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LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – Lawyers were set to argue Thursday what a fit sentence should be for two protesters convicted for their roles in the 2022 border blockade near Coutts, Alta.

Earlier this month, a jury found Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert not guilty of the most serious charge they faced — conspiracy to murder police officers.

But the two men were found guilty of mischief and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Olienick was also convicted of possessing a pipe bomb.

Justice David Labrenz is expected to hand down the sentences Friday.

He has said jurors weren’t satisfied there was an actual conspiracy to murder police. But after reviewing the facts of the case, the judge said the men were ready to engage in a shootout with officers.

Labrenz said because the accused were found guilty of having weapons for a dangerous purpose, jurors must have believed the men were willing to “engage in a war with police if it came to that eventuality.”

Olienick and Carbert were charged after RCMP found guns, ammunition and body armour in trailers near the blockade at the key Canada-U.S. border crossing.

More guns, ammunition and two pipe bombs were located at Olienick’s home in Claresholm, Alta.

The blockade was one of several held across the country to protest COVID-19 rules and vaccine mandates.

Two other protesters charged with conspiracy to commit murder at the blockade pleaded guilty earlier this year to lesser charges.

Christopher Lysak was sentenced to three years for possession of a restricted firearm in an unauthorized place. Jerry Morin was sentenced to 3 1/2 years for conspiracy to traffic firearms.

Both sentences amounted to the time the men had already served in pretrial custody.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

MONTREAL – Marc-André Bourgeois-Gaudet was in his boat off the shores of Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Que., last Friday when he saw several funnel clouds descending from the sky like tornadoes.

As he got closer, the rain started falling harder than anything he’d ever experienced, he said. “It was like having a waterfall fall on my head.”

The Northern Tornadoes Project, based at Western University, has confirmed that a number of waterspouts — also known as tornadoes over water — occurred in recent days in Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Both Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Inverness, N.S., reported the weather phenomenon on Aug. 23, while another formed over the Lake of Two Mountains near Vaudreuil, Que., west of Montreal, two days later. There have also been a number in Ontario in August, most in the Great Lakes area.

David Sills, executive director of The Northern Tornadoes Project, said a waterspout is simply a tornado that forms over water instead of land.

“A tornado is a rotating column of air that extends to the lower part of the storm cloud to the surface, and the surface can be either land or water,” he said.

Waterspouts have been in the news in recent weeks, ever since a superyacht sank during a storm off Sicily last week, killing seven people. Italian civil protection officials said the storm may have stirred up a waterspout at the exact place where the British-flagged Bayesian was moored.

While a waterspout can cause damage if it hits a boat directly, Sill said most are far less destructive than their land counterparts. He said most have wind speeds of between 90 and 130 kilometres per hour — weak by tornado standards — and are given a rating of EF-0.

Because cooler air over lakes tends to suppress thunderstorm activity, “it’s more the exception than the rule that you have a strong tornado coming in off of a lake,” he said. However, it does happen, including when a tornado formed as a waterspout over Lake Huron in 2011 before slamming Goderich, Ont., as a destructive F3.

Waterspouts can “certainly sink a boat,” but most are slow-moving enough that they can be avoided, he said.

Bourgeois-Gaudet, from Îles-de-la-Madeleine, said he never felt truly in danger during his close encounter with the waterspout. He said that while the water was a little choppy, the wind was never high enough to risk capsizing. “The hardest part was seeing where I was going” due to rain.

Sills said that since the tornadoes project started in 2017, its members have documented about 15 waterspouts a year. This year, they’re already up to 18 confirmed or suspected events, making this year slightly above average so far, he said.

The waterspouts in Quebec drew plenty of attention — likely because they’re not reported as frequently as in the Great Lakes area. Sills said some of this year’s Quebec waterspouts are the first to be documented along the St. Lawrence River since 2017 — but that’s likely only because more people are seeing them and documenting them, often on social media.

“The conditions certainly can happen there,” he said, adding, “I wouldn’t say it’s rare, just not well documented.”

He said that, due to improved reporting, the number of tornadoes documented in Canada has risen from about 60 per year prior to 2017 to close to 100 on average.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Lawyers to argue sentencing in Coutts blockade

Lawyers were set to argue Thursday what a fit sentence should be for two protesters convicted for their roles in the 2022 border blockade near Coutts, Alta.

Earlier this month, a jury found Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert not guilty of the most serious charge they faced — conspiracy to murder police officers.

But the two men were found guilty of mischief and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Olienick was also convicted of possessing a pipe bomb.

Justice David Labrenz is expected to hand down the sentences Friday.

First Nation community evacuated due to wildfire

A Saskatchewan First Nation has issued an evacuation order for another of its communities as a fast-moving wildfire approaches.

Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation says it has ordered the evacuation of Southend, a community of more than 1,100 people in northeastern Saskatchewan.

Officials say the Merkley fire has forced the closure of the only road into the community.

They say more than 550 high-priority individuals and about 200 others have already been safely relocated as of Wednesday afternoon.

‘Blindsided’ BC United members weigh options

The political landscape in British Columbia has shifted with John Rustad’s Conservatives now carrying the centre-right banner heading into a fall election campaign.

BC United Leader Kevin Falcon’s decision to pull his party from the upcoming campaign has opened the province to a clear left-versus-right choice for voters, but almost two dozen incumbent BC United politicians are now pondering their futures.

Veteran BC United member Mike Bernier, who represents the staunchly Conservative Peace River South riding in the Dawson Creek area, says caucus members and staff were blindsided by Falcon’s decision to drop the campaign.

Saskatchewan schools enforcing pronoun law

Saskatchewan’s two largest school divisions say they’ve addressed concerns from teachers and are enforcing the province’s pronoun law as children head back to classrooms next week.

Jason Coleman, superintendent of student achievement at Regina Public Schools, says students under 16 who want to change their names or pronouns in school are required to have parental consent. Those older can do so without.

Some parents have said no, said Coleman. When that happens, the division works with students on getting them to a place where they can communicate with their families.

‘Tornadoes over water’ seen across Eastern Canada

Marc-André Bourgeois-Gaudet was in his boat off the shores of Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Que., last Friday when he saw several funnel clouds descending from the sky like tornadoes.

As he got closer, the rain started falling harder than anything he’d ever experienced, he said. “It was like having a waterfall fall on my head.”

The Northern Tornadoes Project, based at Western University, has confirmed that a number of waterspouts, also known as tornadoes over water, occurred in recent days in Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Metric joins songwriters’ Hall of Fame performers

Canadian rock band Metric and singer-songwriter Sam Roberts are adding fuel to this year’s Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Organizers tell The Canadian Press the musicians are among a new wave of performers set to play the celebration at Toronto’s Massey Hall on Sept. 28.

And three of the inductees, Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, as well as Sarah McLachlan, are expected to join them.

Other previously announced 2024 Hall of Fame inductees include “Life is a Highway” hitmaker Tom Cochrane and Quebec singer Diane Tell.

Among other new performers slated for the show are Juno winner Dominique Fils-Aimé, Terra Lightfoot, Matt Mays and the Glorious Sons’ lead singer Brett Emmons.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024