A truck convoy of anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate demonstrators block the highway at the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., on Feb. 2, 2022.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
An undercover RCMP officer who infiltrated the 2022 protest group that seized the Canada-U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., has testified that one of the men on trial for plotting to kill Mounties said he was prepared to “slit the throats” of police if they raided the blockade.
The officer, who cannot be identified, has been referred to as HQ1298 in court. She is the second witness to be called by the Crown in the case of Chris Carbert and Anthony Olienick, who have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder during the weeks-long protest against COVID-19 government restrictions.
Both men have pleaded not guilty.
Officer HQ1298 testified Wednesday that Mr. Olienick told her on Feb. 12, 2022, that he had “come now to realize that this was his destiny and the war that he was supposed to fight.” She said that Mr. Olienick, on more than one occasion, told her he was willing to die for the cause.
“I said ‘why do you think you’re doing to die?,’ and then he said, ‘The devil’s arms will make it so I don’t survive,’” she said, adding that the accused referred to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the devil and Mounties as his arms.
“Then he said he wants to kill them all and then he said, if they come into Coutts, he said that he will slit their throats,” she said, adding that Mr. Olienick made a throat-slitting gesture moving his thumb horizontally across his throat.
Her voice began to shake on the stand when the Crown asked her how the conversation made her feel. She took a moment to collect herself.
“When you’re working, you separate emotion, at that point you’re just doing the job so you have to stay composed. Afterwards, it’s a little bit harder.”
Mr. Olienick, she said, also said he could teach her “how to shoot” and to stick with him because he is going to “run and gun” if police descended on Coutts.
The officer was deployed undercover to Milk River, a town just north of Coutts, on Feb. 7, 2022 and then to Coutts between Feb. 9 and Feb. 13. She was accompanied by two other female operatives, at different times, during the covert operation. She last saw Mr. Olienick on Feb. 13, 2022.
On Tuesday, officer HQ1298 had testified that Mr. Olienick told her that police would be met “with resistance” if they tried to overrun the protest. She said he also told her as well as one of her police partners that he had stockpiles of guns and was prepared to outfit other protesters to fight.
Alberta RCMP said in a statement on Feb. 14, 2022, that they arrested 11 individuals after an early-morning raid on three trailers in the Coutts area, four of whom were later charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Mounties said they seized 13 long guns, handguns, body armour, a machete, ammunition and high-capacity magazines. The blockade was dismantled the following day.
Jerry Morin and Christopher Lysak, the other two men charged in the murder-conspiracy, pleaded guilty to lesser charges in February, receiving sentences of 3¼ years and three years. Both jail sentences were satisfied by the time the men had served in remand.
Marilyn Burns, the lawyer representing Mr. Olienick, focused her cross-examination Wednesday on the undercover officer’s memory, interpretation and note-taking skills, including how few times the officer had recorded direct quotes.
Officer HQ1298 said direct quotes are not used often, but that it does not mean the context of her notes are “not contextual or accurate.” She said that, if a comment “sticks out” or is “burned” in her head, then she records a direct quote. She had testified Tuesday that she was trained on note-taking as part of becoming an operative.
Ms. Burns incorrectly suggested Wednesday that the officer had indicated a “romantic situation” occurred during the covert operation. The witness had testified Tuesday that romance cannot, and was not, used as a tactic.
The lawyer also suggested Wednesday that there could be another interpretation of Mr. Olienick’s comments about slitting throats, saying perhaps her client had meant police “will slit their own throats.” She referenced a euphemism: “If you cause trouble, you’ll slit your own throat.” Officer HQ1298 said she did not interpret the comment that way.
Katherin Beyak, who represents Mr. Carbert, also questioned the accuracy of the officer’s notes. Ms. Beyak is expected to continue her cross-examination on Thursday.