Pastor to stay jailed in flouted rules case
Gracelife church Pastor James Coates will remain behind bars ahead of his trial this spring for allegedly breaching COVID-19 restrictions.
Coates, pastor at the Parkland County church, has been jailed for the past two weeks after continuing to hold worship services without face masks, capacity limits, or physical distancing.
Edmonton Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Peter Michalyshyn ruled Friday that there were no legal errors in a justice of the peace’s decision last month to release Coates on the condition he comply with public health rules.
As a condition of the release, Coates was ordered to adhere to a legal undertaking — which he did not sign — requiring him to abide by the Public Health Act.
Coates was arrested after Gracelife continued to hold in-person worship services. His trial is scheduled for May.
Michalyshyn said that Coates’ strongly held religious beliefs aside, “beliefs and convictions, without more, do not overcome those valid and enforceable laws.”
“He remains subject to the rule of law.”
James Kitchen, Coates’ lawyer, said his client’s decision to not adhere to the undertaking — which required him to stop holding services without social distancing or capacity limits — was a matter of conscience.
Kitchen said it was less a matter of Coates’s willingness to follow the rules, than “his very ability to do so,” Michalyshyn summarized.
Michalyshyn said Coates and his congregation hold to a “strong and literal interpretation of holy scriptures,” which command that they meet in person and keep their faces uncovered during worship. Kitchen said his client is overall a law-abiding man, but that in cases where the law and his interpretation of scripture conflict, the latter prevails.
In an affidavit, Coates said the health orders “directly contravene the authority of the local church, and the supreme authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Kitchen argued requiring Coates to sign the undertaking violated his Charter rights to religious liberty and freedom of expression. He noted that even if Coates is convicted of breaching the Public Health Act, he cannot face jail time. The public health prosecutor argued Michalyshyn’s task in the bail review was not to weigh those arguments, but to simply determine whether there were errors in the condition imposed by the justice of the peace.
In an unusual move, the prosecutor asked to appear by her title, rather than her name, citing “security” concerns.
Alberta ministry of justice did not reply when asked to elaborate on those concerns Thursday.
Michalyshyn sided with the Crown, arguing the fact Coates intends to raise Charter arguments at trial did not convince him the justice of the peace made a legal error.
BELIEFS AND CONVICTIONS, WITHOUT MORE, DO NOT OVERCOME THOSE VALID AND ENFORCEABLE LAWS.