Image Credit: @ArturPawlowski1 / X screenshot 
CALGARY, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) — Canadian pastor Derek Reimer has been released from jail but banned from using social media after he spoke out against a “drag queen story hour” for children.
On December 9, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench released Reimer from jail with strict conditions, including that he not use social media use and not preach against attending LGBT events.
“Pastor Derek is not allowed to use any form of social media,” pro-freedom pastor Artur Pawlowski, who was present at Reimer’s arrest, posted on X.
“The ruling that the judge gave at Pastor Derek’s Bail Hearing on Tuesday was so vague that no one, including Derek’s lawyer, had any idea the stipulations of Pastor Derek’s conditions,” he continued. “This is done on purpose, so it will be easier to try to trap him in a breach and arrest him.”
“The judge mentioned multiple times that Derek’s speech about the [so-called] transgender and LGBTQ community was ‘hate speech,’” Pawlowski revealed.
According to Rebel News, the release conditions also included no contact with any participant in “Reading With Royalty” events or any LGBT event without written permission from his probation officer.
Reimer is also continuing to serve out his one-year house arrest and two-year probation for protesting a “drag queen story hour” event targeting kids at Calgary’s Saddletown Library in the spring of 2023. Government lawyers had been seeking to sentence Reimer to jail time for his protest against the LGBT agenda.
On December 3, Reimer was arrested for refusing to comply with a court order mandating that he pen a formal apology to the Calgary Public Library manager, who he criticized for promoting the “drag queen story hour” for children.
Reimer told LifeSiteNews at the time of his house arrest sentencing that his trust in the Lord was keeping him strong despite the conditions placed upon him.
He also informed LifeSiteNews that he is only allowed to leave his house with the approval of his probation officer but noted that, when it comes to preaching, “God comes first.”
Reimer has asked Shannon Slater, who was the library manager, why the library was hosting such an event. After Slater did not answer, she told Reimer to leave, and he did.
However, Reimer had published his interaction with Slater on social media. He was ordered to write an apology letter to Slater. Reimer told local media that he would not submit the letter, since, for one to be “sorry,” one has to “admit fault” that “you’re wrong.”
He noted how this is admitting one made a “mistake” and that is what an “apology is.”
Reimer also noted how he told the court he went “into my freedom of conscience and a thorough study and my understanding of it, mixed with freedom of expression and religion,” and that “it explained and constituted that you have to express to the court your deeply held religious views of why this is a violation of your conscience and why you can’t do it.”
A next hearing is scheduled for early 2026 on the breach charges, with potential for up to two years in prison if convicted.
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