A Canadian street preacher has been arrested after refusing to write an apology for disrupting a drag-queen story time event at a local library.
Derek Reimer was cuffed Wednesday after refusing to write a letter of apology to Shannon Slater, manager of the Saddletowne Public Library in Calgary, Alberta, according to Rebel News.
Reimer has been forthright in his protests against LGBT events, racking up multiple arrests in 2023.
During the library event, he interrupted the presentation to ask why such an event was held, and later posted that interaction on social media in which he identified the library manager, leading to a conviction on a charge of harassment, according to the Western Standard.
As noted by the Rebel, Reimer was not jailed at the time, but was told that if he did not write an apology, he could go behind bars.
🚨BREAKING: Pastor Derek Reimer has been arrested!
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He is found in breach of his CSO order for refusing to write a court-ordered apology letter to library manager Shannon Slater for “hurting her feelings.” pic.twitter.com/OnwbKqiNhZ
Reimer said he could not do what the court demanded.
“To be sorry, you have to admit fault, that you’re wrong. You made a mistake. That’s obviously what an apology is,” he said.
In a court hearing, he explained why he could not write something that was false.
“I went into my freedom of conscience and a thorough study and my understanding of it, mixed with freedom of expression and religion, it explained and constituted that you have to express to the court your deeply held religious views of why this is a violation of your conscience and why you can’t do it,” he said.
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Reimer said Justice Karen Molle would not hear his arguments and even walked out on him.
“I just explained that earlier with the freedom of conscience that whole presentation, and so I didn’t adhere to her interruption, she was interrupting me many times, even before I started preaching, she didn’t want to hear me,” he said.
“I kept going, and she got up and left her own courtroom, and the whole gallery of supporters erupted into applause. … It was an embarrassment to a judicial system that wants respect and honor, but they act like this, so unprofessional,” he said.
Reimer said his probation officer has “the power of how I’m supposed to write the apology, and because he is pro-LGBTQ because he has pride flags all throughout his building and his probation building in office — that’s a massive conflict of interest.
“I will not apologize based on a fabricated narrative the judge has made up based-off her discretion that I intimidated the librarian. The librarian never used the word ‘intimidated,’” he said.
“I’ve read the transcripts three or four times since receiving them before court on Tuesday to make sure I knew what happened exactly in court one to two years ago. She said that she felt anxious, upset and threatened, because she interpreted me referring to the program as ‘pervert grooming sessions,” he said.
“She interpreted it as though I called her a pedophile protector. My lawyer came up and said, ‘Well, you had mentioned this three times, and basically I never said the word ‘pedophile’ once, ever,” he said.
This article originally appeared on The Western Journal and is reposted with permission.
