Alberta Man Sentenced to 10 Months for Charges Laid at Coutts Protest

A police vehicle looks out over an empty highway in Coutts, Alberta, on Feb. 15, 2022. The Canadian Press

An Alberta man has been given 10 months in jail for charges stemming from the Coutts border protest in February 2022.

James Edward Sowery was found guilty of assault with a weapon and dangerous operation of a vehicle following an incident on Feb. 14, 2022, at the Coutts protest formed in solidarity with the Freedom Convoy.

“Mr. Sowery was sentenced to 10 months incarceration for each count,” a court communications officer told The Epoch Times in an email.

The court said there was also a weapons prohibition and DNA order for Mr. Sowery, which allows for a sample to be taken from Mr. Sowery to create a DNA profile for the convicted offenders’ index.

In a Jan. 28 video posted to Facebook before the sentencing, Mr. Sowery said he was arrested “for running over a pylon” at an RCMP check stop at the protest site on Feb. 14, 2022. He said he had been at the Coutts protest and was leaving for the day when the incident occurred. 

The court was told that Mr. Sowery accelerated towards an RCMP check stop in his hydrovac truck, going at a speed of 80 kilometres per hour, nearly hitting Const. Cory Kornicki at the checkpoint near Milk River—a town about 20 kilometres north of Coutts.

Mr. Sowery was pulled over and arrested on the scene. 

“I struck a pylon when I was going past a check stop, the last check stop to leave the protest,” he said in the video. “The officer has said that I tried to swerve to hit him.” 

In March 2023, a jury convicted Mr. Sowery of assault with a weapon and dangerous driving. As a result, the Alberta Transportation Board suspended his licence for a year, according to media reports. 

The single father of two said he had been trying to get house arrest for his sentence and that he was prepared to appeal the court decision. 

A Facebook group was set up by supporters online to raise money for Mr. Sowery’s case.

Coutts Four

The charges come after a weekend convoy was held in honour of four other men who were arrested and charged at the Coutts border protest.

Dubbed the “Coutts Four” the men have been jailed for over 700 days after RCMP allege they found a weapons cache at the protest.

Chris Carbert, Christopher Lysak, Jerry Morin, and Anthony Olienick, were all arrested during the protest on attempted murder charges in February 2022.

Following the arrests, protestors abandoned the border site as they did not want their message in support of the Freedom Convoy overshadowed by the arrests. Police said the four men were not part of the original demonstrators.

Pre-trial court proceedings for the four men have been moved to Feb. 5, 2024, after one of the men parted ways from his lawyer in December 2023.

The men were part of a group of 14 that were arrested and charged at the protest.

Court documents unsealed in 2022 showed that RCMP used unauthorized wiretaps and undercover officers to collect information on protests at the Coutts border crossing.

The Freedom Convoy protest was started in response to a mandate requiring COVID-19 vaccination for truck drivers crossing the Canada–U.S. border, and resulted in encampments of trucks in the nation’s capital. The protest evolved into a larger movement against pandemic mandates and restrictions, with similar protests being held at several Canada-U.S. border crossings.

Isaac Teo and Andrew Chen contributed to this report.