Supporters wore white shirts and brought signs to support men charged with conspiring to murder RCMP officers during the Coutts blockade at the courthouse in Lethbridge, Alta. on June 12, 2023.
RCMP videos and evidence photos obtained by The Fifth Estate reveal the extent to which conspiracy theories fuelled men arrested at the 2022 border blockade in Coutts, Alta. While they were found not guilty of conspiring to murder RCMP officers, experts tell The Fifth Estate the case is a warning about the potential for violence posed by extremist ideologies.Supporters wore white shirts and brought signs to the courthouse in Lethbridge, Alta.
"They genuinely probably thought they were going to be written about as heroes in history books, that they would go down as people who helped save the country from tyranny." "The main focus is on distrust and fear of the government, ultimately that there will be some sort of civil conflict." In the interview, Olienick would deny he was planning an attack, but described getting ready to go on the defensive."Defence against tyranny, against the government," Olienick replied.At one point, he said he believed the RCMP would eventually join protesters in the fight.This is footage from an RCMP interrogation video obtained by The Fifth Estate. Here, Chris Carbert tells police about his real fears of the evil elites.
Phillips said when he first started tracking extremism, these types of false conspiracy theories were "niche." The RCMP got a behind-the-scenes look into Olienick's way of thinking and his preparation when they found his journal on a desk. It contained handwritten entries dating back to the start of the pandemic.
Anti-mandate demonstrators gather as a truck convoy blocks the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., on Jan. 31, 2022. All argued authorities weren't fully equipped to understand the implications of the conspiracy theories espoused by the men and warned that extremist ideologies based on conspiracies should be taken more seriously.
Oriola researches terrorism and said he believes that hesitancy to see the men as ideologically driven and organized may have hampered police efforts to investigate. "People's view is that people have the right to believe these conspiracies, and sure, you do," Phillips said. Labrenz said he believed they would have engaged police "should either offender have deemed it necessary to do so, because of the self-justifying pronouncement of ... a nebulous but fanciful claim of self-defence against the police."Men convicted in Coutts border blockade want convictions overturned, Crown wants new trials"These are people who no amount of time in jail is going to change that," he said.
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