Charges Withdrawn Against Owl Publisher
Thomas Fougere outside the Medicine Hat Court of Justice Thursday following charges against him stemming from attempting to cover a public meeting last year were withdrawn. (Photo Alex McCuaig)
Criminal charges against Medicine Hat Owl publisher Thomas Fougere stemming from an attempt to cover a public meeting have been withdrawn.
Charges of causing a disturbance and obstruction were laid in October 2024 following an attempt by Fougere to cover a public meeting at the police station regarding neighbourhood concerns about the Mustard Seed’s Allowance Ave. facility.
Those charges were withdrawn Thursday following Fougere agreeing to an eight-month peace bond.
Fougere said he is pleased with the outcome, but he was simply doing his job when police, “grabbed me and threw me out and arrested me and said I disturbed the peace and that I resisted against their arrest.”
The meeting occurred during growing unrest in the Flats neighbourhood regarding social disorder being witnessed at the Mustard Seed’s Allowance Ave. facility and that promises regarding limited use of the building were being broken.
The timing of the meeting came weeks before the Mustard Seed sought to formally turn the facility into a 24-hour shelter space. That move was rejected following attempts to re-zone the property failed at the Municipal Planning Commission but not before infrastructure such as mobile showering trailers were brought onto the site in early 2025.
Fougere noted the October meeting was open to the public, held in a public space with public officials on a topic of public concern which should be enough prerequisites for public documentation of the event.
“Through the media, through journalists is how hears, sees and smells what the frick is going on in these buildings and we need to be there to record that and archive that for the public,” said Fougere.
He added he has filed a formal complaint with the city’s police commission but doesn’t have confidence in that body to deal with the matter and predicts it will require an appeal to the Law Enforcement Appeal Board.