Juno News - Pastor decries Charter “illusion” in lengthy trial

00:00:00.000 Alberta street pastor Derek Reimer says he won't roll over and die as he continues a

00:00:15.840 nearly five-year legal fight tied to drag queen story hour protests after spending more than a

00:00:21.180 hundred days in jail. Meanwhile, Alberta has temporarily paused its directive to remove

00:00:26.100 sexually explicit books from school libraries after controversy erupted over a list of 200 titles

00:00:32.220 banned by the Edmonton Public School Board. The province has also introduced a new female 0.92

00:00:37.560 sex at birth confirmation form for girls in school sports as regulations took effect this month.

00:00:42.840 Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi drew criticism for refusing to take questions at a small town

00:00:49.080 hall even as attendance seriously lagged behind Premier Smith's Alberta Next events.

00:00:54.720 And the government has launched its new digital wallet beginning with mobile health cards with

00:01:00.360 Minister Nate Glubish emphasizing the system will be voluntary. All that and more on this week's

00:01:05.460 Alberta Roundup. I'm your host Isaac Lamoureux. Let's jump into that first story right away.

00:01:10.320 So a Calgary street pastor tied to the protests of drag queen story hour says he's in a nearly

00:01:15.480 five-year legal battle and refuses to back down. Derek Reimer told True North that while Canadian

00:01:21.600 totalitarianism has gone too far, he refuses to roll over and die, believing it's time to take a

00:01:27.660 stand as children return to school. He said his legal troubles began after he protested drag events

00:01:33.420 in late 2022, and he organized the protests through Exposing Darkness, a Christian movement he founded,

00:01:40.440 though non-Christians were welcome to join. He said his protests were effective enough,

00:01:45.600 considering Calgary Mayor Jot Gondek went on a, quote, Twitter tirade, arguing local bylaws weren't

00:01:52.440 strong enough. Shortly after, he was charged with mischief and causing a disturbance for protesting

00:01:58.200 a drag queen event at a student library. Reimer even appeared on Fox News after he was assaulted

00:02:04.420 at the event. The street pastor maintains he was exercising charter-protected expression and

00:02:09.700 assembly rights. He said the criminal harassment charge flowed from posting a 90-second conversation

00:02:14.760 with a librarian, arguing that those who oppose the Pride movement will be punished. Reimer spent two

00:02:20.340 months in jail for praying outside the courthouse before his trial, as it was allegedly determined to

00:02:25.760 be an unapproved church service. He said, quote, the charter is an illusion. I think the charter is

00:02:31.680 basically up to the discretion of the presiding judge. In July 2025, Justice B.L. Shaw issued reasons

00:02:37.800 in a conditional sentence proceeding, noting Reimer allegedly breached house arrest terms by preaching

00:02:43.080 to a small group of people outside the Calgary courthouse for over 50 minutes on two dates. He is serving a

00:02:48.660 12-month conditional sentence and 24 months of probation following a December 2024 criminal harassment

00:02:54.920 conviction. In September 2024, Justice A.A. Fradsham acquitted Reimer of mischief and causing a disturbance at

00:03:01.940 Calgary's Seton Library, writing that his actions were inconsiderate and disrespectful, but did not cross the line

00:03:07.760 into criminal acts. The judge also noted Reimer was physically ejected, with sufficient force that

00:03:13.340 he fell to the floor, and there was no evidence he used force himself. In July 2025, Court of King's

00:03:19.540 Bench Justice Nancy Carruthers overturned that acquittal and ordered a new trial for spring 2026.

