A man whose behavior by a judge was considered “a heinous example of hate speech at its worst” says he fled Canada before being arrested in America this week because he was “marked to death” . “
Kevin J. Johnston has previously gone to court for issuing racist remarks directed at a restaurateur in Ontario, and separately for ousting health officials in Alberta over their pandemic restrictions.
On Wednesday, he offered an explanation of his recent actions in a statement written the night before and issued through his attorney.
“Recently, I have been made aware of a Fatwa after I was attacked on Christmas Eve, where I went into hiding to remain safe,” his statement read.
“Being marked for death in my own country was the last straw, that was when I knew I had to travel. … I was hoping for a safe haven in the United States where I could express my views. ”
His statement contained links to his websites, but no further evidence of the threats.
A day earlier, it was expected that Johnston would start serving one 18 months imprisonment sentence for contempt in Ontario, on the heels of ending a 40-day intermittent sentence in Alberta.
Instead, he was arrested after crossing the border into the United States after illegally entering Montana from Saskatchewan, according to authorities.
His journey seems to have been troubled.
April LaJune, a right-wing YouTuber, said in a video made Tuesday that she had been on her way to help an unnamed person who came to the United States with their asylum application.
“When he was going into the United States, he got lost, I mean, lost. I’m talking about, like, really lost,” LaJune says in the video. “We could not find him.”
Fearing for his safety in the icy weather, LaJune said she called the border patrol for help.
Johnston was picked up by border patrol agents near Montana and the North Dakota state line, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.
So, on her YouTube show on Wednesday, LaJune confirmed that it was Johnston she was helping. She said Johnston did not know how to divide his location and that he was ill-prepared to take the trip and left without a flashlight or thermal blanket and other supplies.
“You can not navigate for the stars when it is cloudy,” she had said on Tuesday’s video.
Her version of events has not been confirmed by Johnston.
LaJune did not accept a request to talk about the events, but instead offered Star to come on her show to talk about it, which Star declined.
The charges of contempt against Johnston – who ran for mayor of Calgary last year and in Mississauga in 2014 and 2018 – stem from two separate lawsuits. In one, he was found to have slandered a Mississauga restaurateur with racist online content in what observers described as a landmark decision against hate speech. Another injury case involved statements against Alberta Health Services.
He was due to serve his sentence in Alberta for violating court rulings related to the defamation case there and then report to Ontario, but he did not serve his last weekend in an Alberta jail and an arrest warrant was issued, authorities said.
His lawyer, Ian McCuaig, said Johnston was returned to Canadian authorities and detained by the RCMP in Weyburn, Sask.
McCuaig said his client is likely to return to Calgary to complete his Alberta verdict before heading to Ontario. He may also face additional charges, McCuaig said.
Johnston still has a charge of assault in court in connection with an incident in the parking lot of a Dawson Creek grocery store last year. He said he fled for his own safety.
“I have had to appear in court over 266 times and have served five months in prison for having conservative political views. I have also experienced frequent physical attacks from members of ANTIFA, ”reads the statement.
In 2019, a judge ordered Johnston to stop making defamatory statements about Mohamad Fakih and pay $ 2.5 million in damages. He had not paid at the time of his verdict in October and was continuing to slander Fakih.
In its 2019 summary judgment, Ontario Superior Court Judge Jane E. Ferguson called Johnston’s behavior “a heinous example of hate speech, at its worst, directed at people solely because of their religion.”
Johnston was convicted in Ontario on October 4 and is expected to begin serving his sentence Tuesday.
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