| Every day, it seems like COVID-19 laws get more and more bizarre. From mask mandates to arbitrary business closures, it has become next to impossible to keep up with the rule changes and their logic. And now, they’re targeting churches! Under B.C.’s new province-wide COVID-19 restrictions, churches and other places of worship have been forced to close in what our un-elected health officials claim is an attempt to curb the spread of the virus. Yet restaurants, bars, and gyms remain relatively unaffected. How does any of this make sense? That’s what brought me to Riverside Calvary Chapel this past Sunday, where worshippers chose to attend an indoor church service in defiance of the new rules. A bylaw officer had been there all day to monitor the morning service before police arrived to issue the church a $2,300 fine! Not only that, but they also threatened to give out more fines if the church remained open. Watch this video to see my interaction with the bylaw officer and police who came to issue the COVID fine. Let’s get this straight: people can go to Costco with no issues, but they can’t attend a church service to worship God? What’s worse, the police weren’t even sure what order they were there to enforce! So, where did they get the authority to issue this fine? Can Canada still be referred to as “the true north strong and free” if we continue to head down this path? Freedom of movement, freedom of association, and freedom of religion have all fallen to the wayside because of these emergency measures, which are in direct contravention of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We don’t think Riverside Calvary Chapel should have to pay this fine. Do you? If we learned anything from our “Fight the Fines” civil liberties project, it’s that these fines won’t easily stand up in court. And if you help us, we’ll make sure they never will. Yours truly, Drea Humphrey |