Top brass from Alberta's RCMP contingent was involved in the police response to the 2022 Coutts protest and blockade, testimony revealed. The trial for Chris Carbert and Anthony Olienick of the Coutts Four remains ongoing in Lethbridge.

RCMP Superintendent Gordon Corbett, a crown witness, testified that “platinum-level" officials were involved in operational planning against the Coutts protest. He explained this was a reference to Curtis Zablocki, the RCMP’s then-deputy commissioner to Alberta. He was the highest ranking official in the province at the time.

Carbert and Olienick are accused of conspiring to murder police officers during the 2022 Coutts protest and blockade, a peaceful and civilly disobedient demonstration against the government decrees, edicts, and orders marketed as “public health” measures to reduce COVID-19 transmission.

Marilyn Burns, Olienick's defence attorney, described the trial as “political” during her opening statement Thursday. "This is a political, criminal trial that is un-Canadian,” she said.

Burns also suggested to jurors she would table evidence of misconduct by the RCMP.

The attorney said she is “disappointed with how Canada's own RCMP conducted themselves” after listening to and viewing her presentation. She added that “the conduct of Alberta’s provincial government and Canada's federal government are entwined with the RCMP”.

"We're getting roasted on social media" - RCMP email from February 9, 2022 updating the Alberta team dedicated to the Coutts protest. A regular feature of these emails is a focus on the RCMP's perception of its public reputation in relation to then-ongoing demonstrations. pic.twitter.com/x2O41tfQ0E

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) July 10, 2024

The RCMP’s female undercover officers -- three of whom testifies as witnesses for the Crown -- had lied to jurors, Burns added.

The attorney said Olienick had been romantically interested in at least one of the female undercover operators (UCO).

“A pretty little woman caught his eye,” Burns said of her client. Olienick “looked for love in the wrong place,” she claimed.

"...protesters have been very good with police." - RCMP email from February 6, 2022, referring to demonstrators at Coutts. It's one of many internal RCMP emails I've seen describing the protesters as peaceful. https://t.co/cYRWVbU1xv pic.twitter.com/jPMLtvUP9k

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) July 10, 2024

Olienick believed there would be broad damage to Canada “economically, socially, politically" had the mandates persisted.

Burns described her client as a man preparing for difficult times, with such persons often described as “preppers”. Olienick engaged in behavior “commonly known as prepping,” she said.