CHARLOTTETOWN, Prince Edward Island — An activist who hit Canada’s Prime Minister Jean Chretien in the face with a cream pie was convicted of assault Tuesday.
Evan Brown, 24, pushed the pie in Chretien’s face as the prime minister greeted well-wishers at the Charlottetown Civic Center on Aug. 16. Chretien wasn’t hurt but appeared shocked and angry.
Chretien later made light of the pie attack on a local television news show in a video played for the court.
”I’ve been here many, many times,” Chretien said at a strawberry social function in Charlottetown. “You have developed a very funny way of serving pies these days.”
The defense argued during the two-day trial that Chretien consented to having a pie tossed in his face.
”I believed he would be surprised by the pie, then recognize it as a nonviolent form of protest,” Brown said. He said he discussed the pie attack with several friends, members of the now-defunct P.E.I. Pie Brigade, several days before the incident.
Brown had a long list of grievances against the Chretien government, including a belief that Ottawa gives too much support to multinational corporations and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, and concerns about genetically modified food.
Crown prosecutor Valerie Moore said Tuesday she will ask the court for a period of custody and probation for Brown.
