BREAKING: Calgary pastor arrested after protesting all-ages drag show at public library
Mayor of Calgary Jyoti Gondek has promised to weaponize Calgary's anti-street harassment bylaws to prevent anti-drag show protests.

Derek Reimer, pastor for Calgary's Mission 7 Ministries, which works mainly with homeless and vulnerable people in the city's downtown core, was informed Wednesday morning that he faced charges of mischief and causing a disturbance related to a protest at Seton Library on Saturday.
BREAKING: Pastor Derek Reimer has been arrested by the Calgary police over his protest at an all-ages drag queen story time at a public library this past weekend.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) March 2, 2023
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Video of an altercation at the Seton Library protest shows Reimer being forcibly removed by proponents of a Drag Queen Story Hour event, physically removing Reimer from the venue and shoving him to the ground.
Calgary pastor Derek Reimer was physically thrown out of an all-ages drag story hour hosted by the Calgary Public Library. He was there protesting against exposing kids to drag queens.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) February 27, 2023
Mayor Jyoti Gondek is trying to criminalize protests against these https://t.co/SiKFg8k3Te… https://t.co/jjnDlKGD2J pic.twitter.com/mvCWArkMYV
A single Calgary Police Service member attended Reimer's home early Wednesday morning to inform him he was facing two separate charges. However, despite previous reports indicating an arrest occurred, Reimer was not arrested then.
Pastor Derek Reimer was arrested and charged with mischief earlier today. Reimer was kicked out of a public library for protesting an all-ages drag event in Calgary this past weekend.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) March 1, 2023
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Mayor of Calgary, Jyoti Gondek, has promised to weaponize Calgary's anti-street harassment bylaws to prevent anti-drag show protests.
As Calgary's mayor tries to continue criminalizing protests she disagrees with, police have apparently opened a hate crime investigation into Pastor Derek Reimer after he was kicked out of a public library for protesting an all-ages drag event.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) February 28, 2023
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Threats to abuse the controversial bylaw have not quelled the growing protests, prompting Gondek to promise to pass new by-laws to deal with what she calls "vile lies" and "hatred" directed at drag performers who want to read books to small children in cross-sex burlesque costumes.
1/I’ll be unpacking all the “reasons” why enforcement teams & the Crown feel the street harassment bylaw & other existing bylaws/legislation are not strong enough to charge demonstrators who spread vile lies & hatred in public. And then I’ll be pushing for more. No more excuses.
— Jyoti Gondek (@JyotiGondek) February 26, 2023
Reimer was the second client of the registered Canadian charity, The Democracy Fund's (TDF) Fight The Fines program, after receiving Covid tickets for feeding the homeless, an act the City of Calgary called "illegal gatherings."
Pastor Derek Reimer with Mission 7 Ministries in Calgary, Alberta, says it's "no coincidence" he was detained by police during a protest against an all-ages drag event in the city's northeast.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) February 13, 2023
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Reimer remains a client of TDF, helped through the Fight Censorship Fines initiative, which offers free legal help to those targeted with $400 fines under the anti-harassment by-law.
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