Judge holding urgent Saturday hearing on health order before Springs Church drive-in services

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This article was published 02/12/2020 (1442 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A judge will decide whether drive-in worship services should be allowed to continue without fear of fines after a Winnipeg church took the provincial government to court Wednesday over its enforcement of public-health orders.

Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal said the case is urgent enough to be argued Saturday, before planned drive-in services this weekend. He’s expected to decide then if he’ll grant the church’s request for an interim stay of the public-health order that restricts gathering sizes.

Springs Church and its pastors have been fined $32,776 since Nov. 22 for holding drive-in services in its Lagimodiere Boulevard parking lot even though attendees remain in their cars, parked two or three metres apart, with their windows rolled up for the duration of the screen-projected service, lawyers for the church stated in a court application filed Wednesday.

They said congregants are not being allowed into the church building, even to use the washrooms, so they don’t believe they’re breaking the rules.

The church has been threatened with even larger fines if they go ahead with the planned service this weekend, they said.

They’re asking a judge to immediately stop enforcement of the orders the church has been accused of violating until the court determines whether the interpretation of the orders is justified. They want the court to declare that drive-in church services don’t violate the provincial public-health orders that ban indoor and outdoor gatherings of more than five people.

Kevin Williams, one of the lawyers appearing for the church, said the court challenge is not being brought forward by “anti-maskers.” He said Springs Church understands the seriousness of COVID-19 and the need for public-health orders, but doesn’t believe its Church in Our Cars events break the rules.

Williams said the province is using the health orders as a “hammer” against the church, even though it believes it’s following the spirit of the orders.

The lawyers argue public-health restrictions everywhere else in Canada allow drive-in church services, which they say are less risky than parking in a big-box retail outlet lot to get groceries or curbside pickup. Lawyers for the church submitted an affidavit from University of Calgary virologist Dr. Andrew Johnson stating there is no risk of the virus spreading between closed parked vehicles.

A teleconference court hearing Thursday morning focused on whether the case was urgent enough to move forward.

Denis Guenette, one of the lawyers representing the province, argued the church’s court application was filed too late after the first fine was issued Nov. 22, but Williams said the bulk of the fines were levied this week. Guenette noted the public-health orders are temporary, and that they don’t prohibit people from worshipping, only from gathering.

The church asked the province to agree to stop issuing fines for planned future drive-in services while the matter is before the court, but lawyer Heather Leonoff, representing the Attorney General of Manitoba, said that’s not appropriate.

“We would never do that,” she said.

In their application brief filed in court, lawyers for the church argue if the court decides Manitoba’s public-health orders are being interpreted properly, and that drive-in church services are not allowed, then the orders unjustifiably violate the charter rights to freedom of religion, freedom of association and freedom of peaceful assembly.

Williams’ brief makes clear the church knows the province has the authority to limit charter rights via public-health orders, but they’re questioning whether those limits are reasonable in this case.

The constitutional challenge will have to be argued in court at a later date if Joyal decides it should move forward.

 

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay