Arrested for protesting drag queen story hour (Ft. Pastor Derek Reimer)
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Summary
Pastor Derek Reimer was arrested in Calgary after protesting at a drag queen story hour. He is now out on bail and we spoke with him about what led to his arrest, the conditions of his bail, and what this means for Alberta and Calgary moving forward.
Transcript
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Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host Rachel Emanuel. I hope that you
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guys are having a great week so far. We are going to do something a little bit different
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on today's episode. We're having our first ever guest on the Alberta Roundup. We will
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be speaking with Pastor Derek Reimer. For those of you who've been following the news
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or have listened to some of my previous podcasts, Derek Reimer was arrested in Calgary after
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protesting at a drag queen story hour. He's facing multiple charges from Calgary police
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and he's now out on bail. So we caught up to him and we spoke with him about what led to
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his arrest and the conditions of his bail and what this means for Alberta and Calgary moving
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forward. I'm joined now by Pastor Derek Reimer. Hey Pastor Reimer, thank you so much for joining
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us today. You're actually the very first guest ever on the Alberta Roundup. So we're very excited
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to have you on the show today. So many people are aware of your story. You were arrested a couple
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weeks ago after sort of protesting a drag queen story hour at a public library in Calgary. I'm
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wondering if you can walk us through the process. What led you to go to that event? What happened
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while you were there? And then what followed that led to your arrest? Yeah, absolutely. I went to my
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first drag protest in December. I just felt compelled by the Holy Spirit moving into January.
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I started doing my homework and researching and finding out how frequent these events were and I
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was disturbed of how many adult events were taking place, but then how many are involving children. So
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I thought, okay, let's focus on the ones where it's not just consenting adults, which still the Bible
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would forbid that, but when it's involving the innocent, not just myself, but there's a team of us
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that felt really compelled to move in this direction, to take action. I formed a ministry
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called, like separate from Mission 7 Ministries that I'm the founder of. This one is called
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Exposing Darkness. It's inspired by Ephesians 5.11 and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works
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of darkness, but rather expose them. So I take the approach also of 2 Timothy 4.2, where it says to
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convince, rebuke, and exhort, which in the Greek it means to tell a fault, to warn, and to invite.
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To tell a fault of the sin, to warn of God's judgment on that sin, to invite them into a
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relationship with Jesus Christ. So sort of organizing protests with Seton in particular,
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we just decided and strategized that we will go in there and just one at a time, we'll go in and
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rebuke and just speak truth and preach Jesus. And then when one gets removed, then the other one
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will take their place. So I went last and I just had it in my head that, hey, I'm going to preach and
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expose as much as I can. And even if I get removed, I still want to preach and just exercise my freedom
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of speech. So when cops get there, you can see in the video that they asked me to leave. And I thought,
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okay, that jegs it up. Noah needs to be arrested needlessly. He's already here. So I just peacefully
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left. We went outside and we continued our church service, which we do with counter-protesters and
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anybody who's watching us, you know, singing songs, parodies, and preaching. Invite them into a
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relationship with Christ, but exposing also darkness and wickedness, saying that a holy God is not okay
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with this type of behavior. So moving forward, cops came to my residence, you know, about a half week
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later, they wanted me to go to a cop shop with them. I couldn't get legal counsel on the phone that
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morning. So I just said, you know, I'm not comfortable with that. I'm not going to go. He said
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he'll issue some warrants. And yeah, he held up to that promise. The next day I called and he confirmed
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that. So I was just kind of hanging out, waiting to be arrested. I went for a prayer walk and Rebel
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News is just kind of hanging out with me the last day or two. And sure enough, early on in my prayer
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walk, they scooped me up and they took me into a cop shop at Spy Hill, right by the Remax Center.
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Saw Justice of the Peace. And it was a long bail hearing. It's about an hour and a half at the
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recess. It was very contested. It was very interesting for the guards there. One guy,
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he didn't even want to take his break because he wanted to see what was going to take place.
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Another guard called it a nail biter that a lot of people knew of why I was in there.
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Obviously, because of the media, I was granted bail. But, you know, the Lord said to me before
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those papers got made up, what's more important to you, your freedom or preaching my word?
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So getting to those bail papers, I didn't sign because I knew that I'd be right back in there.
