National Post (National Edition)
During Christmas, some churches fight restrictions
Legal arguments put forward for right to gather
EDMONTON • With Christmas just days away — high season for the Christian faithful — some provinces are finding themselves feuding with churches that are resisting lockdowns meant to slow the spread of COVID-19, but also affecting religious services.
Fines and closures have been slapped on a number of religious groups in several provinces, and Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario have been forced to defend their COVID-19 restrictions in court. So far, they have emerged victorious.
Earlier this month, Alberta announced stringent new measures to slow the growth of the virus, including a ban on all in-person gatherings in private homes, and strict limitations on occupancy in religious facilities and businesses, including the closure of gyms and in-person dining.
The province had faced an alarming growth in COVID-19 cases, and implemented the lockdown measures that restricted religious services to 15 per cent of the fire code until at least the end of the month, meaning fewer people at Christmas church services.
Provincial health officials have also been forced to step up enforcement. Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, issued a public health order insisting that Grace Life Church of Edmonton begin following public health orders after public health inspectors saw people interacting and socializing unmasked and not physically distancing.
“The vast majority of churches have complied,” Ray Pennings, the executive vice-president of Cardus, a faith-based think tank, told the National Post. “I think what is happening as time goes on, is that people are seeing what appears to be contradiction, especially when there is no great evidence that churches have been ... the place where COVID has spread.”
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a Calgary-based conservative legal group that has objected to numerous public health measures over the course of the pandemic, is representing two Baptist churches in southern Alberta and two individuals (another individual involved is represented by a separate legal firm) and is arguing the health orders violate several constitutionally protected rights.
They had asked for a temporary injunction stopping the measures until that hearing.
“The people of Alberta have suffered under the oppression of a medical dictatorship for long enough,” James Kitchen, a lawyer for the group, said in a statement.
The bid for an injunction didn’t last long. While a full hearing will happen in January, on Monday a judge denied the request for a temporary injunction.
“I am of the view that there is a greater public interest in maintaining the integrity of (public health) order ... than there is in staying the parts of it that the applicants ask me to suspend so that they and other citizens of this province are able to gather and celebrate the holidays,” Justice Anne Kirker said.
Other church challenges have also been unsuccessful. In Manitoba, Springs Church in Winnipeg has received $32,000 in fines for holding drive-in church services during strict lockdowns in that province. The church took Premier Brian Pallister’s government to court, seeking a stay on prohibitions of in-person religious gatherings. While the church lost that case in early December, Manitoba loosened rules regarding drive-in services days later.
Meanwhile, the Toronto International Celebration Church filed a lawsuit on Dec. 8 challenging Ontario rules that limited congregants to 10 people or less. The church argued that it had capacity for 1,100 people and should be allowed to operate at larger capacity.
“We want every business and institution, including churches, to receive unbiased treatment,” said Peter Youngren, the church’s founding pastor, in a video posted online.
Michael Bryant, the executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said the challenge was “much needed.”
“The limitation on this charter right has the proportionality of a sledgehammer,” Bryant told The Canadian Press at the time, prior to the latest lockdown measures in Ontario.
The request for an injunction failed. A further court decision will come in 2021.
For Catholics in Ontario, Archbishop Thomas Collins said he appealed directly to Premier Doug Ford to raise the cap on Christmas mass to 30 per cent of a church’s capacity, but the request was declined. Instead, many parishes are hosting a livestreamed mass.
“This in no way is a substitute for the Eucharist, but it can be helpful spiritually to some extent, and is much to be encouraged,” wrote Collins in an online post.
There’s the sense, Pennings said, that the restrictions on churches appear more onerous when compared to those for big box stores, for example.
“Why is one deemed essential when another is not?” Pennings said.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF CHURCHES
HAVE COMPLIED.