Churches should open during pandemic, says Vernon council

Vernon city council wants churches in B.C. reopened for in-person services.

In a letter to Health Minister Adrian Dix, Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming — despite noting he voted against the motion along with Coun. Brian Quiring — informed Dix of the council vote passed at Monday’s council meeting.

The motion calls places of worship “a vital part of the community fabric in our province,” and lists number of good deeds churches do including providing spiritual “nourishment,” feeding the hungry, comforting the sick, helping those with mental illness, welcoming new Canadians and providing community support.

“Places of worship are essential to the mental health and material well being of this province,” says the motion, which calls for churches to be allowed to reopen and services to be declared an essential service.

Churches were ordered to stop in-person services Nov. 19 as part of a list of public health orders issued by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19. Church services were identified by Henry as a source of COVID spread.

In place of in-person services, many churches are currently offering online services.

But, since the order came into effect, several churches in B.C. have defied the order, and some have been fined as a result.

A Kelowna church has been fined twice for disobeying the order banning in-person services.

Harvest Church, on Harvey Avenue, has received two $2,300 violation tickets from the RCMP after complaints of large gatherings. The first ticket was issued in earlier this month and the second two weeks ago. The church has said it plans to fight the tickets in court.

Other B.C. churches have also faced fines for defying public health orders. In December, police in the Fraser Valley said they fined three churches a total of $18,400 because they held in-person services.

The churches claim they have a constitutional right to remain open and offer services to their parishioners.

But while Vernon city council is asking the health minister to intervene and allow churches to re-open and of allow services, the City of Kelowna does not plan to follow suit and support such a move.

Spokesman Tom Wilson said there is no plan for Kelowna council to request a change to the current public health order.

Some other B.C. municipal leaders have even taken the opposite stance to Vernon.

Earlier this month, Township of Langley Coun. Kim Richter introduced a motion calling for churches or other places of worship that do not obey COVID-19 rules to lose their eligibility for property tax grants.

She said she hopes other communities will consider taking similar action.