The son of a Canadian pastor drew raucous applause from the European Parliament earlier this month when he pleaded for international pressure in the case of his father, who potentially faces 10 years in prison after delivering a sermon to truckers blocking the U.S.-Canada border last year.
“I am here today in desperation, a cry for help,” Nathaniel Pawlowski, 23, told members of the EU Parliament on July 4. “I would like to stand here and tell you all the things about freedom and democracy that I like, but I no longer know those things.”
“They have been taken away from us Canadians. Canada has fallen.”
Nathaniel Pawlowski was invited to address the EU Parliament in Brussels on behalf of his father, Pastor Artur Pawlowski, who has been continuously entangled with authorities in Calgary, Alberta, since he ejected police and public health officials from his Cave of Adullam church as they attempted to inspect it for COVID-19 compliance during an Easter service in 2021.
Pastor Artur Pawlowski is arrested by Calgary Police in the middle of a highway on his way home from church on May 8, 2021. (Artur Pawlowski)
In the speech, Pawlowski advised truckers against their plan to go to the provincial capital of Edmonton, urging them instead to remain peaceful but not to “break the line” against the government at the border. He was arrested days later and spent 50 nights in two separate prisons, where he alleges he was abused and humiliated by prison authorities who tried in vain to instigate other inmates to hurt him.
Pawlowski remains under house arrest as he awaits another court date on Aug. 9, and also faces a charge pending a constitutional challenge under the provincial Critical Infrastructure Defense Act for allegedly participating in blocking the border crossing, which could carry a sentence of up to 10 years.
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Pastor Derek Reimer was arrested and charged earlier this year with one count of breaching a release order that prohibited him from being within 200 meters of events involving the LGBTQ community when he protests drag queen story time with children at a public library. (Courtesy Nathaniel Pawlowski)
“I myself have been charged for preaching and reading the Bible publicly because the government claims the Bible isn’t inclusive and is hateful,” Nathaniel Pawlowski told the parliament. “This is what the Canadian government is doing to us.”
Likening Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to “a modern-day Caligula,” Pawlowski continued, “We cannot allow these mad emperors to run mad. And remember, all of this is being done under the guise of health, safety and protecting us by stripping our rights and ushering in tyranny.”
Artur Pawlowski told Fox News Digital at the time that authorities confiscated and snooped his luggage, and that there was evidence his personal laptop had been accessed.
Nathaniel Pawlowski said he was briefly detained at the airport in Montreal, noting that he went on a media blitz during his 10-hour layover about his predicament. He was later released and told his charges were related to an alleged municipal violation.
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“I stood for my rights,” Pawlowski said. “Now my son is standing for his rights, and they’re not satisfied with hurting the father. Now they want to hurt my children, my family, my wife. They are coming after our children, and those are the tactics of every totalitarian regime. The Gestapo did it. The KGB did it. Every totalitarian regime, every dictatorship has this playbook.”
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“They are monsters — sick, evil, wicked people,” he added. “And if I could deliver a message to them, I would simply say that one day they will stand before the Judge of judges who does not take bribes, and they will give an account for every word that they said and everything they have done. One day justice will be served.”