Prison Call from one of the Coutts Four
I just got off a prison call with one of the Coutts Four. I have never had a prison call before.
The phone rings. It's an 866 "Toll Free" number. When I answer, it says it's a call from and inmate at the Lethbridge Remand Center, would I like to accept. I accept.
It's Chris Carbert. 46. Father of 2. Owned an award-winning landscape company before being detained for going on 18 months now in pre-trial detention. No trial. No conviction. No bail. Charges of "conspiracy to commit murder", among other things. The evidence, as I understand it, consists of two RCMP officer statements. No recording. No text messages.
Chris says he measures time in months. But that he tries not to count the passage of time because it's unproductively upsetting.
Conceptually, there are two categories of theft: Tangible and intangible. Theft of goods can always be replaced. Theft of the intangible - innocence, life, and time, cannot be replaced.
There is no greater theft than the theft of time, and Chris and the other Coutts Four have had nearly two years of his life stolen.
I ask him about the conditions... His daily routine. He says he is in good spirits but that there are days. He works. He gets his exercise. And he prays. The most poignant thing he said to me is that he would not have made it this far without faith. And without the support of those on the outside.
There was a lull in public awareness between the arrests and today... In the early days, the accusations sounded so scary it was enough to sway public opinion into passive acceptance.
That, and the slew of injustices make it almost impossible to keep up. The Coutts Four. Tamara Lich. Chris Barber. Pat King. Jeremy MacKenzie. Shelia Lewis. Artur Pawlowskli. Tim Stephens. I know I've forgotten some. Which is their objective.
And as I'm writing this post, I get a call from Chris Lysak, but our call was cut short because inmates had to go into lockdown or something.
It's a dark time. Not just for Canada - the so-called "True North Strong and Free". It's a dark time for the West. For so-called "democracies". Trudeau and Biden lecture the world on "autocracies" like Russia, China, North Korea - countries where journalists are locked up. Where people are guilty until provedn innocent. Where the accused get kangaroo-court show trials and excessive sentences. Yet here in the "land of the free", indefinite detainment for non-violent mischief charges. Pastors get locked up for holding church services. Some politicians get charged, indicted, convicted - while others break the rules with impunity.
With so much injustice, how do you focus your energies on every or any given one of them? It's a deluge of injustice that fatigues a populace into silence, abandonment, and tacit acceptance.
And it's by design.
A couple of weeks ago, after some public outcry, Sheila Annette Lewis settled her dispute with Alberta Health Service. Sheila was taken off the organ donor list for not getting the jab. A 57-year-old woman sentenced to death by so-called doctors. A death-sentenced that was ratified by our so-called "justice system". People screamed loud enough into the void that the void seemed to have heard.
Dan Hartman - father of 17-year-old Sean Hartman who died 33 days after getting the Pfizer jab - finally got the results of an expert who confirmed the jab was contributive, if not directly responsible for Sean's death. After nearly 2 years of being ignored, demonized, denied basic human dignity. Yet he is still ignored by Canadian media and the parliamentarians who fund them.
And, as I'm writing this, I just got another call - this time from Tony Olienick. We spoke for 40 minutes. Calls are limited to 20 minutes, so after our call was abruptly cut off, and he called me back.
He is in good spirits. He too has found faith. He has been reading. He is clearly not just intelligent, but well-informed. In a way, the spiritual trinity of to not only survive, but thrive. No need to get into the details of what we discussed (though I assume all calls are being surveilled in the hopes that government can find something to hold against these political prisoner), but it was amazingly encouraging to hear that someone can still find optimism and purpose in the darkest of times. Though I guess in the deepest of darknesses, the faintest of lights shines even brighter.
I asked Tony what his go-to verse of the Bible is. He has now read it multiple times, and has even started a Bible group while locked up. He said it was Ephesians 6.
The passage ie below. Read it and, if your are a praying person, maybe say a prayer.
This is an existential crisis we are going through as a society. Violence is not the answer and will never be the answer. It is, in fact, what the forces of evil want. To destroy the good, and in so doing, justify their tyranny to themselves. And it become exceedingly despairing when the violence does not even need to exist in order for the forces of evil to manufacture it.
Raise public awareness. Make peaceful noise. Share their stories. Get people talking. Change comes from the bottom up, and from the top down in a mutually influencing way.
The injustices we have been witnessing on an individual basis are not individual injustices, and they will not remain relegated to the individual. They are social injustices that will one day come for each and every one of us if we do not address them now.
Share the story. Write your MPs. Raise awareness. Make it impossible for anyone to plausibly say "I didn't know".
-Viva
King James Version
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
2 Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;
3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
21 But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:
22 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.
23 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
