ensure safety and security during national emergencies," which the law defines as "an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature" that either "seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it" or "seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada."
But, of course, the truckers' nationwide protests have not in any sense risen to such a level that anyone's life or safety have been endangered!
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition which asks world leaders to CONDEMN these strong-arm tactics and urge Trudeau and his government to use restraint and allow the peaceful protests to continue.
Trudeau's politically-motivated use of the EA, therefore, seems nothing more than an effort to violate the rights of protesters, and, for all intents and purposes, impose "martial law" as a means to quash the civil liberties of people he sees as political opposition, but who are, in reality, just normal, freedom-loving Canadians who want their freedoms back.
Indeed, Trudeau is now using tyrannical, authoritarian-style tactics to silence dissenters, and mercilessly attack the Charter rights of Canadians who are using their freedom of expression to protest his unjust war against citizens' medical autonomy.
Thank you for SIGNING and SHARING this petition which asks world leaders to CONDEMN these strong-arm tactics and urge Trudeau and his government to use restraint and allow the peaceful protests to continue.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Trudeau uses Emergencies Act to freeze private bank accounts in latest attack on Freedom Convoy': https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/trudeau-uses-emergencies-act-to-freeze-private-bank-accounts-in-latest-attack-on-freedom-convoy/
'Separating fact from fiction: Here’s what Trudeau can and cannot do under the Emergencies Act': https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/separating-fact-from-fiction-heres-what-trudeau-can-and-cannot-do-under-the-emergencies-act/
'Everything you need to know about Trudeau’s decision to invoke the ‘Emergencies Act’': https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/everything-you-need-to-know-about-trudeaus-decision-to-invoke-the-emergencies-act/
*This petition will be sent to UN delegates and mission heads from the world's most populous countries.
**Photo Credit: Darryl Barton/Shutterstock
Under the “conservative” government of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, three Christian pastors, including Pawlowski, were jailed for going against COVID rules.
Despite Kenney suddenly lifting the province’s COVID vaccine passport amid the trucker Freedom Convoy and border protests in Alberta, many COVID rules remain.
Masking is still mandatory for those over age 12, and capacity limits remain for many venues. These won’t be lifted for at least two more weeks.
Kenney also said the vaccine passport system was effective in essentially coercing people to take the abortion-tainted experimental jab.
Many pro-freedom advocates remain deeply skeptical of the local and state/provincial governments that are finally rolling back some of the draconian measures they instituted nearly two years ago. Those restrictions evolved from March 2020’s “stay at home” orders and the shutting down of businesses, churches, and restaurants to eight-hour-a-day mask mandates for toddlers in daycare, forced vaccinations to remain employed or receive lifesaving kidney transplants, and segregation based on mRNA jab status.