Shaun Newman Podcast - #625 - Tony Olienick

Episode Date: April 25, 2024

Tony is a Canadian political prisoner who has spent 800+ days in remand with no bail. He participated in the protest at Coutts more than two years ago and continues to pay the price. He talks to us via phone and we hear his story from him. SNP Presents returns April 27th Tickets Below: https://www.showpass.com/cornerstone/ Let me know what you think. Text me 587-217-8500 Substack:https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcast E-transfer here: [e-mail] Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/ Email: [e-mail] Text: [phone] – and be sure to let them know you’re an SNP listener.

This is Tom Luwango. This is Alex Kraner. This is Franco Tarzano. I'm Dr. Peter McCullough. This is Joshua Allen, the cowboy preacher, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Thursday. Before we get it on to today's show, let's start here.

Okay, the government, we're talking deficits, we're talking just insanity. The government's doing it right now. And it might be the perfect time to diversify some of your hard-earned savings into physical money that can't be printed. That's gold and silver. Silver gold bolt, they're my favorite precious metals dealer. Of course, they're here in Alberta, and they're offering a full suite of services to help you buy, sell, and store precious metals. It doesn't matter where you're at in Canada. They're going to ship your metal discreetly, fully insured, and with tracking straight to you, just go to silvergoldbull.com.

You can also text or email, Graham, that's down in the show notes. Hey, if you just want to say, hey, thanks for supporting independent media for supporting the SMP, however you want to put it. You folks know how to do it better than I do. I would love it if you would text or give him an email to say, hey, we see what you're doing, we appreciate it, and we're not jumping by this. We want to really let you know, silver gold ball, that is, that we appreciate it. Everyone who's dealt with Graham has said he's fantastic, by the way. So if you've got questions about silver and gold, maybe reach out.

McGowan professional chartered accountants, that's Kristen a team. Well, let me tell you, these fine ladies who offer accounting. bookkeeping, business consulting, training, and training, financial planning, and tax planning, continue to just, I don't know, I just, I got to be when it comes to, like, I can't be the only one that just absolutely hates doing taxes. Maybe it's a man thing. Could be a man thing. I don't know. I'm sitting here alone in the studio thinking about it, and I'm like, ugh, you know, wish you could see me, you can't see me. And it sucks. I don't like anything about it. I don't like giving the government my money.

I don't like following up with receipts and everything else. And what I'm trying to point out is McGowan, Kristen and her team have been kick gloves on me, you know, and slowly getting it right. And I think I just talked to her this morning. She's like, we're so close to having like, you know, this system built out where all the stress goes away. And I'm actually starting to feel that. And I'm pretty excited about that. So they're looking for accountants or, you know, they're looking for a CPA, I should say, and would love to hire somebody local

or, you know, if you're abroad, give them a call. Maybe there's a way to have you come join our great community. And if you support this show, and you're listening to us right now, and maybe supporting free speech in certain conversations,

she might be the lady, she might be to have the team that can fit you, McGowanCPA.ca.ca. That's where you need to go. Now, before we get to the interview, and I don't want to keep this brief, we are a couple days away from the SMP,

Cornerstorm Forum. Last time I checked, there was two tickets left available. They may have sold by now. And if they have, then I'm sorry I'm saying this right now. But at the end of the day, if you haven't bought tickets, your last minute Lloydminster, you're sitting there or last minute anywhere, you're sitting there going, man, I really want to go. Then just come. Go buy two tickets. And we'll see you Saturday. Okay. That is SMP Cornerstone Forum. It starts bright and early, Saturday morning goes all day. If you can't make that, or if you don't have the money even, you know, which is totally fair.

Sunday morning, Cornerstone Forum, Sunday service. We got the Cowboy Preacher, Cam Milliken, and Tanner Nadegh, going to be on stage together. Talking a little bit of the Bible, Cornerstone, Jesus, we'll see where it goes. It should be an interesting, interesting morning. Free of charge. Bring your family. It's at the Moose Lodge. And Shine Christian Academy is going to be running activities.

for kids, I want to point this out. If your kid is not potty trained, chances are the parents should go down with them as well. That way they can, you know, we're not putting too much on Trang Christian Academy. I feel like that's pretty common knowledge. I think it is. I don't know. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe I'm talking out of my butt.

But regardless, we got stuff for the kids. We got stuff for the adults. Bring the entire family. Should be a fun morning. Sunday morning, Moose Lodger. All right. Let's go on the tale of the tape. For his participation at the Coots Blockade, he's now been in Reefs,

man for over 800 days. I'm talking about Tony Olinick. So buckle up. Here we go. In my mind, Tony, I would just love for you to start like at the beginning because I'm like, I know parts of Tony's story. I've heard parts of it. Um, you know, obviously when I had granny in here, you called at the right time. So I've heard, I've heard living conditions once upon a time. Now that's, that's got to be at least a hundred days ago, you know, obviously today as we talk, it being the 800th day. I'm like, oh my God. It's pretty wild. I don't even know where to begin. And I guess where I'd like to begin is I'd like you just tell the audience who you are. And let's just see where it goes. So if you're willing, I would love to start before Coots. I would just like to know who Tony is

and lead me into why you went to Coots and wherever you want to go. Sounds good. Yeah. So Basically, I grew up in a little town called Clare Soh, Alberta, born and raised there. Mom being a Filipino nurse and dad being Austrian bricklayer and plumber. And so they met in Clare Som and Lord behold, here I popped up. I'm the only child in the family. and so I grew up in a workaholic environment. My dad was self-employed business guy. He ran a plumbing company as well as a home improvement business.

He was doing bricklaying and all that stuff. I did tons of bricklaying as a kid, young kid packing mortar and mixing cement form and all that good stuff. So I graduated at St. as a journeyman Red Seal Plumber. when I was 19 years old. The youngest, I think, youngest journeymen in Canada's history. Because I got in, I dropped out after, I finished grade 10,

and I went to fate, and right back in the day, then, you could get in there with just grade 10 math. Then they changed the rules after. So I worked hard at it and graduated at 19 as a full-fledged tournament. plumber and worked with dad in his business and enjoyed every aspect of us. But then I always had a love for heavy equipment and trucks and all that stuff. I guess one of my first words, my mom couldn't understand me, but I guess when I was a young infant there, I don't know, maybe one or two years old or whatever, one of my first words,

well, she was pushing me down along the highway, Highway 2 runs right through our town. and I was in a stroller, I guess. I don't remember this, but I guess I just about leaped out of my stroller and pointed at the big trucks going down the highway and yelled the word bequeque. So she was thinking, what beque? And I guess I was trying to say big truck. Like so.