00:03:25.820 Reimer said the justice system is inconsistent, pointing to different outcomes from different

00:03:30.000 judges based on politics. He said, quote, the lines are being blurred of what is a crime and what isn't

00:03:36.180 based on your political views. He cited that one senior judge found him not guilty, while another,

00:03:40.860 what he called a left-wing liberal judge, found him guilty of criminal harassment for what Reimer

00:03:45.420 deemed peacefully and respectfully talking to a library manager. He also described strict conditions

00:03:50.540 of house arrest that he's under. He said, quote, it's been very taxing and difficult on me as a sole

00:03:55.040 provider to provide for my wife and my child because my wife's on maternity leave. He shared probation

00:04:00.220 officer documentation with goals including, quote, subject struggles with seeing other viewpoints,

00:04:05.760 working with him in terms of breaking down traditional thoughts pertaining to the LGBTQ2S

00:04:11.160 plus community. Reimer said he plans to continue street preaching and possibly even protesting events,

00:04:16.100 adding that his ministry has long included feeding the homeless in downtown Calgary. He said right-leaning

00:04:21.080 outlets have supported him, while left-wing media has tried to demonize him, smear him, defame him,

00:04:26.500 and even slander him. He also told True North that he considered suing CBC for defamation, but he had

00:04:32.680 enough on his plate with these continuous charges that he had to defend so he decided not to. But he

00:04:38.320 did say his case isn't the only one where there's been clear discrimination, favoritism, or double

00:04:43.440 standards. He said, quote, people can come in and burn our flags and chant death to Canada and nothing

00:04:48.900 comes of that. But people come in and say, hey, I disagree with drag queen story hour, then they go to

00:04:54.080 jail. I've spent 105 days in jail. And for what? Because I'm not okay with the sexual perversion of our

00:05:00.500 children, and I'm going to peacefully protest. But for our next story, we'll hop into the provincial

00:05:05.200 book ordeal that has been going back and forth. The province has paused the directive that would

00:05:10.220 have required K-12 school libraries to remove books with explicit sexual content by October 1st.

00:05:16.200 Education minister Demetrios Nicolaides told True North that the pause was triggered by the Edmonton

00:05:21.280 public school board's list of more than 200 books it planned to pull from schools, which he said that

00:05:26.820 the province had no part in. He said, quote, after becoming aware of a list of over 200 books that

00:05:32.040 Edmonton public schools intended to move off their shelves, I will be revising the order immediately

00:05:36.680 to ensure that our classic literary works remain in school libraries, while books with graphic

00:05:41.900 pornographic images such as those depicted below do not end up in the hands of children. He told school

00:05:47.340 boards to pause the directive on Tuesday, with the email he sent to them being shared by the Canadian

00:05:52.100 press. The email reads, quote, until further notice, please pause all implementation efforts outlined in

00:05:57.600 ministerial order 30 2025, including removing materials containing depictions of explicit sexual content

00:06:03.960 from school libraries. At this time, I ask that the school authorities also pause the development and

00:06:08.660 distribution of lists of school library materials. The order, signed in July, had directed all K-12

00:06:14.380 libraries to remove materials containing a, quote, detailed and clear depiction of a sexual act by October 1st,

00:06:20.520 and to adopt policies by January 1st, students in grade 10 and above could still access non-explicit

00:06:26.440 sexual content if age appropriate. Premier Danielle Smith repeatedly defended the policy,

00:06:31.260 saying it responded to parental concerns. She said, quote, I won't apologize for protecting

00:06:35.760 Alberta's children from images they shouldn't see at school, full stop. And the images of those books

00:06:40.620 are quite damning. I'm unsurprisingly unable to show them on this video. And Smith also criticized

00:06:45.660 the Edmonton Public School Board for what she called vicious compliance. She said, quote,

00:06:51.260 if they need us to hold their hand through the process, we will more than happily work with them

00:06:55.740 to work through their list one by one. We are trying to take sexually explicit content out of elementary

00:07:01.500 schools. She clarified how that assistance would come on Tuesday. Her directions read, quote,

00:07:06.860 one, get graphic pornographic images out of school libraries. Two, leave the classics on the shelves.

