Hanover minister fined twice for breaking pandemic rules

Written by Shannon Dueck Tuesday, Nov 24, 11:42 AM

A minister in southeastern Manitoba has been issued two separate tickets for failing to comply with COVID-19 regulations.

Tobias Tissen is with Church of God, located off Highway 12, about nine miles south of Steinbach. On Monday, he was visited by several RCMP officers and provincial officers who issued him two tickets worth $1,296 each. The visit was filmed by Tissen and shared on Facebook.

In the video, the officers identified that the first ticket was for attending a large gathering. The gathering they are referring to is the anti-mask protest held in Steinbach on November 14th. The second ticket was for failing to comply with a public health emergency order under the Public Health Act. This was with respect to the fact his church held a service on November 22 with well over 100 people in attendance.

“I’m drawing very close similarities to the Gestapo in Germany. I’m from Germany, my ancestors are from there,” says Tissen in the video. “And what you are doing is very similar, enforcing laws that are making the citizens vulnerable, losing sleep, making them stressful. And I pray to God that one day all these unjust things will be straightened. And I’m confident that it will.”

Meanwhile, the province today provided an update on enforcement related to the protest held in Steinbach on November 14. To date, 16 tickets have been sworn and more are expected to receive tickets as the investigation continues. One person who attended a subsequent event at the Legislative Building in Winnipeg on November 21 was identified and served with a ticket for their participation in the earlier event.

According to the province, enforcement officials are also investigating the church service held over the weekend. It says, one individual received a $1,296 ticket and more tickets for other participants are expected as the investigation continues.