Pastor outraged after friend jailed for refusing to apologize over drag queen story hour protest: 'Minions of Satan'
A Canadian pastor expressed outrage to The Christian Post regarding a fellow pastor who was arrested this week for not apologizing for protesting drag queen story hours with children at a public library two years ago.
"These people are sick in the head. They're demon-possessed. They're wicked, evil minions of Satan," Pastor Artur Pawlowski told CP on Friday from a court in Calgary, Alberta, where he was showing support for his friend, Pastor Derek Reimer, as he faced a bail hearing.
Reimer was arrested in Calgary on Wednesday after he refused a court order to write and sign an apology to the library manager of Calgary Public Library regarding his 2023 protest at a "Reading with Royalty" event, which featured male drag queens reading to children, according to the Western Standard. Reimer told the Canadian outlet that he felt he had nothing to apologize for.
Reimer was arrested multiple times in 2023 and spent Easter weekend of that year behind bars because of his protests, which prompted widespread attention and condemnation from figures such as Samaritan's Purse CEO Franklin Graham. He was accused at the time of violating a municipal bylaw passed that year prohibiting protests within 100 meters of a recreation facility or library entrance.
The Calgary Police Service confirmed to CP that Reimer was in custody after being arrested Wednesday "for probation issued warrants for breach of a Conditional Sentence Order from a criminal harassment charge."
Footage of Reimer's arrest went viral on social media, showing him asking officers if they were "the feelings police" before they handcuffed him.
????BREAKING: Pastor Derek Reimer is arrested in Canada after refusing court-ordered apology.
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) December 4, 2025
“Do you know why you are arresting this man? He refused to apologize for his religious beliefs…”
Free speech is under attack in Canada.
pic.twitter.com/ySIihPyX80
Pawlowski, who made headlines himself when he was repeatedly arrested during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns for keeping his church open in defiance of a court order, said Reimer's treatment is a continuation of what he experienced from Canadian authorities.
He accused them of trying to instill fear in others who might dare to stand up against wickedness from the government.
"I was the canary in the coal mine, and that's why I was so vocal," said Pawlowski, who has alleged he was abused by prison authorities, shoved in a small cage and placed in a psychiatric ward when he was jailed for 51 days in 2022 after delivering a sermon to truckers blocking the U.S.-Canada border in protest of federal vaccine mandates.
"I was yelling and screaming, 'Listen, they're doing this to me. Be sure of it: they're going to come after you, as well.'"
Pawlowski, who expressed defiance when he was ordered by a provincial judge in 2021 to recite a script parroting the prevailing opinion of medical "experts" whenever he spoke of COVID-19 and vaccines, said the apology demanded from Reimer by the court is another example of compelled speech in Canada.
Pawlowski noted the issue has become pervasive in Canada and highlighted Bill C-9, which would remove a religious exemption from the country's hate speech law. Christian groups have warned the legislation will pave the way for prosecutions of biblical teachings on marriage, gender and sexuality.
"Bill C-9 criminalizes the Bible ... especially the portion of the Bible that references sexual perversion and homosexuality, and Derek Reimer is another one that they're using as an example to scare others," he said.
Pawlowski also placed Reimer's situation in the wider context of what he described as a push throughout the Western world for sexual immorality and debauching children, which he said is overly demonic and echoes the tactics of the Soviet regime he grew up under in communist Poland.
"Those who control the young people control what is going to happen in 10, 15, 20 years," he said, citing a quote often attributed to Adolf Hitler that "he alone who owns the youth, gains the future."
"The globalists are pushing this agenda globally, and that's why you see this all over the Western world, because it's an agenda. These people are forwarding a sick, demonic, from-the-pit-of-hell agenda," he said.
Pawlowski asserted that figures like Reimer are a threat to such plans, and that those intent on implementing them are frightened of such people.
"The worst thing for those tyrants — wannabe pharaohs, as I call them — is exposure," he said. "If you keep your mouth shut, you're OK. The moment you expose them, suddenly they're terrified. They're afraid, because truth sets the captives free. It's all about the truth."
"They hate the truth. And who hates the truth? Who calls the truth hate? Those who hate the truth. To them, it's hateful."
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
