By Canadian Press

‘Hill he’s prepared to die on’: Second undercover officer at Coutts conspiracy trial

Jun 14, 2024 | 1:22 PM

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — A second undercover Mountie who infiltrated the Coutts border blockade said Anthony (Tony) Olienick displayed a strong dislike of police and told her he had guns and ammunition at the ready if officers moved in.

“He was standing up for what he believed in,” the officer testified Friday in Court of King’s Bench.

“This is the hill he was prepared to die on.”

She testified Olienick made it clear to her he didn’t like police and felt “they should all be hung.”

The officer was on the witness stand in the trial of Olienick and Chris Carbert.

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Both men are charged with conspiring to commit murder at the protest blockade. The blockade of vehicles at Coutts, Alta., paralyzed traffic at the Alberta-U.S. border for two weeks in early 2022. It was among a number of nationwide protests against COVID-19 rules and vaccine mandates.

The officer cannot be publicly identified and was referred to in court as HQ1516.

She was one of two undercover Mounties who have testified about infiltrating the blockade posing as volunteers.

The first undercover officer has testified Olienick told her he considered police the willing pawns of Canada’s “devil” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and vowed that if police tried to break up the protest he would “slit their throats.”

The second officer told court Friday that Olienick was worried the RCMP would try to break up the blockade in the middle of the night, catching protesters off guard and defenceless.

She said Olienick told her he had firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition available if police made a move — enough to equip everyone at Smuggler’s Saloon, referring to the local bar that had become the unofficial headquarters of the protesters.

The officer detailed a conversation she and her undercover partner had with Olienick, asking him if he needed them to pick anything up before they came back to Coutts.

“I just remember Tony looking happily surprised, and (he) said actually he did have a package coming in tonight…stuff that might be difficult for him to bring in…if we knew what he meant,” she said.

“It would be really heavy and very important.”

The operative said both Olienick and Carbert seemed concerned the package, described as a hockey bag, would be too heavy for them to carry.

Was it explosives? they asked.

“I remember Chris laughing and saying, ‘Not explosives,’” she said.

Was it guns? they asked.

“I just remember Chris and Tony making eye contact and they didn’t deny it,” she said.

“I took that as acknowledgment that it was guns.”

HQ1516 was to face cross-examination from the defence Friday afternoon.

Olienick and Carbert were arrested soon after these meetings, with Mounties seizing a cache of guns, body armour and ammunition from trailers in the area.

The two are also charged with mischief and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Olienick faces a further charge of being in possession of a pipe bomb.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2024.

— By Bill Graveland in Calgary

The Canadian Press