So there was always a love and fascination with trucks and heavy equipment. So after Dad and I were going good there with the plumbing business, we decided to branch out and buy a backhoe, rubber tire backhoe, to start doing our own septic systems and water lines and all that stuff. And so that was just a glorious day for me, the day that we bought our first backhoe. And we could hit the ground running with it. I had a natural knack ability as a kid.

I always just spend time around construction sites on my bike just watching the equipment work. And so I really had kind of a knowledge in my life. mind how to what to do and I was just all self-taught when it came to that and suit enough then the oil patch picked up big in the early 2000s 05-04-6 all around that area there and and that's when the calling was to just go work in the patch with the equipment and so that's when I bought a dump truck after to haul the back all around and and after that it just grew and grew and grew and and

I pretty much gave up the plumbing business at the time I moved on and went on my own, and started my own company called Iron Rock Enterprises, and grew to a point of, at one point there, I had an average of between five and five employees, six employees, basically. At one year there, I had up to 25 employees during the High River flood era when we worked that camp, Saddlebrook camp north of High River, building that flood camp for the people to evacuate out of high river and all the flood work we did during that time. So, and they downsized a little bit more and ran a gravel operation out of my home farm quarter. We had a, there's an existing gravel pit there. So I got into the gravel business, bought my own crusher

and screeners, and we processed, made our own gravel aggregate products and, and, and, uh, trucked all over the country. Then we got into development projects, commercial development, rule development, acreage work. We were doing all kinds of stuff. I had rental equipment in three provinces working, and it was just growing and growing. But then I kind of was like, well, you know, it's taking a lot of toll on me. I worked pretty much every day of my life, seven days a week through my 20s and half of my 30s. So then I just kind of decided I'm going to take a little break.

So I downsized the business a bit and just kept a smaller crew and started doing a little traveling. Mexico mainly and Vegas kind of my places. And then Montana take the boat to Montana and go hang out there. So then all of a sudden, well, we entered the 2020 of March and wow, what a shock. you know, that was to then all of a sudden start getting these lockdowns and mandates, as we all know. And I was really, at that point, in my spiritual journey, we'll talk about, up to that point in time, I was a pure atheist my whole life. Like I wasn't a believer, I thought everything that I accomplished was on my own steam and my own power.

after 2020 March and further on into that year came along I started really questioning that and questioning the people a lot of these people that I knew I thought you know were conservative thinking people and that's how I've always been but they were living in this fear you know masks and everything else and telling me to stay away from them and I'm just I couldn't understand that. So as I started going to some rallies and some gatherings there, I started meeting like-minded people who were not scared of any of this. And I started finding out there, a lot of them are Christian-based people.

So I went, wow, this is kind of like a rebellion. To be a Christian now, it's a new rebellion, become a Christian. And so I started amalgating myself. with Christian-based people and going to these rallies and meeting so many wonderful people out there. And as the lockdowns got stricter and harder, I started having big farm gatherings at my farm there just to allow people to get together and celebrate. And so their families would come out and pets and their children. And it was just amazing and wonderful to see random people.

but I just met, come together, and we're barbecuing, and kids are playing. Even the animals are getting all around and along and running around there. So it was some really good times to be a part of, and I was so looking forward every weekend to having these gatherings and building community. What I thought. I'm like, wow, I started seeing the writing on the wall. I was really adamant about economics and seeing all the search. money being pumped out there and huge money being literally printed out of thin air.

I thought this isn't good for the economy because what goes around comes around and if they're given away all this free stuff, it's only, it's not free, really. So somebody's going to have to pay it back. So I really was stressed out about the fact of the economy going to really suffer in the coming future. And I was predicting me. you know, high interest rates for them to recoup costs and all the serve being paid back. And, you know, and as we see, that's what generally has happened. So I started at that point downsizing my business even more and selling off some items, paying off some debts, paying off my mom's property and our farm and a few odds and ends like that.

And just in getting financially set where I didn't have any worries, no problem. Gainments know nothing. And that's that, it was like all this investment, all this hard work that I made. I, you know, I took a loss on a lot of it just to pay off some deaths. I'm grateful and thankful I did do that. And then, you know, going back to the spiritual part of that is just something was telling me and driving me to do this. It's like, you know, get ahead of this while you can, build community and get people of like-minded all on the same page together. and then just see how it plays out.

And sadly, coming into June, I believe, at 2021, after the so-called third lockdown, we had there an ex-comin-law lady that I was with for nine years prior to, her and I went separate ways back in 2014, but I still in contact with her children to help raise her two kids. And sadly, the one daughter was going through depression and drug addiction problems. And the lockdowns were just stressing her to the point where she sadly had an overdose, fentanyl overdose. So I went to the hospital to Calgary South campus during that first, or that,

third lockdown. And, you know, when I walked into the ICU and they're telling us that there's triage happening in the parking lots and everything's overflowing, I walked in there and it was crickets and it was a ghost town. And a few of the odd nurses I seen were just sitting around on their phones. I walked past a few empty ICU units until I got to the third one and seen my stepdaughter plugged into the machines. So it was heartbreaking.

we lost her, she just couldn't make it after that, but we said her goodbyes and, and then that's what really kind of then got me upset at the whole system based on, you know, why are they lying like this and why are they doing all this stuff that they keep telling us on the media and in real life it's the total opposite. So that's when I remember coming closer to 2022 and as things got stricter yet. And then they started mandating the jab and forcing people and coercing people. And I started hearing of, you know, couples and families really struggling and, you know, it's all kinds of stuff, people losing their jobs, as we all know, and families splitting up because

one side of the family is all for it and the other side wasn't. And so I've seen this just destruction happening all around me. And it was heartbreaking. happening and all of us can relate to that. We all have a story or know of a story or somebody or close friend, family member, somebody. So I remember one Sunday I was having a gathering at my property and we were doing some canning actually. We were doing a canning session, seminar and people were explaining other different canning recipes and all that. And then I heard, oh, there was this truck convoy that went through High River Okotokes area.

And I was like, wow, like, I missed that. I wish I could have seen it. I started seeing all of pictures and videos on social media. And I was like, wow. And I started seeing trucks and businesses of people that I knew. And I was like, wow, everyone's participating in this. This is something else. And then boom, it just grew from there.

This grassroots movement took off. And, you know, everyone started going to Ottawa, and I thought, wow, I got to go that direction. But at the time, I didn't have a sleeper truck unit to take to Ottawa. And so, because I just sold them my sleeper trucks. And so I just had a dump truck. And I'm like, I didn't really want to go all the way to Ottawa and living in a daytab truck. And so I didn't know what to expect. I called a good buddy of mine and asked him if he was still had any of his truck.