00:07:12.660 Three, we all know the difference between the items in one and two. Let's not play any more games in

00:07:17.660 implementing this policy for our kids. Nicolaides emphasized the intent, which was, of course,

00:07:22.400 to keep pornographic content out of classrooms. He said, quote, children should not be exposed to

00:07:27.880 content like oral sex, sex toy use, or child molestation. And that is why we created this policy.

00:07:34.220 The ministerial order is clear that school libraries are not permitted to include library

00:07:39.020 materials containing explicit sexual content. But controversy erupted after Edmonton Public

00:07:44.860 Schools drafted a list of over 200 titles for removal, which included Margaret Atwood's The

00:07:49.880 Handmaid's Tale, as well as Brave New World, The Color Purple, and The Godfather. The inclusion of

00:07:54.820 The Handmaid's Tale prompted Atwood to post a satirical short story on X over the weekend,

00:08:00.160 accusing Smith of banning her book. Of course, users quickly corrected Atwood, noting that it was

00:08:05.760 Edmonton Public School Board, not the province that made the list. But two other school divisions

00:08:10.740 confirmed to the Canadian press on Tuesday that they had halted work on their own compliance lists

00:08:15.160 following Nicolaides' email. Our next story will include another recent legislation implemented by

00:08:20.740 the province, but this one has not been paused. Just days before new legislation took effect on

00:08:25.720 September 1st, a Fairness and Safety in Sport confirmation form surfaced on X, indicating that

00:08:31.000 student-athletes competing in female-only divisions will need to confirm they were

00:08:35.620 female sex at birth. The form states, quote, under this legislation, athletes 12 and older wishing to

00:08:41.700 participate in a female-only league, team, class, this does not include physical education class,

00:08:47.620 or division of a relevant sport, must submit a signed Fairness and Safety in Sport confirmation

00:08:52.840 form prior to participation, including tryouts and practices. Parents or guardians must sign for

00:08:58.620 athletes under 18 while students 18 or older may complete their own forms. But failing to submit the

00:09:04.080 form means the athlete cannot compete in the female-only category. Signatories will also have

00:09:09.440 to check four boxes. One required checkbox reads, quote, the athlete named above is of the female

00:09:16.820 sex at birth and therefore meets the eligibility criteria to participate in a female-only league, 0.98

00:09:22.640 class, or division of the relevant sport. And replies to the X post actually supported the new

00:09:27.800 legislation. One user said, quote, can't wait to hear the mental illness sympathizers melt down over this

00:09:33.800 one. Another read, quote, finally, protecting our wives and daughters. Alberta's United Conservative

00:09:38.780 Government previously defended the new policy as a way to preserve fairness and protect safety in

00:09:43.620 female sports. Tourism and Sport Minister Andrew Bochenko said, quote, when Albertans participate in

00:09:49.040 the sports they love, they should be able to do so on a level playing field. No athlete should have

00:09:53.240 an unfair advantage and no athlete should have to put themselves at risk of harm to participate.

00:09:57.780 The regulation requires provincial sports organizations, school authorities,

00:10:01.540 and post-secondary institutions to create athlete eligibility policies, limiting female-only 1.00

00:10:07.500 divisions to those who are biologically female. The new regulations will affect all school authorities

00:10:12.460 under the Education Act and post-secondary institutions under the Post-Secondary Learning

00:10:16.740 Act. But for our next story, we'll flip over to the NDP side of the provincial coin.

00:10:21.080 Alberta NDP leader Nahid Nenshi faced criticism after a town hall where he did not take questions

00:10:26.780 from the audience. In a post shared to X by the account NDP lie detector, Nenshi framed the decision

00:10:32.960 as an opportunity for attendees to mingle. He said, quote, rather than give people the opportunity to

00:10:39.360 hold the mic and give us a monologue, we're giving you the opportunity to talk to your friends and

00:10:44.000 neighbors and the friends you haven't met yet in the room, alluding that Smith's town halls might

00:10:48.260 operate in a lesser fashion. The Alberta Next panel held two town halls in July, three in August, and will

00:10:53.820 have another five in September. And of course, those halls are hosted by Smith and various other

00:10:58.340 panelists. During those town halls, anyone is welcome to come up to the microphone. And Nenshi was

00:11:03.600 getting blasted by ex-users in the comments. One user mocked his small crowd size, saying, quote,

00:11:09.120 you know that saying, we're going to need a bigger boat, not going to be used in this instance.

