Alberta
Update 3: Charges laid against 4 people – Drayton Valley RCMP on scene at firearms incident
UPDATE #3
July 30, 2020
Drayton Valley RCMP on scene at firearms incident – charges laid
Moon Lake, Alta – Following an incident on July 28 that saw a pursuit, a vehicle fire, and the deployment of the RCMP Emergency Response Team, charges have been laid against four accused subjects.
At 8:32 a.m., Drayton Valley RCMP were dispatched to a home invasion which had just occurred. The suspects fled the house prior to police arrival.
The suspect vehicle was initially spotted on Highway 759 by an Alberta Sheriff, but an attempt to stop it was not successful. The vehicle continued to flee. The vehicle was spotted by a homeowner on Range Road 72 near Highway 624. The vehicle fled that property and was located by members in a field off of Range Road 73 near Moon Lake Hall. The RCMP set up containment when the vehicle was spotted on a field. The vehicle caught fire in the field, and the attending RCMP members contained the area.
Neighbouring detachments of Evansburg, Mayerthorpe and Parkland all provided assistance with the containment. Supporting units, including Police Dog Services, Emergency Response Team and Air Services were all engaged.
Two males were located initially at a residence near Highway 22. The other two subjects were located as a result of a tip from the member of the public.
Three of the accused were treated and released at a local hospital as a result of injuries believed to have been sustained by jumping from the moving vehicle. No one else was injured during these incidents.
Shawn Victor Fleming (30), Stuart Kevin McMillan (19) and Dylan Alexander Andres (21) all of Edmonton are jointly facing numerous criminal code charges including; break and enter to a dwelling house, using a firearm while committing an indictable offence, possession of a prohibited weapon, et al.
Judicial Interim Hearings were held and all three accused remain in custody to attend court on August 4 in Drayton Valley.
A 38-year-old female from Edmonton is also facing charges which have not been sworn in court yet.
Information received led investigators to a location where two firearms were recovered.
The public assistance received by the RCMP was very appreciated throughout this incident.
Background
UPDATE #2
July 28, 2020
Drayton Valley RCMP on scene at firearms incident – All suspects in custody
Moon Lake, Alta. – Thanks to a public tip, the male and female suspects have been arrested without incident, with the assistance of the Emergency Response Team.
Residents in the area are free to leave their homes, and the public is thanked for their assistance during this unfolding incident.
The investigation remains ongoing. A further update by the RCMP is not anticipated until tomorrow morning. This allows the RCMP an opportunity to conduct their investigation which includes determining the nature of the incident and gathering facts.
UPDATE #1
July 28, 2020
Drayton Valley RCMP on scene at firearms incident – Two in custody
Moon Lake, Alta – Two males have been taken into custody by the RCMP and two suspects remain at large in the Moon Lake Hall area.
Following a home invasion resulting in a stolen vehicle, reported at 8:32 this morning, the RCMP continue to search for a male and a female suspect. They are believed to be armed and should be considered dangerous.
The RCMP Emergency Response Team has been deployed to assist in their capture.
Further updates will be provided when available
Background – Drayton Valley RCMP on scene at firearms incident
Moon Lake, Alta. – The Drayton Valley RCMP currently have a field contained in the Moon Lake Hall area, north of Drayton Valley, near Township Road 520 and Highway 22. All area residents are asked to remain in their homes and shelter in place.
An unfolding incident involving firearms is actively occurring. The police have suspects contained in an area. This is a dynamic situation and an update will be provided when available.
Alberta
Alberta introduces bill banning sex reassignment surgery on minors
From LifeSiteNews
Alberta Conservative Premier Danielle Smith followed through on a promised bill banning so-called ‘top and bottom’ surgeries for minors.
Alberta Conservative Premier Danielle Smith made good on her promise to protect kids from extreme transgender ideology after introducing a bill banning so-called “top and bottom” surgeries for minors.
“It is so important that all youth can enter adulthood equipped to make adult decisions. In order to do that, we need to preserve their ability to make those decisions, and that’s what we’re doing,” Smith said in a press release.
“The changes we’re introducing are founded on compassion and science, both of which are vital for the development of youth throughout a time that can be difficult and confusing.”
Bill 26, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2024 “reflects the government’s commitment to build a health care system that responds to the changing needs of Albertans,” the government says.