So he was at the same point selling out to his. his logging company and construction company as well. And the one truck that he had left was in the shop getting repairs so he couldn't go. And he wanted to go to Ottawa as well. So that night I just kind of prayed on it. Just ask God, what should I do? Send me where you need me type thing. And the next morning, it was just ding my text message goes off on the phone.

And here's a poster of the Coots Boarder. Freedom Convoy rally. And I'm like, there it is. So a few days, or a day or two, a day after, I believe, we left early morning. And I took my dump truck and went over to Nikki Nell's place. They own a trucking company there, oil patch construction or oil patch energy service by trucking outfit, triple key energy services. I went, met at their yard, and a whole bunch of us met, and from there, convoy down to Lesbridge,

and met other trucks, and it just grew and grew and grew, and we jumped onto the convoy leading from the flying Jada, to Lesbridge, and headed to Coots there, and it was just amazing, seeing, you know, every little backcountry road, people lined up along the roads, and people bringing food, and Hutteray colonies supporting us really well, just wonderful people. Just amazing. Getting down to Coots was just awesome. Just, you know, the sheer magnitude of the people. And there's just so many people in the first night.

It just turned into a giant traffic jam, basically. You know, there was really no intent to block nothing. It was just so much people, so much traffic, such a festivity event that vehicles just parked. and wonderful. I filmed it, and when I got down there, I set up a social media account,

or just prior to, I set up an Instagram account because I wasn't big with social media, but I set up an Instagram account, and I was like, oh, I'm going to just film what's going on here and portray everything as it's happening in real time

and just kind of be boots on the ground spokesperson as what I'm seeing and hearing. Of course, following that, there was a big, you know, camp out, big party that night in the ditches and in the median. And the following morning, a lot of people had cleared out, you know, a big majority had left and gone home. And then we couldn't figure out why there was supposed to be, you know, hundreds of hours. You have one minute remaining for this call. Oh, the one minute mark there. I'll talk for another 30 seconds or so, and then I'll hang up and I can call you right back.

Sure. So basically, in the following morning, we couldn't figure out why there wasn't more supporters coming. We heard, and there was talk, people coming from every direction coming down, headed down to the Coots. But then we found out that at Milk River, law enforcement had set up a highway blockade. and perpendicularly block the highway and weren't on allowing anybody else to travel down to coups, which seems odd. All sorts of people from all over three provinces started showing up at Milk River. At one point, I had heard, or I had read actually in disclosure papers

that there was what the authorities had figured was close to 65,000, people had showed up between Milk River and Coots during that two-week time, 65,000 people. So that's not counting the people that were silently supporting on the outs with donations and food and supplies. It's just so incredible and so incredible to see just come together like that. Obviously, it was just one of the greatest moments I ever experienced. So back at Coots, then, as the days went on, we had opened a lane back up and we were letting traffic cattle liners and whoever proceed to the border. We weren't blocking the border.

At the same time, we were like, well, we want, you know, to have our supporters come down here. It's a lawful right to protest. But the law enforcement were saying no. They wouldn't open the Milk River blockade because they just figured that it would just get inundated with all kinds of people, and then the roads down in Coutes would be blocked again. And we're just like, no, that's not the point. We just want these people to come down here, and there's lots of room to park, and that way, you know, food and supplies and fuel can

instead of a slow trickle like it was. The 40s had literally blocked every single access gravel road intersection in that whole radius between Melbourne and Coots, such as they had officials in the middle of nowhere just blocking roads and not letting, you know, Canadians move freely on Canadian soil seemed really odd why they do that. And as the fact that they had blocked the road, that's when the border guards decided, well, there's no traffic coming here.

So the border security, the CBSA guys, were like, we're going to shut down the borders. So they packed it in and went home and closed the border based on the fact that there was nobody coming down because nobody was allowed to come down from 20 miles north from Melk River. So there's a lot of that happens. And so people could come, but they had to. take a big, long route around and come in on the northeast corner. Goats park down at the bottom of the hill. There's a big staging area in a field there. Two police checkpoints, and people were carrying up, you know, cherry cans and

have to wear containers of food and clothing and just everything you can think of. Just amazing. And no matter, it was minus 30. People were walking up and down the hill. Up hill, too, it's a big hill looking to walk up. Past two checkpoints all the time. Police there all the time, 24 hours throughout the clock. And then they'd come over to where the gathering place was a smuggler saloon,

just right along the highway there, where we all gathered and where we were cooking our meals. And on the cafe, and Coos was also helping cooking meals. and helping us and all that. Really good public support. As I drove around Coots, because I had a friend of mine and bring my pickup truck.

So I had wheels to drive around because I just figured I'd just park my dump truck and drive around with my pickup truck. So I drive around a pickup truck and just all the signs I've seen in everyone's yard, a lot of support, a lot of Canadian flags, a lot of people like wonderful, people waving on the street, the corners.

It just, there was a, I felt like a real good, positive presence in the town, spoke to a few people, and they were, they were all supportive of us and the whole grassroots movement. So it was really nice to have that feeling. We spent a lot of the time cleaning the town up, like there were, there were people going around going up garbage, just like they did in Ottawa, you know, left the place cleaner and tidier than when we got. there. And then wonderful people like Joanne, who opened her house to us, to anybody, to shower,

and she was doing laundry and bringing coffee and muffins and cooking. And she's just 20 hours a day working their health and people. And so there's such a good vibe in that little town of Coots. It was wonderful, wonderful to see. And I know as those days progressed, we just, we started, noticing, you know, there were some maybe shady things going on, like fuel being disappearing and generators being tampered with. And we were wondering, we're like, this is not from protesters doing this, you know, because why would protesters sabotage their own stuff, right? So I started to become a little eerie on law enforcement and thought,

okay, you know, let's just keep the cameras rolling. We want to see what's going on here and show the people, if there's any nefarious activity going on, who's really behind it. And as those days progressed, there was the wonderful horseback riders came in. We had a bunch of Americans show up at a baseball field in Coupes, and there was just a little, pretty much a single-strand chain

as the borderline. And so they set up on their side, flags and trailers and festivities and music and there was some far away from Texas that showed up there so it was pretty amazing and so it was a big event uh on the weekend of the February 12th 13th they all gathered there and so we were gathering there shaking hands with them taking selfies it was quite the wonderful festival there and And helicopters flying above and drones and law enforcement, border patrol, it just seemed like, you know, right out of a Hollywood movie, here's all this law enforcement, but yet, you know, here's all these peaceful people shaking hands and talking. It was just such a peaceful time.

Wonderful. And there's so many videos of that going around. So it wasn't until the night of the, I believe, at 12th. That's when we got confirmation on the morning of the 13th. There were these three track excavators that were parked outside of Coots, like two miles or so. I'm not exactly sure, but I know I've never seen them personally, but three excavators were parked along the side of a road, gravel road. And law enforcement caught wind of this, and they went over there, and they found out whose machines they were. and they ask that the machines just be removed from the area.

