PrintThe persecuted Canadian pastor has finally been vindicated
When COVID madness was in its infancy, a big story across the Western world was the way in which governments shut down people’s access to their faith. Sadly, many religious leaders cheerfully went along with these shutdowns as if it were nothing to deny religious succor to believers during dark days. One of the pastors who refused to accept that religion had no place in a crisis was Canadian pastor Artur Pawlowski, who the state relentlessly persecuted, arresting, fining, and imprisoning him. Now, though, he’s finally been vindicated.
I wrote about Pastor Pawlowski frequently during the dark days of COVID. One of the pieces was on May 9, 2021, which I entitled “Calgary police finally got their revenge against Pastor Pawlowski.” In it, I briefly summarized how Pastor Pawlowski had bravely stood against the state, citing to Canada’s own Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Calgary police didn’t care, and they arrested Pastor Pawlowski and then boasted about it.
Now, though, Pastor Pawlowski is having the last laugh. Ezra Levant, a stalwart Canadian freedom fighter, tells the tale:
2. Kenney -- and his disgraceful justice & health ministers -- spent millions of dollars hounding Pastor Artur and his brother Dawid. Kenney set the precedent for Justin Trudeau's political persecution of Tamara Lich.
— Ezra Levant ЁЯНБЁЯЪЫ (@ezralevant) July 22, 2022
Today the Court of Appeal ruled it was an illegal vendetta.
4. Remember this shocking, SWAT-team take down of Pastor Artur and his brother Dawid, like they were drug kingpins? Illegal. The @CalgaryPolice are an international disgrace. If their chief had any moral fiber, he’d resign. pic.twitter.com/RZ913cQns3
— Ezra Levant ЁЯНБЁЯЪЫ (@ezralevant) July 22, 2022
4. Remember this shocking, SWAT-team take down of Pastor Artur and his brother Dawid, like they were drug kingpins? Illegal. The @CalgaryPolice are an international disgrace. If their chief had any moral fiber, he’d resign. pic.twitter.com/RZ913cQns3
— Ezra Levant ЁЯНБЁЯЪЫ (@ezralevant) July 22, 2022
[I skipped a tweet in which Levant told readers he would be having a broadcast to discuss the court’s decision.]
8. Today's ruling by the Alberta Court of Appeal is a binding precedent across Alberta and it's also persuasive across Canada. Pastor Artur's victory will help thousands of other Canadians break free from the brutal and often unconstitutional enforcement of lockdowns.
— Ezra Levant ЁЯНБЁЯЪЫ (@ezralevant) July 22, 2022
9. By the way, you can read the whole ruling for yourself at our website, https://t.co/bMwAj1iNfP.
— Ezra Levant ЁЯНБЁЯЪЫ (@ezralevant) July 22, 2022
Aside from being a wonderful vindication of Pastor Pawlowski, this story should be heartening to all of us. It is a reminder that, in societies that still have a vestigial remembrance of the rule of law, as you go higher up the judicial ladder, you’re more likely to get learned judges who actually believe in justice. And, while the mills of law most certainly aren’t the mills of God, the reality is that, like the mills of God, they grind both slow and small: You may ultimately get the right outcome, but you have to be willing to fight and wait for it.
Image: Twitter screen grab.
