Skip to content

New charges against 2 people in Alberta border blockade

The new charges are in addition to those already laid against 13 people
28507502_web1_20220316170348-62325b659d609fc244054709jpeg
A blockade set up by protesters against vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions is seen on the highway at the busy U.S. border crossing near Coutts, Alta., on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. RCMP have laid additional charges against two people related to the blockade. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

RCMP say they have laid additional charges related to an almost three-week protest at Alberta’s main U.S. border crossing at Coutts.

Joanne Person, who is 62 and from Coutts, had already been charged with mischief and possession of a weapon.

She now faces an additional count of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.

A pickup truck drove through the blockade on Feb. 1 and headed toward oncoming traffic before becoming part of a head-on collision.

Mounties have also charged James Edward Sowery, 36 and from Flagstaff County, with assault with a weapon and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle after a large commercial vehicle drove at officers who had to run out of the way to avoid being hit.

The new charges are in addition to those already laid against 13 people after police found a cache of long guns, handguns, body armour, large amounts of ammunition and high-capacity magazines in three trailers on Feb. 14.

Person and Sowery are to appear in court March 28.

The Canadian Press