And it's like, well, that's weird. Like, okay, so I guess the machines just got moved out into the field. Farmer's field, farmer permission to move them out there. I don't know if they were, there was talk. I heard that the farmer possibly wanted a dugout built there. and then just talk of walking the machines so they can be seen from the town of Coots, and then they were going to put some big flags, Canadian flags on their booms and raider arms up in the air, and just show the support.

Law enforcement then started spreading these rumors that, oh, these machines are going to be used to dig up the highway. And I thought, what? who's saying that? Like, the only people I heard saying that are the RCP members. And I'm like, no one's digging up the highway. And first of all, it's February, it's winter. It was minus 30 here. You know, like the frost is five feet into the ground.

No one's digging anything up. So it seemed really odd statement. But then that night of South, something happened. And in the following morning on the 13th, the RCP had, notified the owners of machines pretty much stating that we sabotaged your equipment because you did and take a direct order and you didn't move this equipment. And so it's like, well, the equipment got moved off the edge of the gravel road and parked out in the middle of a farmer's field. And they said that wasn't good enough. And so they went there, cut the fuel lines, cut the electrical lines, cut the fuel filters off, spray foam, spray foam into the housing.

Like, it's like, this is pure sabotage. This is not disabling the machinery. Like, it's destroying the machinery. And Tony, just so I'm clear, I want to make sure I heard that correct. That's the cops that did that, and they admitted to it? Yes, they sure did. It's on the record. It's in a disclosure.

They admitted to doing it. And they did it as a way ought to provoke a response. They were trying to get a retaliatory response. from us. And none of us gave them that response. We just further went, okay, we see their plan, we see their game, let's just spread more love, but let's also keep the cameras rolling. And so after that, I did an interview with another journalist kind of a guy.

I can't remember who he was, but we started trying to just share to the people. you know, this is what's going on here. There's nefarious activity being done by law enforcement towards peaceful protesters, and what's next? Like, what could they be capable of doing next? We've seen law enforcement was parked all around communication powers, so it almost felt like, you know, are they going to cut communication? and from us from the outside world and start mass arresting or or worse yet.

You know, like are they going to start getting the billy clubs out and doing, you know, something nefarious or worse? So there was a lot of heightened sense of emotions there, you know, people were emotional, people were scared, people were upset the fact that, you know this was happening but again we we all just grew stronger that that evening that february 13th there was uh that whole weekend was just a massive influx of people but then as as the day wore off during the evening people were going back home and we'd lose our numbers and that's when we thought okay if law enforcement is going to do any uh enforcement

action. It's going to be in the early hours or, you know, in the evenings like that when the majority of people left. So we just decided to let us all stay at the saloon. We had gospel band playing there. We had children playing street hockey under the streetlights. We had campfires going and roasting marshmallows. There was a real solid still community atmosphere. A lot of people stuck around and and then that night is when law enforcement

started their enforcement there was this alleged situation incident where they said a big tractor with a big blade had rolled up against an RC&C cruiser and scared the officer

we all seen videos of that where it's just like the Austin Powers movie you know with the steam roller moving really slow and a person over exaggerating and panicking there, just

it seemed, it just seemed like the tractor was just relocating, it wasn't being aggressive, it wasn't trying to push the the cruiser, do anything like that. We all seen it, like, first half, so it's like we're all witnessing it. And so, I don't know how they use that as their

attempt, their point of making enforcement action. So that's when they brought in their heavy cavalry and their militarized police guys, They started showing up these ERP, they call them emergency response tactical team or whatever. They showed up fully in green battle dress and helmets and night vision and assault rifles and suppressors on their assault rifles. It just seemed like, wow, what are you guys doing here?

Why do we have all these heavily, heavily armed guys wandering around the protest? And there was one incident there that was on social media of one of these guys walking around, and one of the protesters noticed his rifle was off safe. And so the safety was off, the gun being ready to fire. And he's wandering around a crowd of kids and women and children. And somebody mentioned it to him. It's like, your rifle is off faith. And in the video, you can hear him click, put the rifle back on safe.

So it seemed really over the top and really unprofessional to be doing those kind of activities. And especially around children. And, you know, it's wintertime, there's slippery patches. One has the guy would have slipped on the ice and discharged his rifle into the crowd of people. I mean, who knows, right? So gun safety is important. And it seemed like they were neglecting just the basic rules on that alone. So pretty much during that night, as we see the incident kick up in the high gear,

the law enforcement had then started surrounding the saloon and really showing a show of force. Big lot, and their video recording us, we're video recording them. And in the disclosure, there's lots of video of their video showing us all standing there for hours. watching them. So none of us were hiding in the bushes or having any

attempt to do anything illegal or unlawful or violent. We just all stood there and chatted and hung out. I was back and forth into the saloon a few times. I was listening to the gospel band. I was

scrounging around for some late from evening snacks and chatting with people and then all of a sudden I caught wind that Chris Wyck had been arrested and I was like, what? That's unbelievable. I'm like, where was he?

He's like, yeah, he was just standing right out here at the front with all the other protesters and they just arrested him. So I'm like, okay, well, that seems ridiculous. So I'm like, well, I'm going to go out there and support. So I walked back out there and still lots of people out there and I stood with a whole bunch of people at the front of the protest. And I'm just filming. And as I was uploading my last video to my Instagram page and responding to some comments, my situational awareness went down and I was there.

My eyes were glued to my phone. And I didn't realize the crowd had shifted a few meters back as the law enforcement pushed forward. And as I looked up, I was kind of stuck in no man's land. So I was just standing in an area between the protest people, the law enforcement, and then six 13 guys, they just walked up to me and put their arms on me, and they're like, you're under arrest. And, like, under arrest for what?

And they're, like, mischief. So, like, well, okay, I've never been to jail before. And no criminal record whatsoever. And I thought, okay, this is. the first. So yeah, whatever. I'll go to jail for the night and get out in the morning. It just seemed, you know, is ridiculous. And so I was at 9.59 p.m. on the 13th of February. And so I went to Coldale, R.C.&P.D. detachment and hung out there. And soon or later, then I, all of a sudden, heard and Chris Carbert had been arrested and I was like that's that's wild Chris

Chris was there with us at the saloon and he he was feeling sick like he was fighting flu the whole time for a week so for the lot of it he just time sleeping because he wasn't feeling well and he had left that night early he's just like whatever I'm going to go back to bed. I'm not feeling good. So he left. He went back to his worry with staying and and Chris Leiswick and I just hung around with the people and that's how we got arrested. So, so then pretty much that just takes us into 14th during while we were still, while we were in RCP custody, around 5 o'clock, 5.30 in the evening on the 14th, that's when And they came up to me and said, oh, we've got extra more charges.