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That weekend, we had three protests that weekend alone. I knew going out, I'll just be at these
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protests. I'll be right back at jail. Why sit this initial process? I already sat 12 hours. I said,
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just take me to the Remax Center. Sat there the weekend. And, you know, just due to some urgent
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health matters that I, they, the jail couldn't care for me. They had to take me to an outside
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hospital. So they couldn't assure me when they could do that. So I just made the tough decision.
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I signed those bail papers, didn't want to. And now just working on getting those conditions
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loosen. I know people are wondering what those conditions are. I have in front of me, it says
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that you must have no contact with by means of text, email, social media, or through a third party
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with the identified gay community member. You must not attend or within 200 meters of any gay
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community event, drag event. So my lawyer is bothered with the word indirectly, there directly
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or indirectly. To me, these conditions is like saying, don't do your ministry. Don't do what
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God has told you to do. And it's just, it's just not feasible. So today I had a bail hearing
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to loosen these conditions and it got adjourned to another week or two. So I'm going to have
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a meeting with my lawyer tomorrow. And it's just kind of taken a day by day. You know,
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there's still protests. We still have the conviction and we're just letting God lead us
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through this. And he's our defender. He goes before us and we're just believing that we're
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going to have a mighty victory. We don't know how it's all going to look though.
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So I just want to back it up a little bit. One of the things that the Calgary police is saying
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is they're saying that when you actually entered that protest at the library, it was a sort
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of a dry clean story hour that you made, you know, homophobic and transphobic slurs.
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You've yourself just said now that you were speaking truth and you were speaking wisdom
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to the audience there. What exactly did you say? And can you see how any of that would
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be, you know, transferred as a sort of a hate crime or are they completely taking your
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Right. I can see that with a secular world where they hate me. And it's a light versus
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darkness. It's a spiritual battle. And, you know, people that are of the darkness that
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don't believe in Jesus, they hate Jesus and they hate truth. They hate everything about
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the Bible. So I just came in there saying, don't pervert the children. Don't expose them
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to the sexualization. And I just continued to preach Bible verses like homosexuality is
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a sin. First Corinthians six, those that want to live this lifestyle won't inherit the
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kingdom, but God is faithful and just to forgive us of all of our sins, cleanse us of all
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unrighteousness. And just that kind of rhetoric preaching where it's, hey, this isn't okay
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to a holy God. We love you guys and we want you guys to inherit our life, but you've got
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to turn away from this perversion. And it's not just me. There was a team of us where we
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felt, again, compelled to expose and rebuke and reprove and to invite them into the gospel
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of Christ. And we're going to continue to do that.
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Something else that I'm sure many of my viewers are aware of, this is a video that went viral
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online. It was a video of a man being dragged out of a drag queen story hour and being tackled
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to the ground by one of the attendees. That video was circulating online and people were saying that
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that was actually you in the video who was being tackled to the ground. I'm wondering if that's
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correct. Were you tackled to the ground at any point during the protest or was it, as you
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mentioned, you sort of just left when the police asked you to leave?
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Right. So the drag queen story hour was in like a little blast room. So I went in there and just
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started preaching on Jesus and saying, you know, turn away from this perversion. Don't expose your
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kids to this. The parents came at me very aggressively and even violently. And they
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started grabbing at me, two or three of them, and just holding me out. I was clutching on the walls,
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just trying to hold myself up, regain my balance. And then you guys kind of catch it at the tail end
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there where I'm gripping that glass door and they just violently throw me out on my back. And you
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know what? I thought good when that happened. In terms of that, I want everybody to see that
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they're hateful, they're violent. And as a Christian, I want to really display that we are set
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apart, that we are holy people of the Lord, that we're not coming in violence. We don't need to come
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in threats. We just come preaching the truth. And again, I can see how people take that as hate
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speech. We don't hate people, but we're hating the same. That's contaminating people. And we're not
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afraid to speak that truth. My understanding that despite you being violently thrown to the
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ground, as you just mentioned, you were not violent yourself. Those people, those attendees,
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those parents are not going to face any charges. The Calgary police saw no reason to charge them or to
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arrest them. Does that surprise you? Do you feel that is an unfair sort of portrayal and application
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of the law? Or is this pretty much what you expect in today's secular society, as you mentioned,
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as a Christian going into that room, you are hated and you're treated differently as a result?
