Art Pawlowski set to return to court on Aug. 9
Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s troubles with the Canadian authorities began long before his sermon to commercial truckers encouraging their peaceful defiance against what he thought were “oppressive” public health mandates for COVID-19.
In 2005, he began serving and ministering to downtown Calgary—Alberta’s poor and downtrodden. “In other words, feeding the homeless and praying for them, which is now illegal,” he described to The Epoch Times in a telephone interview while under house arrest in Calgary following his court conviction in May for inciting mischief and violating his release conditions.
The police eventually showed up at Mr. Pawlowski’s church, telling him he couldn’t feed the homeless by law. Neither was he allowed to assemble or preach in public.
Such actions are also illegal and punishable with tickets, fines, and even jail time.
“They even have laws on the books that distributing printed materials—Bibles and Gospel tracts—is illegal. So I got tickets for that,” Mr. Pawlowski said.
He added that tensions with the authorities had reached the point where police showed up at his church weekly.
During the pandemic, he received 40 tickets for COVID-19 violations, including one for a Christmas celebration he said drew a response from over 100 police officers, 52 police vehicles, as well as anti-terrorism units.
Over 300 Citations
Between 2005 and 2015, Mr. Pawlowski said he received over 300 citations for refusing to stop preaching, feeding the homeless, and doing what he thought was helpful to those in need.
He was arrested and charged in 2006 for reading the Bible in public, and considers being the first Canadian to receive a COVID-19 ticket for feeding the homeless a badge of honor in what he’d say was righteous defiance.
“I asked them a simple question: ‘What do you think will happen to the homeless if we kick them out of shelters and shut down soup kitchens?'” he said of his efforts.
Mr. Pawlowski, pastor of the Cave of Adullam ministry and founder of Street Church Ministries in Calgary, said he has also been granted some victories in the eyes of the law. He won significant court battles through Alberta’s provincial courts of appeal.
By Allan Stein
