Corey Hurren, the man who rammed a gate at Rideau Hall and intended to arrest Prime Minister Trudeau was sentenced to six years in prison on March 10. 

On July 2, 2020, Hurren 46, drove a truck loaded with firearms and multiple rounds of ammunition onto the grounds of the Governor General’s official residence.

He then set out on foot to Rideau Cottage, the residence of Prime Minister Trudeau and his family. 

Hurren, a sausage-maker and Canadian Armed Forces reservist, faced 21 weapons charges and one of threatening the prime minister. 

On Jan. 31, 2021, the Manitoba resident pleaded guilty to seven weapons charges related to possession of prohibited or restricted firearms, “for a purpose contrary to the public peace,” and one charge of mischief by wilfully causing $100,000 worth of damage to the Rideau Hall gate.

In delivering the sentence, Ontario Court Justice Robert Wadden said Hurren would be given one year for time spent in custody, meaning he still faces five years behind bars.

Wadden said Hurren’s actions amounted to an act of armed aggression against the government. He also said Hurren showed no remorse and hasn’t renounced his conspiracy theories.

On Feb. 23, 2021, Crown prosecutors argued for a six-year prison sentence, minus time served, and a lifetime firearm ban, saying that Hurren’s actions posed a serious threat to public safety. 

Crown prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham said “No responsible democracy can tolerate this. … this court can send a message of its own that those who place the lives of Canadians at risk by carrying loaded firearms into an expected confrontation to send a political message will pay a heavy price indeed.”

Hurren’s lawyer Michael Davies sought a sentence of three years, less a year for his pre-trial custody.

He described his client as a hardworking member of society who suffered financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic that put him into a state of depression.

The maximum penalty for some of the charges is 10 years.

In an agreed statement of facts read in an Ottawa courtroom on Feb. 5, Hurren told police he wanted to arrest Trudeau to make a statement about the government’s COVID-19 restrictions and its ban on assault-style firearms.

He said he had hoped to make the arrest during Trudeau’s daily pandemic briefing outside Rideau Cottage. He said he hoped his actions would be a “wake-up call” and a “turning point.”

Hurren also told police that Prime Minister Trudeau, “is a communist who is above the law and corrupt.”

Data retrieved from Hurren’s cellphone and online posts, referred to “conspiracy theories related to the Canadian government,” and suggestions that COVID-19 is a hoax.

Exchanges with friends discussed a “sacrifice theory” surrounding the date of the mass shooting in Nova Scotia on April 18-19, 2020. 

SOURCES: CBC.CA, CTVNEWS.CA, THECANADIANPRESS.COM