A Coutts border protester who made headlines last month when he was implicated in his friend’s conditional release has been charged by the Alberta RCMP.
Marco Van Huigenbos told True North he’s been charged with mischief over $5,000 stemming from his involvement with the Coutts border blockade.
In late August, Van Huigenbos’ close friend and fellow Coutts border protester Alex Van Herk was detained by the RCMP. Officers attempted to get Van Herk to sign a conditional release saying he would end contact with Van Huigenbos.
The condition was dropped after hundreds of people showed up to the RCMP detachment to protest Van Herk’s detainment.
But Van Huigenbos said he knew the RCMP were coming for him when his name appeared under his friend’s conditional release. He reached out to the Alberta RCMP shortly after, he said.
Van Huigenbos said he was concerned the RCMP would place more conditions on him but with “more strategy” after seeing how things went for his friend.
“There was definitely some concern there that they would double down on it, but thankfully they realized that there is no real reason for this condition,” he told True North.
Van Huigenbos said he’s been speaking with his friend since they left Coutts and he isn’t sure how ending communication would change things now.
There were no surprises waiting when he went to be charged on Monday.
“It all went exactly as communicated,” Van Huigenbos said, noting there was no condition to end contact with Van Herk.
“In my mind, that was a small win,” he said.
When Van Herk turned himself into the RCMP detachment in Fort MacLeod last month, officers told his family he would be home by dinner, but the detainment stretched into the evening as officers sought the conditional release measures that previously communicated.
Van Huigenbos said the RCMP “lied” to Van Herk and created a situation that didn’t need to happen — that hundreds of protesters showed up to the detachment to protest for Van Herk’s release.
An RCMP officer confirmed to True North that “further charges have been pursued for Coutts.” An official release will be released Friday morning, the RCMP said.
Van Huigenbos now shares an October 4 court date in Lethbridge with Van Herk.