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A hundred percent. That is the double standard. Everybody can see, like you said, the video goes
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viral. The only person that was abused and assaulted was me. And I even chose, you know,
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just as a Christian man, you know, I'm not going to pursue as of now any charges towards them and I
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forgive them. And I just want to rise above that. I was on a mission to expose and to invite
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into the gospel. And this is how people react. And also, I want the world to see that and how
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we're going to continue at our peaceful disposition. But, you know, Mayor Gondek and the city,
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they're coming against us and they're trying to pin us with a brush that we're full of hate and
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hate motivated, hate crimes and transphobic and all of these terms and slurs and definitions.
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It's like, you know what? I'm not surprised at all. And that's going to keep coming. But you know,
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the Bible talks about too, when they slander you, when they defame you. So those that desire to live
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godly in Christ Jesus, we will suffer persecution. And I just rejoice. And I'm kind of worthy to suffer
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for Jesus name's sake. And I'm just going to continue on this path.
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I just wanted to touch a little bit on some of the charges that you're facing. So it's my
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understanding that you're facing eight charges, which the Calgary police are calling hate motivated
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crimes. And six of those charges actually fall under the city's harassment bylaws.
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And those could each carry up to six months in jail per charge and an additional $10,000 charge.
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Let me know if any of that's changed since you've been released on bail or if those are in fact still
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the charges that you're facing. I'm also wondering, you know, is this something that
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you're fearful of? Are you fearful that you're going to have to spend time in jail over
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preaching on your convictions? And are you worried about also the monetary fines that are
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potentially coming along with this incident, you know, an incident of you, as I just mentioned,
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really just preaching your convictions, something that should be protected under the Charter of
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Rights and Freedoms? You know what, even with Mission 7, as we're getting attacked and we have
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a plethora of fines that the bylaw officers throw at us, and I'm just pleading not guilty. And it was
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either like $50 to plead guilty or to go to trial and found guilty $2,500. You know, the Lord just said to
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me, you know, can you plead guilty? I was like, no, like I'm not guilty of this. And
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he just said, give me an opportunity to show up. So that's why I want, it's applied to me,
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but it's applied to every Christian believer too. We just got to be obedient to what the Lord is
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calling us to. And we just got to give him an opportunity to show up. And what's more important
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to us, our freedom or preaching God's word, being obedient to him. So yeah, the numbers can be scary.
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You know, the giants, the mountains can be scary with the wind and the waves, you know,
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spiritually speaking at the jail time, but I'm not looking at that. I'm looking at my God and how
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he's taken me through this. He's going to carry me through it. And just like he showed up with
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Hebrew boys in the fire, he's going to show up for me too in the fire. And he's delivered me
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throughout the COVID era and the pandemic and, and, you know, rebel news has supported us and
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supplied a lawyer and God's just working through many different entities and people to support
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and just to help take care of us. So no, I'm not, not really worried about that. And I'm just
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excited to see how he's going to show up in this battle as well.
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You mentioned before this interview, and this is something perhaps you're not comfortable
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chatting about now, in which case, I totally understand that we wanted to get this interview
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done a little bit earlier. It's actually Tuesday when we're filming, this interview won't be
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aired until Saturday. And one of the reasons we wanted to get it done early is because you
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mentioned that you're fearful you were going to be arrested again. I'm wondering if that's
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because you haven't been able to loosen up some of the charges that you're facing or sorry,
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your bail restrictions rather, and your conditions about not being able to attend these protests.
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Are you still planning on attending protests in the coming weeks or even abide by the conditions
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of your bail restrictions until you're able to get them loosened, if not removed?
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Right. Like, like I mentioned, I feel compelled to sign for health reasons that the jail can provide
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for me. The conviction is still there. The love of the Lord and being obedient to him is still there.
