However, these two women were actually undercover police officers. The next day, the RCMP released a rare “imminent harm” wiretap, which is allowed to be carried out without a judge’s signature when there is an immediate threat to safety. Blockades and protests at the Coutts border crossing in southern Alberta began on January 29 and ended after pre-dawn warrants on trailers and property were executed on February 14, leading to the seizure of more than a dozen firearms, as well as ammunition, by the RCMP and body armor. Following the investigations, 14 people were charged criminally, with four men — Jerry Morin, 41. Chris Lysak, 48; Chris Carbert, 45; and Anthony Olienick, 40 — face the most serious offence: conspiracy to kill RCMP officers. The four men also face weapons and assault charges. In addition, Olienick faces a charge related to his alleged possession of a pipe bomb that police say they seized from his rural property in Willow Creek Township outside of Claresholm, south of Calgary. These new details are revealed in search warrant applications, also known as ITOs, which outline the two main investigative tactics – undercover operation and wiretapping – used to justify charges, raids and further investigations. Four ITOs were unsealed and filed in Lethbridge District Court on Tuesday following a legal challenge by a group of news organizations, including the CBC, Global, CTV, Globe and Mail, Postmedia and the New York Times. Although the documents were unsealed, redactions and a temporary publication ban prevented many of the details from being reported – notably information gleaned from wiretaps, the four defendants’ statements to police and inflammatory statements to undercover officers. The media consortium will hold a full hearing on September 29 to determine whether the publication ban will be lifted for the remaining formalities.
Police claim the weapons will be shipped in a hockey bag
The unsealed documents show that when they were filed, the RCMP believed Olienick, Carbert and Morin were part of a sub-group of protesters who were “gearing up for a standoff against the police.” Police believed three of the four men facing charges of conspiracy to murder knew each other and made plans before the Coutts border blockade, according to the documents. On February 11, two female undercover officers — referred to in the document as “UC Britt” and “UC Tiff” — posed as protesters and befriended Olienick and Carbert at a Coutts bar called Smuggler’s Saloon. The two officers reported witnessing the planning of a suspected weapons shipment in a hockey bag that night, according to undercover officers’ notes. The documents state that Carbert then asked Olienick if he “preferred to use guitar cases like they usually did,” but “Olienick said the package was too big and they needed a hockey bag.” The plan was to meet Morin at a checkpoint along the train tracks near the protest site, where he would deliver a “heavy” delivery. The documents detail a conflict over whether undercover officers would help. Carbert felt the hockey bag would be too heavy for women to lift, but Olienick thought it made a perfect cover. “Olienick thought the police wouldn’t think much of it if UC Tiff and UC Britt brought the bag because they were ‘girls,’” says one of the ITOs.
Cops ordered to leave suspected ‘weapons exchange’
When undercover officers told the men they were “fine with guns,” the document says neither Carbert nor Olienick denied the bag contained firearms. Although the undercover officers arrived at the checkpoint with Olienick, Carbert and Morin, their supervisor told them to leave and not engage in what they believed was going to be an “exchange of weapons,” the records say, so they did not see the hockey bag . Based on the observations of undercover officers, RCMP “[believed] Morin provided firearms to Olienik and Carbert with the intention of using those firearms to shoot and kill police officers.” Left to right: Chris Carbert, 44; Anthony Olienick, 39; Jerry Morin, 40; and Christopher Lysak, 48. They are each charged with conspiracy to kill RCMP officers near Coutts, Alta., during the border blockade and protests earlier this year. (Carbert/Facebook, Coutts Convoy Restart/Facebook, Morin/Facebook, Instagram) The situation in Coutts was escalating in the lead up to the Valentine’s Day police raids. The day after the hockey bag was handed over, the RCMP launched an imminent harm wiretapping, meaning they could wiretap suspects without the normally required court authorization because they believed their officers were in danger. But under the heading “Imminent Interception of Damage to Private Communication” in one of the ITOs, 54 paragraphs and sub-paragraphs have been blacked out with corrections.
