Marco Van Huigenbos, George Janzen and Alex Van Herk did not testify at their trial, and their defence lawyers called no evidence
Marco Van Huigenbos, left, and Alex Van Herk arrive at court for a sentencing hearing in Lethbridge, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. Each were found guilty in April of mischief for their roles in the blockade that tied up cross-border traffic in Coutts, Alta., for two weeks in early 2022.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshAn Alberta judge is considering whether two men should serve time in jail for their involvement in a two-week highway blockade at the Canada-U.S. border near Coutts, Alta., in early 2022.
“We don’t change our governments in this country through criminal acts. That is what was being hoped for,” said Crown prosecutor Steven Johnston, during the sentencing hearing at Court of King’s Bench in Lethbridge on Thursday. “This was a hostage taking of a highway with the goal of creating political change.”
The defence lawyers are asking Justice Yamauchi for absolute discharges, conditional sentences or – at most – a week or two in jail for Mr. Van Huigenbos. “I acknowledge that during our protests, laws were broken,” he said. “This was not in line with our intentions to promote change through peaceful and lawful means.”
“They were the voice of the protest,” he wrote in an outline of the case last fall. “And proudly so.”
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