Corporate Media Condemned Coutts Four Long Before They Ever Went to Trial

Lazy biased reporting, and no follow up means few Canadians know the plight of these men.

In another month — February 14th, the men known as the Coutts Four — will have spent two years behind bars. They have not been convicted of any crime, yet they have been denied bail, in a country where, under Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government’s catch and release bail system, even accused murderers and chronic violent repeat offenders get bail. These men also have not yet gone to trial, as their case has been delayed and tied up in pre-trial motions, due to late and non-disclosure of evidence to the defense by the Crown.

Most Canadians would view these men’s situation as a gross miscarriage of justice and abuse of power on the part of the Canada’s justice system, but very few know what is happening to these men because the media in this country don’t seem to think it is worthy of their coverage.

But it sure was when the RCMP first announced their arrests and when the ‘evidence’ against them was disclosed in their bail hearings. Evidence which really amounted to nothing more than allegations made by police in their Information to Obtain (ITO) applications required to get search warrants. This includes information reported by two female undercover police officers, who, it would seem, were not wearing wires, so we only have to take their word for what they have claimed or alleged to have witnessed, and the now widely circulated photo of a cache of weapons apparently seized during the raids conducted by the RCMP in the Coutts area.

And finally there was their apparent association with a ‘violent’ insurrectionist group known as Diagolon. So the media essentially used these sparse allegations and unproven claims to cobble together sensationalist, hyperbolic news stories about these men and then simply forget about them once they have smeared them in the most public way.

This is a report that was published on CBC’s website on February 17th, 2022, three days after the four men, who have become known as the Coutts Four were arrested along with nine other people following RCMP raids in the Coutts area of Alberta. It is a clear illustration of the immense bias of mainstream media when it came to anything related to the Freedom Convoy. While the people protesting at the Coutts border blockade were not part of the Freedom Convoy, they did support it and what it stood for, and that was enough for the CBC and other mainstream media to do a smear job on them.

And as the first sentence of the CBC piece demonstrates, it was clear the narrative that CBC reporter, Meghan Grant, wanted to spin:

That narrative was that the people arrested* in the RCMP raids in the Coutts area on February 13-14th, 2022, were all criminals of some sort–with ‘criminal records’. They were also fanatics and extremists with connections to a violent ‘insurrectionist movement’, willing to die for the cause.

*The nine others that were arrested were given bail and have trial dates pending.

Note the use of the word insurrectionist, alluding to what the US Democratic Party had falsely claimed January 6th to be. The CBC, no doubt, was trying to help Trudeau get his January 6th moment, from the Freedom Convoy, that he so desperately wanted. This was later confirmed when documents of an email thread between communications lackies for then Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was released at the Public Order Emergencies Commission (POEC) Inquiry.

My thoughts on the framing would be similar to what the PM and Minister Blair said last year when January 6th occurred.

“Our democracy is something we need to nurture and protect everyday. Some of the calls that organizers of these events are making are concerning and we’re taking them seriously (would need something to back this up). We will continue to monitor the situation closely”

The fine line to walk would be to ensure we are not looking like we’re directing the police. Hoping to canvas for your thoughts. Alex said he would get back to me with a proposal this afternoon when he gets to chat with Mendicino again. 

That email exchange makes it quite clear that the Trudeau government had no intention of ever negotiating with the convoy, and were planning on destroying and sullying their reputation before they even reached Ottawa and mainstream media was more than willing to help them.

Many facts have since surfaced that disprove or call into question many of the allegations made in this CBC article on the Coutts raids and arrests, but CBC has never retracted or updated this piece. What remains clear is that Grant’s intent was to portray the people who were arrested–particularly the four men–in the worst possible light. 

Previous criminal convictions: To begin with, regarding the Coutts Four – three of the four men have no criminal records at all, not even so much as a speeding ticket. One has a juvenile record for possession of ecstasy. According to the article, previous ‘criminal charges’ for the others that were arrested amount to two people with convictions for assault, and one other person with infractions for hunting off season. Of course no further details are provided regarding the circumstances of these convictions, but it is clear that we are hardly talking about the bunch of hardened criminals, which is what one would be led believe by reading Grant’s introduction. 

Willingness to die for a cause: Leading with this assertion is meant to paint these people as violent extremists. Yet, people often make passionate statements about causes they believe in. Many of the people protesting at Coutts were certainly passionate about ending the vaccine and mask mandates, the lockdowns and simply opposing the authoritarian actions of Canadian governments during the COVID ‘pandemic’ which they saw as violating very basic human rights. So is it a stretch for someone to say they would put their lives on the line to protect their civil liberties in these circumstances? Is there something criminal, extreme or menacing about making such a statement?

The CBC report said Carbert repeatedly said he was prepared to die in protest of government mandates, quoting a post where he said, “I won’t live long, I’ve come to terms with this.” Well maybe this is now more of a foreshadowing of things to come for Carbert who has been sitting in jail for almost two years now, yet to be tried and convicted of anything. But again, his statements don’t imply any violence on his part, just that he is passionate about his cause. Environmentalists often express a willingness to die for their cause, but that’s okay in the eyes of the CBC because it is the right cause. But opposing the Trudeau government’s COVID policies, that is another kettle of fish.  