“Arming for confrontation”
The four ITOs released contain very little information about the fourth man, Lysak. There is a fifth ITO, which prosecutors successfully argued should remain sealed because it relates to an ongoing investigation. Social media posts have linked two of the men to a network called Diagolon, an American-style militia movement born in white supremacist Nova Scotia. Members of the network want to establish a white nationalist state through violence, according to extremism experts. Social media accounts belonging to Carbert and Lysak link the pair to Diagolon, including a photo of Lysak posing with the group’s founder, Jeremy MacKenzie. Two Diagolon patches were found in body armor seized during the execution of RCMP search warrants in Coutts on February 14. That cache of firearms, body armor and ammunition was found in three trailers near the Canada-US border blockade, police say. (Submitted by Alberta RCMP) The main searches were conducted in a trailer on Joanne Person’s property, halfway between the Smuggler’s Saloon in Coutts and the protest site. The person, who faces less serious charges related to the blockade, was hosting several of the protesters, including Olienick, Carbert and two other men who were not identified in the documents. During the search, a handgun registered to Lysak was seized from Person’s possession.
Men involved in sophisticated security team
By the second week of February, the RCMP had identified a sophisticated security group that reportedly included Olienick, Morin and Carbert. Olienick watched multiple live surveillance feeds showing the movements of RCMP officers within the protest area and at various checkpoints, undercover officers noted. Those officers found body armor, a laminated map and the live video feed in Olienick’s truck, prompting police to comment on “the complexity of the security role,” according to the ITOs. RCMP are seen policing the Coutts, Alta border protests on February 9. (Nassima Way/CBC) Olienick, who was communicating with the protest leadership through an intermediary, told undercover officers that the protesters had “access to hundreds of firearms and ammunition inside Coutts,” the court alleges. “I believe that Olienick’s involvement as security in the Coutts blockade involves structure, hierarchy and organization,” the document states. Police also believed they would find “documents and data relating to the planning, organization and security operations of the Coutts blockade protest group” at one of Olienick’s properties. The search warrant application also alleges that Olienick revealed that protesters had brought more semi-tractors and farm equipment to be “blocked by the RCMP for trespassing on city limits.”
“Search by night” raids.
Late on February 13, police arrested Lysak outside the Smuggler’s Saloon and charged him with threatening a police officer. By that time, police had applied to search Person’s property and stated in their application that they wanted to do so at night, when fewer protesters would be present. “I believe there will be a significant risk to the safety of police, the public and protesters in the execution of this search warrant, including protesters attempting to crowd, obstruct and attack police,” the document states. Protesters from the blockade at the border crossing near Coutts, Alta., walk through the Milk River blockade on Highway 4 on February 15 as police watch. (CBC) In the early hours of February 14, officers raided Person’s property with trailers and seized a cache of weapons, including a gun registered to Lysak. Olienick and Carbert were arrested during the raids on the property.
‘This is war’
The morning after the raids, police surveilled Morin’s home and discreetly followed him for nearly an hour and a half before pulling over his truck in Calgary at 12:23 p.m. Police found two guns in his truck, but also sought a search warrant for Morin’s home because, according to the documents, he had disclosed in previous days that he had more firearms than police discovered when he was arrested. Another gun was seized from Morin’s home, according to the ITO. The ITOs also cited social media posts made by some of the defendants, including Morin, who posted a video on Facebook during the protests. In a video titled “Call to Action” posted a day before his arrest, Morin encouraged others to join the protest. “This is war,” Morin said.
Investigators believed the group had more members, weapons
The RCMP investigation into the alleged planned attack continued after the four men were arrested. Police have also asked to search a farm property owned by Olienick near Claresholm. Officers said they believed he had weapons there and “was part of a group talking about using firearms against police.” “The police have not yet identified all…
