Legal warning shot fired at Manitoba mandatory church closures
The Justice Centre has informed the Brian Pallister government that declaring drive-in religious services to be outlawed by the Public Health Order violates the fundamental freedoms of religion and peaceful assembly.
Published
19 hours agoon
December 2, 2020By
Dave Naylor
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has issued a warning letter to Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister for violating the Charter freedoms of faith communities in Manitoba.
The Justice Centre has informed the Brian Pallister government that declaring drive-in religious services to be outlawed by the Public Health Order violates the fundamental freedoms of religion and peaceful assembly.
Near Steinbach, Manitoba, RCMP officers shut down a socially-distanced drive-thru church service on Sunday and handed out tickets as close to 100 cars tried to get in.
“Premier Pallister has two days to reverse this decision, or the Justice Centre will file for an injunction to prevent the continual enforcement of fines and tickets against church goers,” JCCF said in a Thursday release.
Various Manitoba churches have attempted drive-in services since the Public Health Orders ordered them to shut down on November 22.
These churches had been carefully following social distancing guidelines by planning church services using the same format as a drive-in movie. Churches asked worshippers to stay in their vehicles and to listen to the service and participate in religious services via their radios.
Car windows remained closed. Many such services have occurred without incident across Canada this past weekend, and began earlier this spring when the first lockdowns shut down churches.
“If Manitoba consistently applied this same approach equally to the entire province, it would lead to a ban on all public parking during the Covid-19 pandemic, including at Costco, Walmart, and liquor stores,” said Allison Pejovic, a lawyer at the Justice Centre.
“The Covid-19 pandemic does not suspend the protection of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or the rights of Canadians. The restriction of public religious gatherings in which people exclusively occupy their personal vehicles on a parking lot while worshipping is irrational, unnecessary and not a minimal impairment of Charterrights.
“The measures taken by the Church provide much more safety to public health than long lineups of people waiting to get into the liquor store or Costco, or sitting in their vehicles bumper to bumper at the Tim Horton’s drive-thru.”
Manitoba has seen 17,107 cases of COVID-19 leading to 329 deaths.
Posts