Like, what? More charges? Like, what are you talking about? And that's when they laid down all this conspiracy and all this other stuff. And I thought, okay, this is a wild witch hunt fishing expedition. Something happened here. But it still didn't soak in. I thought it was just a big overblown joke.

I heard the Emergency Act then got implemented. and during the police interview when I was conducted in that and so I thought, okay, this is just the government's way of just the Surrey Emergencies Act out there and they needed some way of justifying it so they're going to come up with these bogus charges

and all the stuff. So right away I thought, okay, this is crazy. And then I thought, okay, we're still going to get bail and get out, but no, they they denied bail and it was a real wishy-washy kind of situation that happened there between these first lawyers that we had that I don't know much about it. It's still kind of vague in my memory but we got denied bail and off we went to Lethbridge Correctional and so that was the reality of that when you hear the door

siren deep in there while I was in the police cruiser with Chris Carver they had taken us to Leithbridge Correction hearing that siren opened sounding as the door closed knowing okay now you're in jail and them taking Chris and I up

to a quarantine unit because they still were quarantining with the whole COVID thing they put Chris and I in the same cell together for 10 days we were there fully quarantined we were only allowed out for five minutes to have a

hour twice a week. And while we were there, Chris took a mouth swab test. I denied, I didn't want to take any tests, but he took a mouse swab. And they came back positive for COVID, which then I said to them, well, they said to me, first of all, that they weren't going to let me out of this quarantine until I tested negative. So I took the mouth swabbed and it came back negative after a day or two. So then I said to the nurses, I said, well, that seems pretty odd. You know, you put me in a cell with someone who tested positive for the so-called most dangerous disease going around right now.

But yet I come back negative and I'm living in close proximity with him, you know, in a 8 by 10 cell. So it kind of blows your whole story right out of the water. You know, the nurse just looked at me with glazed eyes and didn't say anything and just walked away. So after that, we got moved into the general population units. And all of us were there. Chris Leisack and Chris Carver and I were all on the same unit together, Unit 7 at the time. And we were there until Chris Leisak went to his bail hearing. got denied again.

So then they moved Chris off the unit because I guess at that point there was a no-contract order. But yet Chris Carver and I were on the same unit. I was there with him for five months all the way until July.

We both again got denied bail at Queen's Bench at the time so that's the second bail denial. And then they shipped me out at that point in July to Medicine Hat.

During the time though while Chris and I were there, Chris and I and another native fellow we started a Bible study group on the unit. And I believe to this day, it's still going strong. Chris is still running it strong

in the unit where he's at. They moved the unit from 7 to 6. So he's in unit 6 now. It's a bigger unit than where we originally at. Just the influx of remanded inmates, I guess. So they shipped me to Medicine Hat, and that's where I spent most of my time. Being in Medicine Hat was good, for the most part. There was lots of support in Medicine Hat.

I had the wonderful privilege in honor to have Blair Leach. She came to the jail to visit me, so it was nice to speak to her and hear her story and talk to her. and as well as all the support people would come outside my window and that was one thing that was nice about the medicine had jail the windows weren't blanked off

like they are in Lester. You can't see outside they got them all covered over so that's hard on mental health but in medicine had at least the windows are open and you can see because the jail is downtown in the city there so supporters would come and wave flags every weekend

and sit in the parking lot across the jail and it was just very humbling and grateful to have that love and support from Medicine Hadard. Lots of good people from Medicine Hadders. Lots of good people everywhere. But it was just nice seeing them day in,

day out, always show up. You know, they bring painted rocks with hearts in my name and bumper stickers. Granny's bumper stickers were posted on the bench. There's this

sitting benches outside my cell there. So everyone, you know, all the inmates could see and they were all, they were all grateful to see all that as well to see the support out there. So it's wonderful. And then now I'm back in Lesbridge since Chris, Chris Lysax out. I'm back in his old unit where they had to house him for the two years. So it's been good. I've been fighting for inmates' rights while we've been here and advocating for proper health care and treatment.

And just seeing what's going on behind the scenes, it's wild. And, you know, I truly want a lot of these guys to tell their story and have the ability to tell their story. They haven't had that opportunity or platform to do so. So I feel that's kind of my moving forward future is to advocate for inmates' rights and expose some of the stories and situations that are going behind the scenes behind these walls that the public should be aware of. I mean, it's taxpayer money being spent here at an exorbitant amount. And so I believe there should be, you know, an audit. like in a lot of the government institutions, we need to see the transparency. We need to hold them accountable onto what they're doing and how they're doing it.

So that's kind of leading then basically my future plans on getting out is that you continue to be a spokesperson for the freedom movement, be a voice for our children, stand up for their rights as we see that being eroded in schools and all that so we need to keep standing for them and doing that as well as just you know holding accountable the government systems uh procedures on how they how they're acting and using our tax money and treating treating people. So I think that's very important to get those messages out there to do all that. We're hoping in trial that we're going to have our trial starting May 24th. It was supposed to be a jury selection May 24th, but they've allotted to continue with our pretrial motion. There's been lots of pretrial time that we've had a couple months.

I can't even keep track now. Yeah, well over a couple months of court time. And it's uncovered lots of stuff. I can't really get into too much details, but there's been, I believe, you know, the real conspirators are obviously the system, and they've conspired against us. They've conspired against all the other political prisoners out there

because they're pushing their narrative and their agenda. So that's what's coming out in our courts is all kinds of stuff along those lines, proving that's a fact. And we'll sooner sooner than later, we'll be able to get to the bottom of it

and uncover more. You know, it's quite quite shocked seeing, you know, Jerry and Chris plead to the charges that they did. The biggest thing right there is why would they keep those guys two years based on these conspiracy

to murder charges, and yet they just dropped everything just like that with a snap of the finger and got them to plead guilty to charges that weren't even on the original indicted list. So that just goes to show they knew this whole time that there's no conspiracy,

and yet they held those two guys who denied them bail for that long. I mean, we really still need to support those two men. You know, they're good guys. They have good hearts. They're for the people. They're for their children. They are, you know, for the little amount of time, I just met those guys, really. And same as Carver, I just met these guys.

They don't know them at all. prior to Coots there. So, but just for the little time, I met them and known them there. But you mentioned at the beginning, you were atheist, and then along your way, you've found Christianity, faith. I've had a similar journey in that.

And when you look back at one little action that maybe made you stick out to lead to 800 days behind, you know, bars, how much time or thought have you given that? Well, I've given it quite a bit, and actually I feel that, you know, this is part of a higher plan, right? So that's why having such a solid foundation, Christianity like I feel I have, has enabled me to weather this storm quite easily, actually. Like I feel stronger. I feel more free in my mind that a lot of people outside these walls live their lives.

