Calgary Pastor Derek Reimer, may be going to jail after refusing to comply with one of his court orders.Reimer, who is currently under a year-long house arrest sentence, which ends next month, appeared in court on Wednesday to discuss the conditions of his sentence.The Pastor first appeared in court after a 2023 incident at a Calgary Public Library in Saddletowne, where the library was hosting a "Reading with Royalty" event, where adults dressed in drag read stories to children.Reimer asked the library manager, Shannon Slater, why the library was hosting the event, which often discusses sexual content with children, like their sexual identity.Slater declined to answer Reimer and asked him to leave — which Reimer did, adding that he'd come back to protest..Reimer then published the interaction with Slater on his social media — encouraging others to voice their disapproval of these events at a public library. Reimer has a court order to write an apology letter to Slater, which, if he doesn't write and submit it by Friday, could mean he will be back in custody. Speaking with the Western Standard, Reimer said, "To to be sorry, you have to admit fault, that you're wrong.""You made a mistake."."That's obviously what an apology is.""I was appearing for my work restrictions [in court], which I was granted a variation. ""And then afterwards, it was about the apology letter, where I went to the definition of apology.""I went into my freedom of conscience and a thorough study and my understanding of it, mixed with freedom of expression and religion, it explained and constituted that you have to express to the court your deeply held religious views of why this is a violation of your conscience and why you can't do it," stated Reimer..He also stated in court on Wednesday, Justice Karen Molle refused to listen to Reimer during his time for submissions, walking out and later ruling them irrelevant during his application."It was my time to present my submissions, and again, I need to prove to the court my deeply held religious views," recounted Reimer"I just explained that earlier with the freedom of conscience that whole presentation, and so I didn't adhere to her interruption, she was interrupting me many times, even before I started preaching, she didn't want to hear me.""I kept going, and she got up and left her own courtroom, and the whole gallery of supporters erupted into applause. "."About three dozen of my supporters, and it was just a total circus in there.""It was an embarrassment to a judicial system that wants respect and honor, but they act like this, so unprofessional."Reimer told the judge that his own probation officer, Santander Parmer, wrote in Reimer's case one of the goals he in working with Reimer was to "break down his [Reimer's] traditional thoughts about the LGBTQ community."That's when Reimer says Justice Molle called his evidence "irrelevant."."You've given him [Parmer] the power of how I'm supposed to write the apology, and because he is pro-LGBTQ because he has pride flags all throughout his building and his probation building in office — that's a massive conflict of interest," stated Reimer."I will not apologize based on a fabricated narrative the Judge has made up based-off her discretion that I intimidated the librarian." "The librarian never used the word 'intimidated.'""I've read the transcripts three or four times since receiving them before court on Tuesday to make sure I knew what happened exactly in court one to two years ago.""She said that she felt anxious, upset and threatened, because she interpreted me referring to the program as 'pervert grooming sessions.'"."She interpreted it as though I called her a pedophile protector.""My lawyer came up and said, 'Well, you had mentioned this three times, and basically I never said the word 'pedophile' once, ever.'""She interpreted it as me calling her a pedophile protector — therefore, she was upset, and she was worried about reputational harm, about a lie that was going to be spread based on what I said," stated Reimer.
