Acquittals overturned, new trial ordered for preacher who led anti-drag protest
Derek Reimer was convicted of criminal harassment and 4 breaches of his bail conditions last year
A Calgary judge has ordered a new trial for a pastor who was originally acquitted on charges of causing a disturbance and mischief stemming from one of his anti-drag protests.
The ruling comes one day after Derek Reimer, 38, was released following a two-month stint in the Calgary Remand Centre where he was held after his arrest for breaching his conditional sentence order (CSO) by protesting on the courthouse steps earlier this year despite being on house arrest.
The CSO was imposed in December after Reimer was convicted of harassing a librarian related to her branch's hosting of a drag reading event.
On Tuesday, Justice Brandy Shaw of Alberta's provincial court found that Reimer breached his CSO but released him on a time-served sentence.
In the spring of 2023, Reimer faced several sets of charges after he was arrested three times in five weeks while protesting Reading With Royalty events hosted at Calgary Public Library branches across the city.
The events involved drag queens reading stories to children. Reimer and his supporters call the drag queens "perverts" and described the events as "pervert grooming sessions" that are "wrong and evil."
Reimer was convicted on two sets of charges, including criminal harassment, but was acquitted by Justice Allan Fradsham of the provincial court on charges of mischief and causing a disturbance connected to an incident at the Seton Library on February 25, 2023.
That day, Reimer entered the reading room, yelling and hurling insults at drag performers before he was physically thrown out of the room by some of the adult attendees.
Fradsham ruled that while Reimer's actions were "inconsiderate and disrespectful … they did not cross the line into criminal acts. The judge found that the operation of the Seton branch "continued unabated" after Reimer left.
Prosecutors appealed that ruling and on Wednesday, Court of King's Bench Justice Nancy Carruthers overturned the acquittals.
Carruthers found that the trial judge erred when he focused on the impact Reimer's behaviour had on the library's operation rather than on the people participating in the event.
In a statement provided to CBC News, Reimer's lawyer Andrew MacKenzie said said the overturning of a summary conviction acquittal is "extremely rare" and called the decision "troubling."
"Justice Fradsham's legal reasoning on the law of disturbance and mischief has been followed in seven provinces and over 30 written decisions," said MacKenzie.
"His legal expertise should be given deference and this may give rise to a further appeal."
A date for a new trial has not yet been set.
Criminal history
After Fradsham's acquittals, Justice Karen Molle of the provincial court convicted and sentenced Reimer for harassing the Saddletown librarian on March 27, 2023.
Reimer appealed his convictions but lost.
Last October, Reimer was found guilty of breach charges stemming from his protests. For those convictions, he was fined $500.
The pastor has a history with the justice system in both Alberta and Manitoba with convictions including animal abuse and aggravated assault.
In 2015, Reimer was handed 12 months probation after a Calgary judge found him guilty of causing suffering to a dog.
Between 2011 and 2013 in Winnipeg, Reimer was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault and assault causing bodily harm.
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