And I can say that honestly. Like I wake up every morning. I sleep well. I go around. I help other inmates when I can. I just feel like this is part of God's calling for me. Like it was all meant to happen to first. bring light to something that we didn't know what's really happening.

And so I think just like for the sense of inmate rights and advocating for them, how would we have known unless, you know, that somebody like me shows up here and sees firsthand what's going on. And I've had to experience improper health care as well, like being denied, probiotics, simple probiotics. Finally, after two years of pressure, they've

allowed my family to bring in my probiotics and magnesium citrate that I take on the outside you can buy from any natural health food store into the jail, which they can then expect for security

reasons, which is fine. That was a little point. It's like, yeah, then I just bring my medication in and have you inspect it and administer it to me. But no, they don't want to do that. But, oh, if you want pain medication or, you know, antidepressants, all that, you can go and get them like candy from Alberta Health people. So it's just like you guys are willing to hand out pharmaceutical drugs all the time. What about just natural remedies?

What about melatonin for sleeping? Nope, that doesn't – you can't get that. So there's lots of that I see that should change to make things better. But going back to the question of how I dealt through this 800 days, I just feel that each day is one day closer to truth coming to light more and more. And so I embrace it. I take it in and I'm happy. I'm grateful that this is part of the plan. and I'm kind of at the tip of it.

So it's an honor, really, to be here to serve God and to serve patriots. Because, I mean, how else would we be able to expose this corruption, right? And there's been lots of it. I've had issues with lawyers. I've had stuff that people would have never known. It's happened in that situation. So I've got hearings against previous ones. lawyers happening right now that I can't talk too much about.

But still, there's all kinds of things that are going to come to light more and more as we further dig into this. And I believe the crown and the system there just didn't think that we'd have the support from the people. So, you know, I taught everybody on the back because if it weren't for the support of the people, the freedom community, we would have been switched away and long ago swept under the rough and sadly that's how I see a lot of other guys in this system get treated like they're here as a business it's run like a business they get slapped with you know charges and then they can't fight their charges so they get offered plea deals and then they pee out to their deals and sadly now they got a record and now they're caught in this revolving door because they can't get back into society,

because then society shuns them for having a record, and it might have been stuff that they weren't even guilty of to start with. And then, sadly, the guys that do need to stay in jail, the sex offenders and child molesters and all those, you know, people like that, that they need to stay in jail or the real violent guys, they need to stay in jail and have some means of rehabilitation. But it seems like, no, they're the ones that first round get bail and get released all the time.

So, you know, that's why look. I think God's plan for me is just to help bring this to light. And so I said, it's a big honor to serve them and to serve all you guys out there. It's wonderful. You brought up, you know, with lawyers. I know you can't talk about a whole bunch of it probably. But, you know, like the controversy, you know, I'm. I remember at a point when I was talking to, I'd had granny on and then you'd called and

then I'd had a bunch of different people come on and then it seemed like there was problems with money, problems with lawyers, problems. And I, from where I sat, I was like, I don't know how to make up or down to this, where to go, who to talk to. Could you give me your, your, your thoughts from sitting where you're at on what started to surround, um, the entire process? Like I guess I'm just curious, you know, sitting in there what you thought and what you can tell us. I was under the assumption, you know, just by talking to other guys, if you have a paid lawyer, you're going to have better results. And because a lot of these guys are on legal aid, they can't afford a lawyer, so they got legal aid. Whereas my situation, I had really had to sell the remaining part of my construction.

up me and spent just with one loader loan, $561,000. So that's the number there. And when I tell people this and show them the invoicing and show them what I've been billed for and they look and they, well, what did you get out of it? I'm like, oh, that's my question right there. Like, what do I got out of it? Nothing. Like, how many applications were filed?

Well, maybe one or two, maybe three, I think. think, but like, really? And that seems bizarre. It just seemed like almost that it was like a setup. Like there was collusion. Like the defense lawyers don't even have your best interest because they want to either, they know that the situation,

they would just argue, if they just argue it properly and let's start talking about the elephant in the room instead of circumventing the main topics of our case, like it seems he was doing, it just seemed like a wild goose chase, witch hunt. If we would have just got to the bottom of things right off the bat, like last June, this would have been well over a long time ago and with way less cost, but it just felt like, oh,

I turned almost became like a golden goose for them, where they can just go, well, maybe we'll just melt this guy and keep them stringing along for as long as we can and get them to plead out to something. You know, it's what it seems like. It just didn't even feel like they were, had my best interest at heart, and I kept saying, I said, well, it's not just my best interest. Like, I'm here on behalf of 40 million Canadians

to have the rights to knowing that the justice system is fair and legal and represented by righteous people, not just, you know, treating it as a business and as a cash towel, a cash grab. And that's totally what I feel it has been. It's been exactly that. And so it's, you know, compared to other stories that I've heard from other guys, no one's has ever experienced what I'm going through as well. So, you know, it seems really odd.

And guys that have told me, you know, they, they, know another inmates that have been on actual first-degree murder charges where, you know, they've gone to court for one-third price of where I'm at and got their cases dealt with. So it's just like, well, how come I'm way, way, way over what the normal is? And in my case, there's nobody's been hurt or harm. So, you know, inflammatory comments and stuff taken grossly out of context. and presented by an ideological system. Just that's it.

You know, and like, that's not even a crime. So why am I spending all this kind of money to prove this? Like, let's just get the evidence out there and talk about it. But those previous lawyers didn't want to touch it. So it seemed like, well, it seemed like they're protecting the very system that they work for because they didn't want to rock the boat, so to say. who do you have uh who do you have representing you now tony i have miss maryland burns and uh she's a wonderful lady wonderful lawyer and and she's on the same page as all of us are uh in the mindset so of what's

going on whereas the other lawyers were not you know they were all uh vaguely uh you know support kind of a not-so, you know, they don't maybe necessarily let the federal government. So they said, but they almost seem that, you know, the protester, the Freedom Convoy was a little too much over the top. And I should have took that as the first red flags right there, of them saying those kind of comments because it just proves that, you know, they're not on the right side of things. When you first walked into remand, I assume, you know, like some inmates, they wouldn't know who you were. Obviously, you didn't have a criminal record. You know, the guards, the cops, I don't know what the proper terminology is, but regardless, the people running the prison or the

remand center would have looked at you in a certain light. From day one to day 800, and I know you've bounce to a few different places, I assume they have to have started treating you differently, or am I wrong in thinking that? Like at some point, their eyes have to start seeing something is really off here, or am I wrong? Oh, you're 100% right. And he even started Sean right off the bat, because the first, first garden that I met was actually at Coots. Well, Milk River, I can't remember. One of the two, he said. And to this day that I run into him, he's always still, you know, very friendly, very, you know, keep your head up, stay in there, hang in there. He's always positive, very nice guy.