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There's still, um, drag events. There's still almost sexual events that are taking place in
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this city. Exposing darkness is still here. We're still a team. We're still strategizing. We're still
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planning. And, uh, I'll just say that we're trying to get a little bit, uh, more clever and strategic
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moving forward. But yes, we do plan to, um, attend. We do plan to, uh, carry out God's will
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as he's called us to do it. Yeah. Something else that's going on today is that Calgary City Council
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is currently discussing two proposes from the city's administration that would essentially make
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it harder for people like yourself to protest, drag Green Story Hour, and other, you know,
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trans and gay events. Um, one of the proposals seeks to amend the city's harassment bylaws to
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include intimidation, uh, which is rather vague and, and, you know, concerning as to what that would
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exactly look like in practice. And then the city also wants to add an additional bylaw, which would
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keep what they're calling specified protesters, a hundred meters from public spaces during these
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types of events. And so protesters would have to be a hundred meters removed from say a public
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library or a public pool when they're protesting drag Green Story Hour. Now the city is moving very
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quickly on getting this passed. They want to have these amendments passed quickly and in places
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quickly as soon as possible, even as early as Tuesday. What do you make of this happening so
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quickly after the incident with you? Do you think that it's a direct fallout to your arrest and
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your protest at the Drag Queen Story Hour? And also how will this impact your work in exposing
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darkness? One of the ministries that you've started? Yeah, well, this is definitely linked to our
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protests and I would call this an entrenchment on the charter rights and freedoms that we have under
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the constitution. And that is already arising in the city council meeting. I was just listening to it
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before we started this interview and I'm going to finish it afterwards. And then myself and the
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team, we're going to have a call tonight. We want to talk about and discuss what's taking place,
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what has transpired and what we want to do moving forward. But by no means are we going to back off
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and just, you know, close down the ministry because, you know, the government here and they're acting like
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dictators, it seems like we're, it doesn't matter about the constitution, doesn't matter about our
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rights. And that's for all Calgarians that now they want to keep people a hundred meters away from
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a venue. And that's, there's all kinds of implications and problems with this, which is
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arising now. So like I said, we're going to review our options and continue on following the Lord's will.
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Great. Just the last question I wanted to answer here before I let you go. You mentioned that
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Rebel News is supplying a lawyer for you, for my viewers who are listening today and want to get
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in touch with you or want to show their support. Is there any way that they can do that?
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Absolutely. And I would direct people towards Rebel News as they are supplying a lawyer and they are
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very costly. If you feel just on your heart that you want to support me and the ministry,
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Mission 7 Ministries is my website. My email is on there, derich at mission7ministries.com.
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I would appreciate any support, but you know, prayers is massive. And that's like even today,
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getting attached to several of just things in my personal life and just out of nowhere.
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But yeah, prayers and donations. But also I just want to finish off too, and this is what I do,
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is all the interviews, just a call to action where we can all do something. You can call your
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counselors, you can sign petitions, you can peacefully protest. Like there's many options that we can do
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here. And just, I think even just making people aware of this pervert grooming hour that's taking place
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in our cities and not just Calgary, but all over the world. Guys, let people know what's going on
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and let's make a change. Let's push back against perversion and darkness. You don't have to just
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be a Christian to have a conviction about this. Anybody with any morality or decency knows that
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this is just wrong and wicked. So let's unite and let's push back against this together.
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Derek, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. And I know my viewers will
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as well, and we will all be following this story with interest in the coming weeks.
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Thank you. God bless. Hey guys, so shortly after that interview was filmed on Tuesday,
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Pastor Rymer was actually arrested again on Wednesday. Rebel News has a video. We'll play
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Mr. Rymer, you are currently under arrest for breaching your 200-meter no-go condition.
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How are you called too late? Have you helped by these 200 meters?
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Where's the measuring tape? Excuse me, we're in the parking lot that's so far approved.
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Listen, we don't have a measuring tape. We're down here.
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This is not lawfully unlawful. We're not to say anything. Anything you say
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if you give any evidence against you? You can call a lawyer.
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I have four exact meters for distance from the library to where we are right now.
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You can call a lawyer. You can call a lawyer. You can call a lawyer. You can call a lawyer.
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And as he's being arrested there, you can hear one Calgary police officer tell Reimer he's being arrested
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for breaching his 200-meter no-go condition, assuming that's the condition of his bail release there.
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And moving back to Calgary City Hall, the council did end up approving an amendment to an existing bylaw.
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That amendment was to add intimidation to the harassment.
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So you can now be ticketed if you're found guilty of intimidation while protesting outside an event.
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And then, of course, the other bylaw is that specified protesters are going to have to remain 100 meters away from public facilities while they're protesting events.
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Thank you so much for tuning in to this exceptionally important episode of the Alberta Roundup.
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