Connections to a violent insurrectionist movement: Again, this was intended to portray those arrested as violent fanantics and extremists. Yet, at the Public Order Emergencies Commission (POEC) Inquiry it became clear that this ‘movement’ CBC is referring to, something called Diagolon is not a ‘movement’ at all. RCMP intelligence reports on the subject, made public through an access to information request, confirmed that Diagolon is not an insurrectionist movement, it is not a terrorist group and is not violent in any way. RCMP intelligence analysts couldn’t even define it as a group – let alone a movement. Afghan war veteran Jeremy Mackenzie, the Diagolon founder, testified at the POEC, making it clear that Diagolon was nothing more than an on-line meme that he had created for his podcast  – ‘The Raging Dissident’. Any reporter worth their salt could have found that out by simply watching a few episodes of the podcast.

https://ragingdissident.com/

The article then states: Thirteen people were charged following incidents involving physical threats to RCMP officers' safety and raids on trailers near the protest area, which resulted in the seizure of a cache of weapons and body armour.

We have all seen the photo of the so-called ‘cache of weapons’, which looks more like it was staged to depict these people as violent, gun toting fanantics. Yet, the weapons displayed, with exception of a two handguns and one rifle, are all legal hunting rifles and were legally owned. As for the armoured vests – they, again, look more like something a hunter would wear.  As for the physical threats to police, the article provides no actual details on the actions of the people arrested in that regard except to mention that the four men –the Coutts Four – had been charged with conspiracy to murder police.  

Then the article zeros in on the Coutts Four with a subheading reading: American-style militia movement.  Of the four southern Alberta men accused of conspiring to murder RCMP officers, two have ties to a man who founded a neo-fascist, white supremacist group that aims to accomplish its goals through violence. (This is, again, a reference to Diagolon.) Chris Carbert, 44, of Lethbridge, Anthony Olienick, 39, of Claresholm, Jerry Morin, 40, of Olds and Christopher Lysak, 48, of Lethbridge all face charges of conspiracy to murder, a weapons offence and mischief over $5,000. Carbert and Lysak both have ties to Jeremy MacKenzie, the Nova Scotia founder of Diagolon, a group described by University of New Brunswick professor David Hofmann as an American-style militia movement.

Hoffman (pictured above) who studies far right extrements groups, it should be noted, is also a member of The Network for Research on Hateful Conduct and Right-Wing Extremism in the CAF, at Ontario Tech University, of which Barbara Perry is also a member. Perry, also serves on the Canadian Anti-Hate Network’s (CAHN) Advisory Committee. CAHN is a far-left leaning organization that has been generously funded by the Trudeau government, and openly admits it focuses exclusively on ‘far right’ groups—so ANTIFA, for example—would not be a group it would be interested in. It was, however, every interested in Diagolon, and labelled it a dangerous extreme ‘white supremacist accelerationist movement’

So, Hoffman, no doubt, came to his conclusion that Diagolon was an ‘American style militia’, by consulting with members of the CAHN and he told Grant exactly what she wanted to hear. He said, “Those who believe in the Diagolon movement feel a civil war is needed to create a new state that would run diagonally from Alaska, through western Canada all the way south to Florida. And they want to accomplish this through violence, their motto quite simply states gun or rope.’ Now did Grant ask him to verify these assertions, or cite his sources, or how he came to these extreme conclusions? Did she speak to anyone else who had a different opinion or interpretation of what Diagolon was? Of course not. Did she ask if he had come to this conclusion by consulting with colleagues who are associated with the CAHN?

Again, RCMP intelligence analysts had determined that Diagolon was not a movement, it was not a militia, nor did it have any American connections as early as February of 2022, according to documents released under a freedom of information request. The RCMP had also determined that it was not a neo-fascist white supremacist group that aimed to accomplish goals through violence, nor an extreme white supremacist ‘accelerationist’ group as CAHN had claimed. In fact, RCMP intelligence analysts had determined that the CAHN’s allegations about Diagolon were neither credible or verifiable, and were simply not based in fact.

RCMP Intelligence: Due to the fact that all the information (on Diagolon) traced back to one source (CAHN) and that triangulation and verification of facts is almost impossible, Diagolon does not pose a criminal or national security threat. It is difficult to understand how CAHN could assert Diagolon is an ‘accelerationist’ movement that believes revolution is inevitable and necessary to collapse the current government system’ 

Yet, the CBC and many other mainstream media reporters relied almost exclusively on CAHN for their information about Diagolon, although this CBC reporter managed to dig up another ‘expert’ too, a university professor who it is clear also relied CAHN’s assertions to come to his conclusions.

