Justice David Labrenz sentenced Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert to prison on Monday for their roles in the Coutts border blockade in Feb. 2022.
The two remaining Coutts Four members spent over 900 days in remand awaiting trial.
Two of the four initial members, Chris Lysak and Jerry Morin, accepted a plea deal on lesser charges in Feb. The conspiracy to commit murder charges were dropped, and the two men were released.
Lysak was sentenced to three years for possession of a restricted firearm in an unauthorized place, and Morin was sentenced to three and a half years for conspiracy to traffic firearms. Both sentences amounted to time served awaiting trial for the two men.
Olienick and Carbert both had the conspiracy to commit murder charges dropped about a week before this ruling, but Crown prosecutors are appealing.
Monday’s ruling resulted in Chris Carbert being sentenced to six and a half years in prison for mischief and obstruction and Anthony Olienick being sentenced to six years for the same charges and possessing an explosive weapon. However, after accounting for time served, the remaining sentences are brought down to approximately two years each.
Both will also be subject to lifetime firearms prohibitions and be required to submit their DNA to a registry.
In August, the Crown recommended a sentence of nine years for Olienick and Carbert.
Opinions on the sentencing varied online, with some commentators, including Carbert’s mother doubting the soundness of the sentence.
Gord Magill, a writer and trucker who has commented on the Coutts trial in the past, said that the judge’s ruling obliged the Crown and spent much of the time “relitigating” charges for which the two men were found not guilty.
Carbert’s mother agreed with Magill’s take.
“I don’t feel the judge based his decision on actual facts,” said Betty Carbert. “I also feel he based some of it on the charge that they were acquitted from.”
Others posting on X decried that criminals were walking the street on bail and committing the vast majority of crimes in the country.
Many upset Canadians provided examples of lenient jailing procedures in non-politicized trials.
“Meanwhile, a guy out on parole for assault (and 60+ other ‘police interactions’) cut off one man’s head and another’s hand in broad daylight in downtown Vancouver…,” said one X user.
Rebel News’ Sheila Gunn Reid was at the trial. She said that the row containing the families of Olienick and Carbert was filled with hung heads.
“Every day in this country, we have politicians and senior bureaucrats committing crimes that are way worse than mischief but get away with it. Sad day for Canada,” said Martyupnorth, a well-known Albertan commentator on X.