Actions have Consequences
.On September 8 2021, ACQB Justice Adam Germain sentenced anti-vaxxer crusader and current Calgary mayoral candidate Kevin Johnston to 40 days in jail and a $20,000 fine (payable to AHS) for civil contempt for failure to comply with numerous Court Orders regarding AHS COVID-19 public health measures. He is also prohibited from participating in any future public or private gatherings contrary to AHS regulations for a year. Mr. Johnston chose to say nothing at his sentencing.
The “Third Wave”
The facts in this case were not complicated (nor necessarily disputed). In May 2021 (during the so-called “3rd wave” of the pandemic), in direct contravention of three (3) specific Orders granted by Associate Chief Justice Rooke to assist AHS in preventing Mr. Johnston and others from flaunting COVID-19 protocols, Mr. Johnston was found to have continued to repeatedly (see: AHS v. Johnston, 2021 ABQB 508):
● organize, promote and attend gatherings that did not follow AHS public health guidelines (ie. limiting numbers, masking, and physical distancing, etc.);
● encouraged his social media followers to defy such AHS guidelines, and;
● made “vicious, unrelenting attacks” (through his social media sites and a broadcast outlet) on AHS personnel and Chief Medical Officer Deena Henshaw, including:
▪ threatening to “dox” them (ie. release of private information, including home addresses);
▪ targeting them (armed, if necessary) and their friends for retribution (once elected Mayor), and;
▪ referring to them as “criminals, cowards and terrorists (that) must be brought to justice”.
(Perhaps not surprisingly,) Mr. Johnston had a history of convictions for hateful behaviour, including: harassment and disturbance (for a mask related incident) in Calgary; hate crimes and defamation (“a loathsome example of hate speech at its worst”) in Ontario, and; assault in BC (trial pending).
But I write this article not to highlight the selfish and reckless conduct of self-proclaimed “street-preachers” and fringe politicians, but to promote the wise and thoughtful words and decisions of our judiciary throughout this pandemic. Early on (April 24, 2020), in setting the Alberta protocol for co-parenting during the pandemic, Justice Robert Graesser wrote (see: SAS v. LMS, 2020 ACQB 287 at para. 44):
“Parents are expected to address COVID-19 issues and concerns with each other… to resolve these issues and concerns in good faith and to act reasonably in exploring strategies that will first and foremost ensure the health and safety of their children… Non-compliant parents can expect no second chances.”
On December 21 2020, in dismissing an application for an interim injunction staying (temporarily suspending) AHS COVID-19 public health measures to allow church members to attend Christmas celebrations (the “Saving Christmas” application), Justice Anne Kirker stated [see: Ingram v. Alberta (Chief Medical Officer of Health), 2020 ABQB 806 at para.’s 77 – 85]:
“The ultimate question is whether I am satisfied that these benefits outweigh the harm of suspending the restrictions until January 4, 2021, or until the merits of the action are decided. I am not satisfied that they do. I hear and appreciate how difficult it is for the Applicants and other members of the public to forgo these rights, especially at this time of year… Given the risks associated with the spread of the virus that the Respondents are seeking to manage, I am of the view that there is a greater public interest in maintaining the integrity of Order 42 than there is in staying the parts of it that the Applicants ask me to suspend so that they, and other citizens of this Province, are able to gather and celebrate the holidays and to otherwise exercise their religious freedoms.”
A“Fourth Wave”?
On September 8, 2021, in sentencing Mr. Johnston, Justice Germain stated (written decision pending):
“People are dying. They’re dying on (Dr. Hinshaw’s) watch. And Mr. Johnston and his ilk have (painted) her in cruel terms in reference to Holocaust victims, to Nazis. The Nazis, as a political movement, inflicted considerable pain on one ethnic group in society and to compare dedicated men and women who are trying to keep Albertans alive to Nazis is simply unacceptable in modern contemporary society…
If Mr. Johnston had used his considerable powers of persuasion to encourage people to wear masks, encouraged them to socially distance, encourage them to take the vaccinations, Alberta would not right now be in the fourth crisis wave of this pandemic.”
In noting that Mr. Johnston would spend his detention at the Calgary Remand Centre, Justice Germain had one recommendation: get vaccinated.
To date, some 2,444 people in Alberta have died (4.55M world-wide) from the COVID-19 and variant pandemic. They continue to do so. Front-line health workers, burnt-out by the pandemic and becoming increasingly fearful of their working conditions, are leaving the profession in droves. Notwithstanding, some have chosen (and continue to choose) to put their personal or political self-interest above the common good, refusing to comply with the most simple public health precautions (some even protesting outside hospitals. Really?).
We are finally (hopefully) able to see the light at the end of the tunnel of this difficult period, and perhaps able to reflect on people’s actions during it. Kevin Johnston was jailed and fined for breaching AHS COVID-19 public health measures and harassing AHS officials. Actions have consequences ...
