Winnipeg church seeks court injunction on health order that bans drive-in religious services
Lawyers to argue current health order a breach of Charter of Rights and Freedoms
A fight over the right to gather for worship services during government-imposed pandemic restrictions will head to a Winnipeg court Thursday.
Springs Church, which has been fined $25,000 for holding drive-in services last month, is seeking an interim stay of the province's current public health order, which requires places of worship to be closed to the public.
The order, which is set to expire on Dec. 11, comes with a series of strict conditions, including prohibiting the sale of non-essential items in stores and a ban on visitors in private homes.
The health order allows religious leaders to hold services and live stream them, but doesn't allow drive-in services.
"I don't understand what the problem is," said Amanda Sheriff, who has been attending drive-in services at Springs for the last three months. "You're safely in your car, you're not meeting with any other [person]. You're just in your car and praying, worshipping."
The church Sheriff usually goes to stopped offering in-person gatherings and switched to virtual services. But she says in-person worship is a crucial part of her faith, so she started going to the drive-in services at Springs.
She said she was infuriated when she saw Winnipeg police present for the first time outside the church this past weekend. In addition to the fines handed to the church, one churchgoer was fined.
"It's just outrageous, in my opinion," she said.
"Right now you could go to Costco. I've been to Costco, Walmart — those lineups are ridiculous, let alone like when you're in the shop, you're amongst all these people who are not really not practising social distancing."
Springs is not the only church that has been fined under the latest health orders.
The Church of God in Sarto, Man., near the city of Steinbach, was fined $5,000, and six people were given individual tickets of $1,296, after the church tried to hold a large drive-in service last Sunday. They were blocked by RCMP officers, which led to more than 100 cars lining the highway trying to get into the church's parking lot.
More challenges on the way
Springs Church declined an interview request from CBC Wednesday, but posted a video on Facebook. In it, pastor Leon Fontaine pointed out that under the current provincial regulations, people are still allowed in-person inside liquor and cannabis stores.
"We have to ask ourselves why the government has deemed it unsafe for Manitobans to drive to their place of worship with their windows rolled up for the entirety of a service," Fontaine, who has been personally fined at least four times, for a total of more than $5,000, said in the post.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is also getting involved. It has informed Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister that if the province doesn't change course by the end of Thursday, it will file an injunction application.
The Justice Centre is a legal advocacy organization that has been associated with other high-profile cases, such as the B.C.-based Christian university Trinity Western's fight to make its students pledge to a strict code of conduct, including abstinence from sex outside of heterosexual marriage.
Allison Pejovic, a Winnipeg lawyer who works with the Justice Centre, is confident a court will find the province's order a breach of the Charter if Springs isn't successful Thursday.
By allowing people to continue going to stores for essential purposes, the order "already allows people to do basically the same thing" as attending a drive-in service, "just not in a religious setting," she said.
"So we see this as … we have a very strong case on the drive-in services issue."
She said the centre plans to bring forward legal challenges against broader government lockdowns in several provinces soon and has been in touch with people who've been fined for attending church.
The premier's office said it will continue to act on the advice of health experts and says the order is needed to halt the spread of COVID-19 in Manitoba, which has one of the worst per capita rates of the illness in Canada.
"We recognize this is a challenging time, but we need the full participation of all Manitobans in order for these public health measures to work [so] we can get back to beating COVID-19," Olivia Billson, spokesperson for Pallister, wrote in an email.
Sheriff said she'll be back at Springs Church this weekend, even though she knows she could get a fine. She said she is standing with her peers.
"There's going to be a lot of the Christian community who's going to rise up, and they're going to vindicate on the behalf of Springs Church because it's injustice. And it's not right at all."
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