Calgary Court Overturns Acquittal of Pastor Charged After Drag Story Time Protest

The Court of King’s Bench of Alberta has overturned the acquittal of a Calgary pastor in connection to his protests of drag story time events, and ordered a retrial in the Alberta Court of Justice.

Pastor Derek Reimer was previously arrested and charged after protesting library drag queen story times for children between 2023 and 2024. In September 2024, a court acquitted him of causing a disturbance and mischief in connection with a Feb. 25, 2023, protest at a drag story time event at Calgary’s Seton library.

In the decision handed down on July 9, Justice Nancy Carruthers found the judge who acquitted Reimer on the charges relating to his protest at Seton library made legal errors in his decision.

Reimer told The Epoch Times in an interview that the reversal of the acquittal effectively starts his legal process “all over again” and is considering his legal options in response.

“Now I’m going to a retrial for causing mischief and causing a disturbance back in my original charges back in February of 2023, and we’re doing it all over again,” he said.

Justice Carruthers’ ruling is “extremely rare,” according to Reimer’s lawyer Andrew MacKenzie. He called the decision “troubling,” saying that the decision by Justice Allan Fradsham, who acquitted Reimer, had been cited by courts in seven provinces and more than 30 written decisions.

“His legal expertise should be given deference and this may give rise to a further appeal,” MacKenzie told The Epoch Times.

The court decision follows Reimer’s release from jail, where he spent 62 days for a breach of conditions of his house arrest in May for participating in prayer rallies on the courthouse steps around 90 minutes before one of his cases was set to be heard.

Reimer was arrested on May 8 after the court determined he was in violation of his conditions of release for showing up early to court. Reimer has said he attended early as some of his congregation and supporters would pray with him on the steps of the courthouse.

At the time, MacKenzie told The Epoch Times that his client did not think he was breaching the conditions.

“A reasonable person could very well assume that if you’re going to your own court date where the Crown has appealed your acquittal, you pretty much have to be there,” he said.

His supporters would also hold rallies for him while he was in jail, Reimer said.

“There were rallies almost every Sunday, for me,” he said, adding he was moved to Edmonton at one point during his time in jail.

“They just kicked me out of that jail and shipped me to Edmonton. They actually did that twice in a short amount of time, which left us kind of confused. We think they were just tired of me there.” 

The Epoch Times reached out to Crown prosecutors for comment but did not hear back by publication time.

Additional Charges

Reimer’s September 2024 acquittal followed a conviction in August 2024 for criminal harassment and bail condition violations related to protests at library drag story time events in 2024 between March 25 and April 2 in 2024. Reimer was acquitted of the charges related to causing a disturbance at these events.

He was found guilty of criminal harassment after he posted a Facebook video of a conversation between himself and the manager of a Calgary library where a drag reading event was being held. Reimer included the name and work contact details of the manager, encouraging supporters to express their opposition to the event by contacting the manager.

At the time, he was also convicted for breaching his bail conditions, which prohibited him from attending drag story time events or communicating with participants.

The court dismissed two charges of causing a public disturbance in connection with Reimer using a microphone and speaker outside of two library events, after the judge said it was not a criminal offence.