![]() “The judge thought the restrictions were reasonable, which is not the proper legal test at this stage. “It’s obvious that government restrictions on people’s freedom to worship, assemble and associate are violated by health orders that prevent normal, regular church services from taking place,” states lawyer John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre. ![]() Judge Robert Shaigec delivered an oral ruling this morning rejecting Pastor Coates’ arguments that the Public Health Act Ticket he received on December 20, 2020, for holding church services as normal, violated multiple Charter rights. Their challenge is scheduled to be heard in March.EDMONTON: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is disappointed with today’s ruling from the Provincial Court of Alberta in the ongoing trial of Pastor James Coates, of GraceLife Church. The churches say the restrictions violate several of their Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom r ights, including freedom of religion, belief, expression, peaceful assembly and association. The injunction request–by B.C.’s attorney general and provincial health officer came after the three churches–the Riverside Calvary Chapel in Langley, the Immanuel Covenant Reformed Church in Abbotsford and Free Reformed Church of Chilliwack– were among more than a dozen individuals and churches that filed their petition last month. “To be clear, I am not condoning the petitioners’ conduct in contravention of the orders that they challenge, but find that the injunctive relief sought by the respondents should not be granted.” Prosecution Service, would overcome the deeply held beliefs of the petitioners and their devotees,” Hinkson wrote. “Given the other remedies available to the respondents, I have reservations that an injunction alone, without enforcement by the B.C. Hinkson listed his reasons for ruling against the province’s application on the court’s website shortly after he issued his decision. The province filed the application after the three churches filed a petition challenging the restrictions, arguing they violate parishioners’ rights and freedoms. Meanwhile in British Columbia, the chief justice of the province’s Supreme Court, Christopher Hinkson, dismissed an application by the province for an injunction against three Fraser Valley churches that authorities say are flouting COVID-19 rules that prohibit in-person services. (Free Reformed Church of Chilliwack/Facebook) ![]() The churches say the restrictions violate several of their Charter of Rights and Freedoms rights, including freedom of religion, belief, expression, peaceful assembly and association. The Free Reformed Church of Chilliwack is among the churches challenging anti-COVID-19 restrictions in British Columbia. Kitchen said GraceLife’s perspective is that lockdowns are causing “exponentially more harm” to the community than gathering in groups, saying “nobody has died of COVID at Pastor Coates’ church.” ![]() “And they are not going to cease worshipping God as they believe they have been commanded to do, simply because the government says so.” ![]() “It is about doing what is intelligent to them and what maintains their freedoms, but most importantly what is ultimately honouring to their god that they believe in,” Kitchen said. In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday evening, Coates’s lawyer James Kitchen said Coates and his church’s stance “is not about just wantonly rebelling. Recent Sunday services have had up to 300 members, and Coates was charged for a second time earlier this month for breaking the rules.Ĭoates was fined in December and Alberta Health Services ordered the church to close in January, but Coates has ignored the orders. The pastor, James Coates of the GraceLife Church, has clashed for months with authorities, who say he is breaking health rules on maximum attendance, masking, and physical distancing. On a day when the chief justice of British Columbia’s Supreme Court kicked a legal ball down the road in a dispute between health authorities and three churches in the province over whether or not they can hold in-person services, an Alberta pastor was being held in RCMP custody near Edmonton after refusing bail conditions after turning himself in on Tuesday. Legal confrontations over in-person church services continue to escalate in western Canada. ![]()
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