But I found for the most part, the majority of them are all, like, have seen it right off the bat that we shouldn't be here. And I remember this one time one of the directors took Carbert and I aside after, I think, three months about being here, and they were completely changed of tone. Like, at the beginning, they thought, they're like, oh, we were under the assumption that we were going to have to put you guys in, like, a separate unit all to yourselves, because we were worried you were going to build a giant gang and get everyone rioting into jail and be some kind of menace to society, but then when we see you guys are running a Bible study on the unit

And, you know, the violence, the fighting on the U-Q had dropped substantially. It was more of a peaceful unit compared to normally. They completely changed their tone. And they pulled us aside and they sat down with us and said that to us. And they were almost like shocked and blown away. And then they realized at that point they're like, yeah, you guys shouldn't be here. You guys don't fit the, you know, the MO or you don't fit the profile of some kind of national threat to secure. of the entire country where the

Emergency Act had to be implemented. You don't fit that protocol. Yeah, it's, well, it doesn't surprise me hearing that. You know, it's probably more surprising that there's no way for that to get more wind in the sale of getting you out, you know, like you just realize the system, you know, like what you're up against.

Yeah, I don't know how much I honestly have to offer to that, Tony. I just wanted to, you know, because I hear your story. I listen to it and I go, like, how can people sit there and watch us not go? Something's really off. And you're basically explaining that. When you woke up and heard that Chris Lysick and Jerry Moran had pleaded out, you know, like, I assume that came as a shock to you, but could you walk us through that? Because, I mean, like, that was, that was huge news. And I know that, uh, uh, uh, uh, certainly the things they pled out to and a bunch of different things,

there was a lot of news covered of that. But I think, you know, the major headline that went, they went across the world was they played a guilty and that's all people read. You know, when you're sitting where you're sitting,

what were your initial thoughts? And then, you know, maybe just expand on that a little bit. Well, I was actually relieved and kind of ecstatic about it. I thought, wow, to me, the first thing that came to mind was when I found out that the crown had dropped all the incredible original charges. And like I mentioned earlier, and charged them with, got them to plea to something

literally minor that wouldn't have even allotted to jail time just for the sense of getting a guilty plea. I just, to me, I thought, okay, that just truly exposed the cracks in the system saying one day, the day before, that these guys were so dangerous that you had to keep them locked up, denying them bail and cannon. Yet you give everyone else bail who's committed atrocities and repeat offenders and everything like this, you give them bail. But then the next day, that's completely just blown away, swept away, and these guys are free to walk out of the door, problem just as long as they plead guilty to something. I think that was more or less a desperation attempt by the Crown to get guilty police out of them because at the point in trial that we were headed, it was really going to expose a ton of evidence that needed to come out and the Crown didn't

want that to be made public. So that's why they offered those guys those deals. And And I do feel that, you know, those guys, those guys' mental health, I think it's suffered a little bit more in jail than Chris Carver and I. And it goes back to, I think, you know, Chris and I are the two Christian background foundationally supported guys. So I think that has made a huge difference on our mental health. again that's why like I re-edered earlier I just hope the people

keep continuing to support Chris Lolli-Sack and Jerry Warren and you know show them guys love they're good guys in my heart they're not guilty of anything I think they were

taken advantage of and offered that as pretty much a carrot on a stick to get out of jail And so that's why they took those deals is what they did. But I truly feel, yeah, they're not guilty of anything. And they have big hearts for people and for the greater good of society. You know, I'm watching the clock and I'm going to ask a question.

I'll probably get booted off. But, you know, he said something there, mental health and Christianity. And it's been my experience with Christianity and Christianity. and reading the Bible and praying that my mental health has drastically improved. Is that something, like, I know you kind of let in that by the time you were going in there, you were, you know, I think surrounded by Christians. Is it something that's developed? Of course, I got one minute remaining for the answer, and I assume we'll just, we'll cut it off and start again,

but is, you know, stepping into the remand, was that something that was at the forefront of your brain, you know, prayer and reading the Bible and different things like that, or is that something that's grown since you've been in there? I started prior to, but it never had the time and made the time. I was always just, you know, busy, busy, busy. But then coming to the remand was what really has given me the time to indulge and spend with the Bible and with others.

and so I really then found my way with Christ while being in here to truly understand it and it just made total sense. It just painted it out exactly to what it needed to be and so to me I felt like I, some people said it takes some people 20 years. Okay, so you cut out at some people it takes 20 years and I guess one of the things you say, you'd never made time. And I was probably not the right thing to do, but I was chuckling on this side because I'm like, well, you got plenty of time in 800 days to dig into some of your thoughts. And isn't, you know, if there is, you know, I guess, I don't know, a blessing out of this entire situation, which I think I hear out of you, you know, honestly, is that you got the time and you got the opportunity to

to really dig into it. And so I guess if, you know, if I'm, well, I guess my curiosity goes, you know, what was it that you read or what was the moment, if you had a moment, that you're like, something just clicked. And you went, holy crap, I can't believe I haven't read this or I can't believe I've never done this before. Yeah, I think going back to the point that I took the time and had the time, yes, I really, I almost feel, that's what I said, this is meant to happen because it's, it saved me spiritually. So I would have never took the time, I believe, to get to where I'm at if it weren't

for coming to jail. So that's why it felt like God works in mysterious ways. And, you know, to come to jail to be able to then be saved seems bizarre to say, but I can truly attest to that. And I just, I just feel just, you know, reading parts of the scripture that explain how, how, you know, how things have happened before, and it's basically going through the same kind of timeline just now in a different time compared to what it happened. And all the parable stories,

there's so much in there that I can really relate to, and I think a lot of people can once they just think about it. And so it's really intriguing that way to me, And I just, I truly feel that it brings a sense of hope and a sense of connection that, you know, you have nothing to fear. You know, it's the whole point of the system is just to try to install fear in everybody where, you know, the Bible takes the exact opposite of that. Love isn't supposed to fear where we have a soul that's filled with love and power, not a fear. and lie. So I think there's so much to that that I just want to share with people and I hope my testimony and my being here and hearing, you know, from my voice or being here in 800 days

where, you know, it's uplifting and I hope it continues to inspire others to stand up and and live in love without fear. And so I think you can hear that from my voice and just my uh my sense that uh you know a lot of this is this this remand is designed to break people and break your spirits and uh destroy your your your free will where it's into me it's given me a place to become stronger and spiritually stronger mentally stronger and uh i mean i can't test more that i and i can't say how every day it just continues to grow more more and more. I think that's, you know, that's honestly on this side, it's really cool to hear. And I know we're running short on time. So I guess, you know, Granny had sent me a text basically

talking about people sending you letters and the community trying to support you. I'd seen what you'd sent back with some scripture and the importance of community. I guess, you know, my final question before I let you, not get, it sounds terrible, give on with your day. but, you know, I just know we have a short period of time is how important has the community been to you with, you know, you mentioned them showing up with flags. I know you mentioned Tamara Leach showing up and talking to you, letters, you know, granny herself. I'm sure there's others that I'm just don't even know about or even have time to mention. How important has the community been to you? Oh, without the community, it would be a lost cause.