00:11:13.900 Another user said, quote, most Calgarians were so ecstatic to finally rid themselves of this bloated

00:11:19.580 blowhard. But here we are again, having to listen to this condescending, arrogant, lefty, woke wing

00:11:25.320 nut. He's like a bad fungus that just won't go away. Founder and president of the Alberta Institute,

00:11:30.540 a public policy think tank, Peter McCaffrey, also ridiculed Nenshi on ex, making way for a series of

00:11:36.100 new negative replies. One ex-user noted that it was a big attendance for Nenshi, saying that there was at

00:11:41.840 least 25 attendees. Another called Nenshi a, quote, NDP coward, just like his boss, Jagmeet Singh.

00:11:47.700 While Smith's town halls have had close to a thousand attendees live at each, with thousands

00:11:51.940 more online, even the Alberta Prosperity Project town halls have outperformed Nenshi's town hall,

00:11:56.700 with Edmonton's town halls for the APP seeing around 300 attendees live and over 600 viewing the

00:12:02.800 event live online. For the last story, we'll cover a recent technological advancement from the Alberta

00:12:08.200 government. Alberta announced a digital wallet that lets residents store and access government-issued

00:12:13.580 documents on their smartphones, starting with the health card, making Alberta the

00:12:17.620 first province to launch a mobile health card accessible through a digital wallet.

00:12:21.660 Technology and innovation minister Nate Glubish outlined a phase expansion in an interview with

00:12:26.040 True North, which will eventually include driver's licenses, hunting and fishing permits, marriage,

00:12:30.900 birth and death certificates, land titles, diplomas, trade certificates, and other government documents

00:12:36.520 to be added over time. One thing very important that Glubish wanted to emphasize is that he said this

00:12:41.380 wallet will always be optional, not mandatory. And I've seen accounts online suggesting the opposite,

00:12:46.580 which is just not true. Glubish said, quote,

00:12:49.340 We know that there are a lot of folks who are super excited to use some of these modern tools,

00:12:53.320 but we also know that some folks, that's not their preference. They would rather have a physical card,

00:12:58.000 and so for them, what I would say is this, you will never have to use this.

00:13:01.780 Another thing coming forward from the Department of Health is that starting next year,

00:13:05.600 a new higher quality plastic card will be implemented with Albertans' driver's licenses.

00:13:10.820 Glubish added that confidentiality was of the utmost importance.

00:13:14.380 The government of Alberta cannot track or monitor where the documents are used,

00:13:19.060 and Glubish said, this was not a bug, but it was by design. He said, quote,

00:13:23.240 Your information cannot be accessed or shared without your consent. This was foundational for me.

00:13:28.840 Although this will make it easier for some people to share documents,

00:13:32.000 anyone aged 14 or older can get their own mobile wallet and health cards,

00:13:36.120 but those younger will have to add their cards to their parents' wallets.

00:13:39.780 Spouses and interdependent family members can also add their cards to each other's wallets.

00:13:45.320 The mobile card will function just as the current paper card does,

00:13:48.220 and will be available as valid proof of health insurance coverage throughout Alberta.

00:13:52.240 It will be presentable at hospitals, clinics, and other medical settings.

00:13:56.400 The wallet is accessible at alberta.ca slash alberta dash wallet.

00:14:00.720 That wraps up this week's Alberta Roundup.

00:14:02.940 My name's Isaac Lamoureux.

00:14:04.340 Have a great weekend. Thank you, and God bless.

00:14:09.780 Thank you.

Juno News - September 07, 2025

Pastor decries Charter “illusion” in lengthy trial

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