Exclusive post-arrest interview with Pastor Derek Reimer

On Saturday Pastor Derek Reimer was arrested on the grounds that he was in violation the City of Calgary’s injunction which seeks to severely limited the ongoing COVID-19 related anti-mandate protests that have been ongoing for over two years in Calgary. The allegation made by police at the time of the arrest was that his use of amplification was considered a breach of the injunction.

Every Saturday Pastor Derek Reimer and his Mission7 ministry serve food to members of Calgary’s unhoused population downtown along Stephen Avenue. He, like Pastor Artur Pawlowski, endured his fair share of harassment at the hand of authorities and health officials for continuing to serve these disenfranchised communities despite COVID-19 restrictions, and as a result he was one of our very first FightTheFines.com clients and we helped him fight those tickets.

As our coverage of the Calgary freedom protest was wrapping up we passed near the location where Pastor Derek and his church do their street ministry mere moments after his arrest. I was able to share the footage right away and it quickly went viral:

We spoke with one on Pastor Derek’s Mission7 members about what happened and were informed that Pastor Derek would remain in custody until at least Monday.

A few hours after being taken into custody Derek spoke with two detectives who discussed the injunction with him, were very cordial, and then according to Derek relayed their sincere apologies for the misunderstanding insisting that he was in fact not in violation of the injunction. He was release shortly thereafter.

I joined Pastor Derek to discuss the arrest, the ongoing and seemingly targetted harassment of Christian pastors and his ongoing commitment to serve the communities which need him most.

While Derek may be a free man, Pastor Artur Pawlowski is still stuck at home under strict bail conditions with the legal fight of his life ahead of him.

To makes a tax receipt eligible donation to his legal defense please visit SaveArtur.com. You can also check out my full-length post 51 day incarceration interview with Pastor Artur here.

Adam Soos

Calgary-based Journalist

https://twitter.com/ATSoos

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