And so I feel with the amount of letters that have come in, the stories I've heard, I wrote a lot of, I responded to a lot of letters and wrote back to people. I've taken a little hiatus break from that recently and doing some beadwork and building necklaces and stuff like that, just to change it up a little bit. But I do feel the support out there has grown more and more. and the people that I've met through Grinney's page. Really has bloomed to the point of meeting a gentleman named Gordon McGill from the States, who's been an avid spokesperson on our behalf in the United States telling our story, and which he then got into the Tucker Carlson show and Elon Musk tweeting about it. And so it's just grown.

And for me, living in an echo chamber here behind these walls, I mean, how could that been possible? It wouldn't have been without the supportive community. And all, starting from Granny, Margaret McCoy, like, you know, she's the one that was running towards the fire while everyone else was running away at the beginning, hearing those words of conspiracy to murder. And like people don't, you know, as much as we criticize the mainstream media, there's the media putting it out there and people are believing it.

or I'm just thinking that it was real or whatever, where she's seen past that. And thankfully, because, you know, she's been our guardian angel from day one. And then so, you know, and then Nikki Tom, my good friend and Danielle Sletti as well, they've been avidly out there pounding the pavement in our support of all the men and day and day out every single day.

And so, you know, I owe them everything because they are, I'm truly forever grateful for all of them. They're wonderful people and they're wonderful patriots and freedom fighters. So I'm really grateful for all the stories. It's encouraging, hearing, you know, what people have wrote, talking about their journey and what they've experienced. And I've made so many connections with people. I plan one of the plans I have getting out is doing a cross-country tour

and meeting everyone, as many people as I can, and having little freedom gatherings and freedom celebrations and going about it that way, because I think it's just very important that we just continue to build community. That's the number one goal that we need to do is protect each other and look after each other that way, because we don't know the outcome of what this society is going, and sadly, you know, it looks kind of dark, doomed gloom a little bit,

but, you know, with community together, we can get past any hurdle thrown at us. We just need to continue to stick together. You know, united we stand, divided, we fall. That's exactly true. Well, when you get out and you do your cross-country tour, you make sure that you mark Lloyd Minster on it, we'll bring in studio.

I'd love nothing more than to shake your hand. And to hear it, you know, to sit and have maybe a different type of chat in studio. But before I let you out of here, is there any final thoughts you have for, for anyone tuning in. I would just like to, again, thank everybody for the support. Keep standing up, you know, on acts, attacks, protests that are going around,

stand up for the children, especially the children, because we've got to leave them something, a society that's free and incumbent of any tyranny. So I just continue to tell people to reach out and know that even some of the people that you think might be asleep, they are slowly awakening. So just keep the pressure on, but, you know, look after your mental health, look after yourself, and, you know, continue to pray. Prayers powerful, and we just need to keep doing that for each other and supporting each other as much ways as possible.

I think it's the only way to really make good change and start, you know, get involved with your local politics, local city council meetings, attend. nose and be a voice. You know, that's how we're going to start. We've got to start in our own backyard and clean up our own little areas first. And from there, it'll bloom and grow. And it'll be right across the country before we know it. Well, and I might point out, I might point out one, you'd probably have a couple of thoughts

on this, but, you know, you mentioned, we always mentioned local politics, school boards, different things like that. I'd point out getting involved in your churches. You know, when you listen to your story, how important. The guards testimony to you is that, you know, they came in, they thought you're going to be unruly, and you created a Bible study, and pretty soon everything calms right down. I think that's an important message for everyone to hear, and it isn't just politics that needs more people in it. There's the spiritual aspect of this as well, and I think you're proving that out every day. And like, as I listen to this, I think it's important to reiterate that.

Correct on that, Sean. I agree 100% with you, but I do to go actually right now. Hey, yeah, thanks for giving us all the time, Tony. Yes, absolutely. God bless. Okay, by now. Well, folks, that was Tony Olenek. You know, when I got up this morning and I was thinking about, you know, what kind of lost for words.

When I got up this morning, you know, and I do this full time, and everybody knows that, but I, sorry, I'm, I don't normally meander with my thoughts, but, you know, I think it's really important. Like, I woke up this morning and I went, you know, everyone's, oh, who do you got today? I'm like, well, I got a guy who's been sitting in remand for 800 days? and, you know, we're supposedly the freest province in all of Canada. And yet you've just heard Tony's story. And, you know, we can get into the argument over or whether he's guilty of mischief or not, you know, and on and on and on. But I mean, at this point, he's like 800 days in. We're over two years. And, you know, I've done surreal conversations in my life.

But listen to him talk and be at peace with where he's sitting at. while he's sitting in a jail cell is honestly quite moving. I don't know how better to say it. Not to put him to be, I don't even know how to expand on that. Other than, you know, I always wanted to, I've always wanted to interview Muhammad Ali or maybe Gandhi, heck Jesus, you know. And all these guys were persecuted for their beliefs. and, you know, and they all paid a price for their beliefs. And I'm, you know, like, what would that be like to sit and listen to and get to ask questions?

Well, here's Tony. He's been in jail 800 plus days by the time you listen to this. And I go, he's a peace with it, you know? And he has had, oh man, just so much in that story. And I think wherever you're listening at this, if you think people should hear it, share it. You know, I don't see that a whole lot on the podcast because I trust you. When you know something needs to be heard, when I interview somebody that, you know,

really strikes a court or you know if somebody needs to be here, needs to hear it. But I think this one needs the prompt of like, here's one of the Coots 4. Now the Coots 2 and they're still sitting there 800 days in. this needs to be heard by every alberton heck every canadian this is uh this is probably one of the biggest stories of our lifetime sitting and unfolding right in front of us and and uh there they sit so i appreciate tony for giving us all the time in uh the world and and hopefully you know it's it's it's coming off of phone folks so it's a little different than than the uh the average interview in saying all that, it might be one of the more important ones I've ever done.

So thanks to Tony and for Granny putting that together. And I hope wherever you're at, you're having a great day. You can lend support by writing letters or pushing on our government, the system that be. That's all I got for you today. So thanks for tuning in.