Derek Reimer, a pastor of Mission 7 Ministries, was charged after a number of individuals shouted homophobic slurs at youngsters and oldsters.
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Calgary police have charged a neighborhood pastor with a hate crime after an incident on the Seton Library drag occasion final week.
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Officers attended the Seton Library round 11:15 a.m. on Feb. 25 to examine on a deliberate protest towards the library’s Studying with Royalty drag occasion. Officers have been referred to as to a library classroom for stories that a number of individuals had “aggressively” entered the classroom and yelled homophobic and transphobic slurs on the youngsters and oldsters, Calgary police stated in a information launch Friday.
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“They scared the youngsters whereas inflicting a disturbance after which refused to go away,” the police stated.
Two of the bystanders helped library employees take away the people from the classroom whereas they waited for the police to reach. The protesters have been faraway from the library by police, whereas officers remained there to watch public security and acquire further proof.
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After an investigation, Calgary police charged Derek Scott Reimer, 36, of Calgary in reference to what they termed a hate crime. He faces one rely of inflicting a disturbance and one rely of mischief.
The Metropolis of Calgary introduced Friday that metropolis peace officers have additionally charged Reimer with six counts of harassment beneath the Public Conduct Bylaw.
The fees have been issued on a prolonged summons and every violation carries a high quality of as much as $10,000 and, in default, as much as six months in jail, town stated in a information launch.
Final spring, town council permitted amendments to the ordinance to ban abusive conduct towards anybody due to age, race, sexual orientation, incapacity, gender identification or gender expression.
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“These amendments have been created as a transparent message that Calgary is a spot the place everybody ought to really feel welcome and secure, and free from harassment,” stated Ryan Pleckaitis, Chief of Neighborhood Requirements for the Metropolis of Calgary.
The ordinance applies to all public areas within the metropolis, together with the library the place this incident befell.
Reimer is a pastor at Mission 7 Ministries. He was resulting from seem in court docket on Friday morning.
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“Hate-motivated crimes are cognizable crimes, similar to assault, theft, vandalism or some other crime, the place the offender is motivated by bias, prejudice or hatred primarily based on the private traits of the sufferer,” Calgary police stated.
Police marking an incident as hate-motivated doesn’t result in further fees, however the proof is taken into account by the courts after an individual has been discovered responsible.
“If the decide decides throughout sentencing that hatred was a motivation for the offence, that is an aggravating issue that may contribute to the convict’s sentence,” the police stated.
Investigators are asking anybody with details about the incident to contact CPS’s non-emergency line at 403-266-1234 or submit suggestions anonymously by way of Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or calgarycrimestoppers.org.
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