Diagolon, as previously mentioned, was created by Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Afghan war veteran Jeremie Mackenzie. It is an imaginary country whose vice-president is a time-travelling cocaine addicted goat named Philip – it is an internet meme, a joke. Mackenzie promotes Diagolon and has made it into an on-line type of game. It has no members and no physical presence to speak of. He often refers to Diagolon and promotes it in his podcast which is highly critical of the Trudeau government, the CAF and the RCMP. That is it. Both Chris Carbert and Chris Lysak listened to Mackenzie’s podcasts and Lysak once attended a meet and greet barbecue hosted by Mackenzie for fans of his podcast. According to the CBC report Carbert posted several videos of Mackenzie’s ‘diatribes’ on his Facebook page. Is that a crime? The rest of this verbiage spewed by the CBC about the men’s association with Diagolon and Mackenzie is hyperbolic nonsense, again, intended to paint these men in the worst possible light. Morin and Olienick had never even heard of Diagolon before their arrests, nor did they know either Lysak or Carbert, or each other.

The article then went on to say the RCMP had raided MacKenzie’s home and seized several firearms after a video was posted to social media showing MacKenzie pointing a gun at a man's head. It makes no mention of the fact that his arrest had nothing to do with the Freedom Convoy. It should be further noted that these charges have since been dropped. It would seem that MacKenzie may have raised the ire of the RCMP with a podcast he had done—which had well over a million views—that was highly critical of the RCMP’s reponse to the Nova Scotia mass shooting that occurred in 2020.

However, following this mention of MacKenzie, Grant then inserts in her article a tweet from another CBC reporter, Justin Ling, referencing a Globe and Mail article and something about a specific list of people who were to be killed.

Yet, there is not a single word in that article about a specific list of people ‘they’ planned on killing. The rest of the article is similar to the CBC piece in tone and allegations. Ling, in his Twitter (X) post, also praises CAHN for doing such a great job in showing how ‘closely linked’ these four men are to a ‘prominent member’ of the Ottawa occupation. Again, this is a completely inaccurate statement. The ‘prominent’ member of the convoy he is referencing is MacKenzie. While MacKenzie had travelled from his home in Nova Scotia to visit the convoy, he did not join them for the entire time they were in Ottawa, he was not an organizer, nor was he among any of the prominent people arrested when Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act.

Mackenzie did post a video on X, discussing the people who had been arrested in Coutts which Ling also posted on his X feed, with more factually incorrect information. Mackenzie doesn’t say anything about ‘community association paraphernalia’ in reference to the weapons seized, nor does he say he has been in touch with them—meaning those who were arrested in Coutts. He simply says he had heard about the arrests, but doesn’t know anything else —except that they are being charged with some ‘heavy shit’ and that they are not bad people. As for saying he’ll die for this cause, he also mentions that he was willing to die for a cause he didn’t believe in during his tour in Afghanistan, a war that killed 170 Canadian soldiers and injured almost 700 more. So when Mackenzie believes his own government is attacking people for peacefully protesting something he truly believes in - freedom - what do you expect him to say? But Ling manages to leave all that out.

https://twitter.com/Justin_Ling/status/1493814896345198594

I would like to remind everyone that this Justin Ling is the same Justin Ling who managed to get that lone photo of that mysterious Nazi flag bearer near the Freedom Convoy which then allowed Trudeau to stand up in Parliament and call the entire convoy Nazis. 

Grant’s article then moves on with another inflammatory subtitle: This is war. She attributes this statement to Jerry Morin, who made it in a video on his Facebook page titled “Call to Action”. Apparently the video was made with Jaclyne Martin, his wife, who was also one of the nine others arrested. The full statement was: “Come on down tonight, there's no excuse, this is war, your country needs you now, more than ever.” The video was simply a call for people to go to Coutts to participate in the protest. There was nothing illegal about that. And the term ‘this is war’ can be interpreted as nothing more than a metaphor meaning they wanted to ‘fight back’, once again, through their protest, which was peaceful, against a government that had demonstrated its hostility to, and disdain for, the Freedom Convoy and its supporters time and again. So is it unreasonable they might express their frustration in a video calling for more people to participate and support the protest? It wasn’t a call for violence, it was simply a call for more people join them in trying end the government COVID mandates. 

The article then goes on to mention that a number of the nine others who were arrested had, at one point, travelled to Ottawa to visit the convoy, and then listed their names and what they had been charged with in Coutts. There it ends.

All other national media, including the Globe and Mail, CTV New, Global News, and the Toronto Star carried similar stories, most with that picture of the seized cache of weapons and references to Diagolon coupled, with CAHN’s assessment of Diagolon. Other than follow up stories on the four men being denied bail at their initial bail hearings, the media who condemned them and smeared them, seem to have forgotten them. The fact that they have been behind bars for coming up on two years, without a trial, doesn’t seem newsworthy, even to independent media. Nor have any politicians, of any political stripe questioned such outrageous treatment of Canadian citizens who have no criminal records to speak of. And the question everyone should be asking is why?