Pat King, one of the organizers of the 2022 convoy protest in Ottawa, reacts outside the Ottawa Courthouse following his sentencing, on Feb. 19.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Pat King, an organizer in the convoy protest that overwhelmed Ottawa’s downtown in 2022, has been sentenced to three months of house arrest by a judge who said the 10-year sentence the Crown sought would put a chill on participation in political expression.
Mr. King will serve his three months, then 12 months probation and also complete 100 hours of community service at a food bank or men’s shelter.
Justice Charles Hackland of the Ontario Superior Court factored in the nine months Mr. King spent in custody before and during a trial in which the judge found him guilty last November of five counts: two of disobeying a court order, and one each of mischief, counselling to commit mischief and counselling to obstruct a public or peace officer.
Mr. King was acquitted of three intimidation-related charges.
Reading his ruling on Wednesday before a packed downtown courthouse, the judge said Mr. King bore a significant responsibility for the turmoil in Ottawa’s core given his leadership role in the protest over government management of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But he referenced various efforts by Mr. King to cool the situation, including an online call for activists to leave downtown Ottawa and regroup at a rural location west of the city. The judge noted the request was ignored.
Also, he said Mr. King was on the periphery of the leadership group of the protest once it arrived in Ottawa, and that his online content urged those tuning in to avoid violence and obey the law, calls that “may have helped to mitigate or contain what could have been a far worse situation.”
In a rebuttal of the Crown call for a decade-long sentence for Mr. King, the judge said he did not accept the Crown’s characterization of the convoy as the worst case of mischief on a sliding scale of seriousness and moral culpability.
And he cautioned against going in that direction.
“In the court’s opinion, there is a social harm to unduly elevating the sentencing rules of denunciation and deterrence in the context of political protests to result in punitive sentences at the top of the sentencing range,” the judge told the court.
“The risk is that an overly severe sentence of imprisonment in the context of legitimate, constitutionally protected activity can have the effect of creating a chill or fear of participation in political expression.”
Judge Hackland said the protest concerns about perceived government overreach in the form of COVID-19 mandates and other vaccine issues remain the subject of legitimate public discourse.
After the proceedings, supporters hugged Mr. King in the courtroom.
But Mr. King declined to comment when asked by journalists about the sentence, because his bail conditions prevented him from speaking to the media.
“He will get his voice back,” Natasha Calvinho, his lawyer, told journalists.
Outside the court, Ms. Calvinho, who had made the case for a sentence of time served or a bit more jail for her client, praised the judge’s ruling.
“If Mr. King was to be sentenced to 10 years in jail, which is what the Crown was asking, they would essentially be making him a political prisoner,” Ms. Calvinho said.
Of her client, she said he was being blamed for the misdeeds of other protesters. “He’s very loud. He’s very prolific. How many videos have you watched over the course of the trial? He’s out there. He’s in it. He’s around. Right? It’s very easy to take that one person and put all of the woes and the badness and place that upon the feet of Mr. King.
“We don’t do that. This is not Russia. This is not the southern United States. We don’t put people in jail for things other people did.”
Ms. Calvino said Mr. King would be returning to Alberta to serve his sentence.
Crown prosecutor Moiz Karimjee did not make himself available for media questions. The Ontario Attorney-General’s office declined to comment on the case.