PDF version: Street Preaching and the Charter: The City of Calgary’s Appeal in Pawlowski
Case commented on: R. v. Pawlowski, 2011 ABQB 93
Artur Pawlowski, Calgary’s self-professed street preacher, was acquitted of a number of provincial and by-law charges related to his preaching and other activities in December 2009. Judge Allan Fradsham of the Alberta Provincial Court found that the charges violated several of Pawlowski’s Charter rights, and could not be justified under s. 1 of the Charter (2009 ABPC 362). I argued that Justice Fradsham’s ruling may have been overly expansive in its approach to the Charter (see here). The City appealed the ruling in relation to the bylaw charges, and had some success at the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench. However, the decision of Justice R.J. Hall on appeal raises some analytical questions that I will discuss towards the end of this post.