MOOSE JAW — Community activist Tannis Brideau’s 10-month-long dealings with the court system have come to an end after she accepted responsibility for several of her charges and received two years of probation.
Brideau, 49, appeared in Moose Jaw Provincial Court on March 18, where she pleaded guilty to causing a disturbance at the Civic Centre Plaza, uttering threats to staff at Golden West Radio and causing a disturbance at the Prairie South School Division board office.
She also pleaded guilty to uttering a threat to cause bodily harm to the courthouse office manager and failing to comply with an undertaking by contacting courthouse staff.
The offences at the Civic Centre Plaza, Golden West Radio and PSSD board office occurred between October and November 2023, while the threat against the office manager occurred in April 2024 and the failure to obey a court undertaking happened between mid-December 2024 and early January 2025.
The Crown waived several other charges.
As part of a joint submission, Brideau received a conditional discharge with conditions, along with probation.
The conditions include not being within 100 metres of the Civic Centre Plaza, Golden West Radio building, PSSD board office or provincial court building unless travelling past in a vehicle, having no contact with staff at those locations, and having no contact with or being within 100 metres of 11 people who testified at her trial.
A conditional sentence is where a person is not convicted of a crime but must follow certain conditions for up to three years. Such offenders won’t have a criminal record if they complete their sentence and probation.
These guilty pleas mean the continuation of Brideau’s trial — it began in June 2024 and continued in September 2024 — at the end of March will no longer happen. Her trial stories can be found here, here, here, here and here.
Crown prosecutor Tony Gerein told Judge Brian Hendrickson that this issue was never about the messages that Brideau expressed but how she communicated them. Therefore, a conditional discharge sends the message that this behaviour cannot continue and acts as a deterrent.
Brideau made it clear during her trial that she was opposed to all COVID-19 pandemic measures and wanted to inform the public about the National Citizens Inquiry event in Regina, which heard from people how the pandemic measures negatively affected them.
Gerein added that this sentence aims to give “safety and peace” to everyone whom Brideau hurt and hopefully allows everyone to move on.
Merv Shaw, who became Brideau’s defence lawyer in early March, said he spoke with Gerein and learned the Crown prosecutor wanted Brideau to acknowledge the harm she did to people and that they needed a “safe space” to recover. Moreover, the Crown also wanted everyone to be “good neighbours” to each other.
“There is no question that she held her beliefs — and holds her beliefs — fervently and honestly,” Shaw said.
However, those beliefs came at great personal cost to Brideau, as she forfeited her towed vehicle, was no longer able to musically entertain seniors and lost her home in Moose Jaw and moved elsewhere, he continued.
Shaw added that Brideau said she felt that Judge Hendrickson had treated her “very, very fairly” during her trial and in court.
“If I made anyone feel intimidated, that was not my intent … ,” Brideau said emotionally, adding that someone else could now be responsible “to pursue the truth.”
Judge Hendrickson accepted the joint submission and agreed to waive the victim fund surcharge. He noted that probation isn’t about punishment but about keeping people apart, while this sentence “ensures tranquility” in people’s lives.
The judge also thanked Brideau for her compliment since he didn’t hear that very often, especially since judges were “not in the people-pleasing business.”
“This is a result I find most satisfactory,” Judge Hendrickson added. “This is a very good resolution.”
