A Kamloops-area man who threatened Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s children says he was just looking for a reaction — and he got it.
Sean Fearnside, 49, pleaded guilty Thursday in Kamloops provincial court to one count of making harassing communications.
Court heard Fearnside drew the attention of police after sending troubling correspondence to the Prime Minister’s Office in Ottawa. Mounties spoke to him twice in the spring of 2023.
"Both times he was cautioned not to send that type of communication anymore,” Crown prosecutor Chris Balison said in court.
"However, between July of 2023 and April of 2024, Mr. Fearnside sent a series of emails and made a series of phone calls to the Prime Minister’s Office concerning the prime minister. There was a total of nine emails or communications through the website and four telephone calls that resulted in voicemails being left and received by the Prime Minister’s Office.”
No further details about the communications were read into court.
Fearnside was arrested on April 16, 2024, and Balison said he was frank with investigators.
"He gave a very fulsome and candid statement to the police while he was in custody admitting to sending the emails and making the telephone calls, and also telling the officers why he was doing so — having been wronged by the Government of Canada and the particular party of the prime minister,” he said.
'I lost my temper'
Fearnside told the same story in court. He said he was born disabled after his mother used an IUD that was later found to cause birth defects and other issues.
He said he blames Trudeau's dad, Pierre Trudeau, for covering up the situation when he was prime minister decades ago.
“We know from what we’re watching today with what his son just did — the kickbacks and bribes and handshakes, we know that’s how it went down,” he said. "Nobody’s going to convince me otherwise.”
Speaking to the judge, Fearnside referred to the outgoing prime minister as an “arrogant little prick."
“I lost my temper. I never got a reaction until I actually threatened his children — that’s why we’re here,” he said.
"It was to get a reaction, and I got the reaction I wanted.”
Extreme frustration
Kamloops provincial court Judge Stella Frame sentenced Fearnside to a conditional discharge and 12 months of probation. That means the offence will be scrubbed from his criminal record if he stays out of trouble for the next year.
“I recognize that people, especially with politics, get extremely frustrated and angry — we’ve seen lots of that over the years,” Frame said.
"But there are proper ways of going about doing things and proper ways of going about amassing support for your position, and making threats is a Criminal Code offence.”
While on probation, Fearnside will be prohibited from contacting the Prime Minister’s Office by any means and from posting anything online that references Trudeau.
He will also be barred from being within 500 metres of any member of the Trudeau family and from possessing firearms or other weapons.
Trudeau's time as prime minister came to an end on Friday morning when Mark Carney was sworn in at a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