The bill will amend the Health Act to “prohibit regulated health professionals from performing sex reassignment surgeries on minors.”
It will also ban the “use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies for the treatment of gender dysphoria or gender incongruence” to kids 15 and under “except for those who have already commenced treatment and would allow for minors aged 16 and 17 to choose to commence puberty blockers and hormone therapies for gender reassignment and affirmation purposes with parental, physician and psychologist approval.”
Alberta Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange, the bill’s sponsor, said the province’s legislative priorities include “implementing policy changes to continue our refocusing work, position our health care system to respond to pressures and public health emergencies, and to preserve choice for minors. These amendments reflect our dedication to ensuring our health care system meets the needs of every Albertan.”
Earlier this year, the United Conservative Party (UCP) provincial government under Smith announced she would introduce the strong pro-family legislation that strengthens parental rights, protecting kids from life-altering, so-called “top and bottom” surgeries as well as other extreme forms of transgender ideology.
With Smith’s UCP holding a majority in the provincial legislature, the passage of Bill 26 is almost certain.
About the proposed law, Smith said that her government believes it is “vitally important to preserve the time” kids have as a “youth.” She added that she believes this is so kids can “gain sufficient amount of knowledge, experience, and perspective so that you can fully understand who you are, who you want to be and what opportunities you may want to have as an adult before making permanent life-altering decisions related to your body.”
While Smith has done far more than predecessor Jason Kenney to satisfy social conservatives, she has been mostly soft on social issues such as abortion and has publicly expressed pro-LGBT views, telling Jordan Peterson that conservatives must embrace homosexual “couples” as “nuclear families.”
This weekend, thousands of UCP members will gather for the party’s annual general meeting, where Smith’s leadership will be voted on along with many other pro-freedom and family policy proposals from members. Smith is expected to pass her leadership review vote with a large majority.
Alberta
Alberta court upholds conviction of Pastor Artur Pawlowski for preaching at Freedom Convoy protest
From LifeSiteNews
Lawyers argued that Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s sermon was intended to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, but the statement was characterized as a call for mischief.
An Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that Calgary Pastor Artur Pawlowski is guilty of mischief for his sermon at the Freedom Convoy-related border protest blockade in February 2022 in Coutts, Alberta.
On October 29, Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Gordon Krinke sentenced the pro-freedom pastor to 60 days in jail for “counselling mischief” by encouraging protesters to continue blocking Highway 4 to protest COVID mandates.
“A reasonable person would understand the appellant’s speech to be an active inducement of the illegal activity that was ongoing and that the appellant intended for his speech to be so understood,” the decision reads.
Pawlowski addressed a group of truckers and protesters blocking entrance into the U.S. state of Montana on February 3, the fifth day of the Freedom Convoy-styled protest. He encouraged the protesters to “hold the line” after they had reportedly made a deal with Royal Canadian Mounted Police to leave the border crossing and travel to Edmonton.
“The eyes of the world are fixed right here on you guys. You are the heroes,” Pawlowski said. “Don’t you dare go breaking the line.”
After Pawlowski’s sermon, the protesters remained at the border crossing for two additional weeks. While his lawyers argued that his speech was made to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, the statement is being characterized as a call for mischief.
Days later, on February 8, Pawlowski was arrested – for the fifth time – by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak again to the Coutts protesters.
He was subsequently jailed for nearly three months for what he said was for speaking out against COVID mandates, the subject of all the Freedom Convoy-related protests.
In Krinke’s decision, he argued that Pawlowski’s sermon incited the continuation of the protest, saying, “The Charter does not provide justification to anybody who incites a third party to commit such crimes.”
However, defence lawyer Sarah Miller pointed out that that Pawlowski’s sermon was protected under freedom of speech, an argument that Krinke quickly dismissed.
“While the appellant is correct that peaceful, lawful and nonviolent communication is entitled to protection, blockading a highway is an inherently aggressive and potentially violent form of conduct, designed to intimidate and impede the movement of third parties,” he wrote.
Pawlowski was released after the verdict. He has already spent 78 days in jail before the trial.
Pawlowski is the first Albertan to be charged for violating the province’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (CIDA), which was put in place in 2020 under then-Premier Jason Kenney.
The CIDA, however, was not put in place due to COVID mandates but rather after anti-pipeline protesters blockaded key infrastructure points such as railway lines in Alberta a few years ago.
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