Ruling soon on Hasidic challenge to COVID restrictions

A Quebec Superior Court judge is expected to rule this week on whether the stricter COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the provincial government last month violate the constitutional rights of Hasidic Jews to practise their faith.

“It is on my shoulders now,” Justice Chantal Masse said after hearing arguments on Monday through a video-conference. The same judge ruled last week that the government's curfew, another restriction imposed on Jan. 8, was unfair to the homeless.

She said she expects to rule on the matter on Thursday or Friday.

Sylvain Lanoix, a lawyer representing the Hasidic Jewish Council of Quebec, argued there is no evidence that places of worship have contributed to the spread in COVID -19 in Montreal.

The group is seeking an exemption from the restrictions imposed by the Quebec government on Jan. 8 that limits the number of people who can be inside a place of worship to 10.

Premier François Legault announced public gatherings are prohibited “except for places of worship (maximum of 10 people in attendance) and funerals (maximum of 25 people excluding the staff of the funeral establishment and volunteers inside or outside the building.)”

It meant places like churches and synagogues have had to reduce the number of worshippers who can pray or attend services to 10 after they were already required to reduce the number to 25 from 250 in October.

Lanoix said collective prayer is at the heart of the Hasidic Jewish faith and that the restriction represents “a prejudice” towards it.

“It is not reasonable,” Lanoix said, while noting there are 5,000 families of the Hasidic Jewish faith in the Greater Montreal area. “(Prayer) is fundamental to the Hasidic faith.

“It is not just a connection to God. It is also a joining of the community.”

Lanoix argued there is not enough evidence to tip the scales in favour of restricting a person's right to practise their religion.

“There is no proof that there was a problem in places of worship,” Lanoix, said while quoting from an affidavit filed by a doctor who communicated with Public Health officials on a weekly basis.

“There were no hot spots or contagion in synagogues.”

Part of the council's argument is that some synagogues have the space or rooms that allow multiple groups of 10 to pray together while following social distancing measures and wearing masks in different parts of the building. It was confusion over this issue that saw the Montreal police break up gatherings in several synagogues in Montreal two weeks ago.

Lanoix argued it does not make sense that up to 25 people can attend a funeral, or meetings held by Alcoholics Anonymous or similar community organizations, while only 10 worshippers can attend a synagogue that can space out three groups of 10 safely.

François-alexandre Gagné, a lawyer for the Quebec government, said the only admission the government would agree on is that the matter is a “serious” one, a criterion for a court to hear a request for an injunction.

“They have not shown that the solution is to increase the number of gatherings,” Gagné said, referring to opinions from experts submitted to the government who warned, since November, that gatherings were increasing the spread of COVID-19 in Quebec.

He added that gatherings during the holidays, especially from the end of December and the beginning of January, were “the turning point” of the spread.

(Prayer) is fundamental to the Hasidic faith. It is not just a connection to God. It is also a joining of the community.