News/Commentary

Canadian pastor repeatedly jailed for defying ‘COVID tyranny’ will face trial for the final time

January 27, 2023 | | Print Article

Artur Pawlowski, the pastor of the Cave of Adullam congregation in Calgary, will go on trial for the final time after being persecuted by Canadian authorities for three years following his defiance of COVID mandates resulting in repeated fines, arrests, and imprisonment.

The Canadian government is outrageously accusing him of causing $400 million worth of damages for officiating a church service during the trucker blockade at the US-Canada border last year. The video of his sermon ostensibly stirred truckers to stand strong in their defiance of authorities. He urged them to “hold the line” against the government without resorting to violence.

Days after he gave that 20-minute speech, he was arrested at his home and spent 51 days in two different prisons. The pastor claimed authorities abused him by locking him in a small cage and placing him in a psychiatric ward while urging other inmates to hurt him. The inmates refused and some reached out to him for spiritual guidance, he noted at the time.

“This is the final culmination of over 40 tickets for the COVID tyranny, the house arrest, the prison, all of that stuff,” Pawlowski told Fox News Digital in an interview. His trial is set to begin Thursday, Feb. 2, in Lethbridge, Alberta and he plans to make comments on his way inside, according to a press release.

(Video Credit: Artur Pawlowski TV)

Pawlowski was the first Canadian clergyman to get nailed for violating COVID protocols. He asserts the charges against him amount to criminalization of free speech.

“It’s crazy stuff,” he told Fox News Digital.

The pastor blasted Danielle Smith, Alberta’s new premier, whom he claims discussed his potential amnesty last fall but has now “backpedaled” on it.

“I think the biggest problem is that she appointed the same villains in her cabinet,” Pawlowski commented.

“She’s extremely weak,” he said. “Remember, you’re dealing with a flip-flopping politician who crosses the floors, abandons people, promises one thing, and changes her mind.”

He charged that representatives from the UCP came to his home multiple times to offer him a deal not to run for office or to abandon his political party, but he refused.

“I know her and she wants to please everyone, and she doesn’t stand for anything,” Pawlowski contended. “I’m a pastor, I’m not Judas Iscariot, I’m not the Whore of Babylon. I don’t betray the people. So, I said no, and then [Smith] came out in public and she says, ‘Well, I’m not bringing amnesty.'”

Pawlowski heads a charity that feeds Calgary’s homeless. He was also ticketed for that during the pandemic.

He now faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted on the charges stemming from his participation in the trucker convoy in Coutts, Alberta. Authorities have charged him with mischief over $5,000, contravention of the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act and failure to comply with his release condition to keep the peace and be of good behavior.

In April 2021, the pastor threw armed police and a health official out of his church following an attempt to inspect the house of worship for public health compliance during an Easter service.

As he chased them out of his church, Pawlowski compared them to the Nazi Gestapo. They came back a week later with a court order that empowered them “to do anything necessary” to enter his church and arrest him. The pastor recorded himself throwing them out again and warning his viewers that Canada was increasingly resembling the communist regime his family suffered under in Poland.

He has been arrested five times and has refused steadfastly to cease conducting services despite the court order. They even busted the man of faith once in the middle of a busy highway on his way home from church. He was also arrested on the tarmac of Calgary International Airport following a speaking tour in the US.

In October 2021, after appearing in court multiple times, a federal judge ordered that he recite a script publicly denouncing his own opinions on COVID-19 and vaccines.

“I said, ‘I will not obey this court order,’” Pawlowski declared before the order was stayed upon appeal. “I refuse to obey a crooked judge’s order. He’s not a judge, he’s a political activist.”

Pawlowski told Fox News Digital that he has been under house arrest since he was released from prison in April. He has to have permission from his probation officer to leave his own home.

In an act of further defiance, he ran for political office and became the leader of the Alberta Independence Party last September.

The pastor says there was an inconsistent application of COVID protocols in Canada that were intended “to remove or to destroy the middle class.”

“That’s why the IKEAs and Walmarts were open, but small businesses were commanded to be closed,” he declared. “I could bring my entire church and half of my community to IKEA during the biggest lockdowns, where 500 people were allowed. But I could not have a church service with 100 people.”

Latest posts by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles