Crown wants jail for protester in Coutts 2022 COVID border blockade

Bill Graveland · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 07, 2025 3:31 PM EST | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

The Crown says Alex Van Herk needs jailhouse clip for his relation successful a COVID-19 borderline protestation to nonstop the connection that governmental beliefs don't warrant law-breaking.

Van Herk, 55, was 1 of 3 men recovered blameworthy of mischief for their roles successful the 2022 blockade astatine Coutts successful confederate Alberta, which tied up postulation astatine the U.S. borderline to protestation COVID-19 rules and vaccine mandates.

"Mr. Van Herk is nary sheep. He's a antheral who is not a follower," Crown authoritative Steven Johnston said astatine a sentencing proceeding Friday.

"He's a leader. He's a strong-willed man."

Johnston urged Justice Keith Yamauchi to enforce a three- oregon four-month condemnation for Van Herk and argued against giving him a condemnation to beryllium served successful the community.

He said a pre-sentence study was mostly affirmative but noted risks were identified with Van Herk's cognition and societal influence.

"He feels pride. He feels he's a patriot. That's a communal taxable for radical convicted of a governmental protest. He continues to judge helium gets to prime which laws helium obeys," Johnston said.

"That's anarchy."

Johnston said Van Herk tried and failed to extremity the protestation aboriginal and stayed until the end.

"It's a politically motivated act. It is 1 wherever the radical who are participating cognize they are participating successful a crime," Johnston said.

Van Herk's lawyer, Darren Mahoney, said nary jailhouse clip is required. He suggested a year's probation and assemblage service.

"He's a bully idiosyncratic who made a mistake. He'd ne'er instrumentality an enactment similar that again," Mahoney told court.

"He's intelligibly learned from the experience. We can't punish him for reasoning differently. They thought astatine the clip they were doing the close happening connected behalf of the community."

Mahoney offered an apology connected Van Herk's behalf.

"He expresses his sincere remorse for the inconvenience and for the disruption that was caused — disruption to the constabulary and everyone who had to woody with it," helium said.

"He has learned done the people of this proceeding … that the actions that helium did were incorrect and it is not justifiable to interruption the law."

Yamauchi was to manus down a condemnation aboriginal Friday.

The 2 others convicted alongside Van Herk person already been sentenced.

Marco Van Huigenbos was handed 4 months successful jailhouse portion Gerhard (George) Janzen received a three-month condemnation and 100 hours of assemblage service.