The Imperative of Supporting Political Prisoners

By Kai Hodgson

“Most Canadians don’t know that these men are being held without bail and that by the time they get to trial, they will have been sitting in remand center jails for over two years.” (…) “To any trained investigator the photo shows substandard, even suspect, evidence handling. It also indicates a surprising sloppiness in the investigation – especially considering the serious nature of the charges against the Coutts Four and the fact that a conspiracy is alleged.” ~Donald Best, former Toronto Police Detective and Canadian anticorruption whistleblower and activist.

Canada has seen some dark years of late and hope for positive change is often hard to imagine. Like many others, I felt very alone during the lockdowns and it seemed like nobody could stop the totalitarian agenda with its many lies from swallowing more and more of the rights I had been promised as a child. There were times when I held despair in my heart for the Nation that I loved and served. Yet today I stand firmly in faith and love, knowing a rekindled hope in my heart. That hope was rekindled at the Coutts border in February 2022 and it hasn’t left me since.

Soon after the Ottawa Convoy ignited the Nation in protest against vaccine mandates, a group of farmers from southern Alberta parked their equipment across the highway near Coutts and in the days following that act of courage, thousands of Albertans joined them in solidarity. I was one of those thousands. When I arrived at the Milk River encampment, the place was humming with energy and excitement, there were so many vehicles. Everyone had a look in their eyes like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing — like they had just crawled out of a dark cave and found sunlight for the first time in years. It would be impossible to encompass all that had transpired at that place but two things happened on February 14th, 2022 that I contemplate regularly.

It was Valentine’s Day, it was cold, and the Emergencies Act was in full effect. We were all emotionally exhausted by the fear and increasing psychological pressure being mounted on us byte the RCMP to leave that roadside encampment. I remember feeling great anxiety and doubt about what would happen to us if we persisted in our protest. That morning a large group of local children came to our camp and gave us Valentine’s Day cards. A young boy gave me a little heart made from pink construction paper that said “Thank you Truckers” and asked me if I was a Trucker. I told him that I wasn’t but I wanted to be one when I grew up. He laughed and ran off to play in the strawbale castle the children had built that they called “Fort Freedom”. I stared at that card for a long time and I still look at it often and it reminds me why we took the risk to stand there that day, going as far as to write lawyer’s phone numbers on our arms in permanent marker.

Twenty kilometres south of me, Tony Olienick, a 40-year-old farmer and trucker from the Claresholm area was handed a very similar card by another small child at the Coutts saloon. I spoke to him over the phone from my home in Medicine Hat, while he sat in jail well over a year after the protest had ended. Tony is one of the four men who was arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder a police officer — the narrative that was used to justify the enacting of the Emergencies Act, previously known as the War Measures Act. Tony was arrested that Valentine’s Day evening outside Smugglers Saloon. The narrative that has been constructed around his arrest is that he and three other men were planning to engage in violence if the RCMP made arrests at the Saloon. Yet the night Tony was arrested, he calmly engaged with the RCMP and was streaming live on his Instagram encouraging people to stay peaceful. (instagram.com/p/CZ8eN6VlC98 or @tony_o1911) It was his last post on social media. Over 500 days later Tony and three other men are still behind bars without bail, awaiting an ever-postponed trial.

Tony has no criminal record, no history of violence, not even a speeding ticket. His friends tell me he got in a fight in elementary school and he still feels guilty about it. Everyone I’ve spoken to that knows the man describes him as kind, gentle, and charitable. Tony’s mother turned 80 this summer. She emigrated to Canada from the Philippines, she has a hard time understanding why this is happening to her son. She’s taken it upon herself to care for Tony’s farm and his dogs while he is imprisoned. It’s hard to express in words the pain and hardship that has been visited on this family by the “Justice” system. Many of their assets and equipment have been sold to retain legal counsel, the trial is estimated to cost over a million dollars just for Tony.

You get the feeling talking to Tony on the phone that he’s the one encouraging and lifting you up, not the other way around. He expresses deep faith that he’s in captivity in order to expose corruption. Despite finding himself very ill due to a lack of access to medical care or a suitable diet, he is known for his friendly and good-spirited interactions with the guards and staff. Every time I talk to this man I wonder how the government could justify holding him without bail for over 500 days while we see violent criminals and sex offenders released within days. This man has not hurt anyone, he has not damaged property, and he has shown no interest in fleeing the justice system, yet there he sits. I often wonder how close I was to sitting in his very same shoes. One emotional comment to one of the many undercover officers at the protest might have landed me in the same circumstances. Then it would be my family suffering the imprisonment of a son.

I place myself in his shoes regularly and wonder what I would want from the public, especially from the people who understand why we stood there at the border despite threats of imprisonment. Tony stood there for that child with the Valentine’s Day card. He was scared yet he felt he had a responsibility to stand up for the God-given rights those children were promised. I remember both the fear and the faith that helped me overcome that fear. We can’t ask others to stand up for our freedoms and then turn away from them when they pay the price for taking that stand. I got to go home to my family but Tony Olienick, Jerry Morin, Chris Carbert, and Chris Lysak didn’t. Are we doing enough for these men? The fear that we all felt standing at that border is alive and well in our movement when it comes to speaking up for these young men who didn’t come home. Please consider speaking out against the treatment of these four men — picture that little pink paper heart and the hope for the future that it represents. These men were called to do their part and their efforts overcame the mandates for us. I think it’s time for the rest of us to be called into service to bring our brothers home!

What can we do practically? I would encourage people to educate themselves on the facts of the case so they can speak truthfully and courageously for these men. Attend their court appearances, and attend protests or fundraisers that groups like “Operation Rescue” and “Save The Coutts Boys” are promoting.

For more info, check out rumble.com/c/JasonLavigneMP, Twitter: @CalmTheFear, Facebook: facebook.com/groups/622318705558931, and savethecouttsboys.com

Editor’s Note: We encourage you to also read Donald Best’s take on the Coutts Four situation at: donaldbest.ca/denying-bail-to-the-coutts-four-is-a-political-decision-and-act