Charges Dropped Against Two Canadian Pastors, Jailed for Holding Church During COVID

Two pastors from Alberta, Canada, who held church services in defiance of provincial public health orders, have had their names cleared after all charges against them were dropped last month.

James Coates of GraceLife Church in Edmonton and Timothy Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary spent a combined 53 days in jail in early 2021 for refusing to close the doors of their respective churches.

However, in late July of this year, in Ingram v. Alberta, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench ruled that the temporary powers used to prosecute the pastors were invalid.

As reported by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), which provided legal aid to both pastors:

On July 31, 2023, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench released a consequential decision in Ingram v. Alberta: the Public Health Orders that Pastor Coates and GraceLife church had violated were found to be [beyond the legal authority of] the Public Health Act and were, therefore, invalid. The Act requires that all decisions with respect to public health orders must be made by the Chief Medical Officer of Health and not by the Alberta Cabinet. In her concluding remarks, Justice Barbara Romaine stated, ‘While involvement of elected officials in these important decisions may be desirable and even necessary, this involvement should have been structured in such a way as to mitigate the risk of political priorities interfering with the informed and well-qualified judgment of the [Chief Medical Officer of Health], as provided in the Public Health Act, without ignoring the underlying public interest.’ (emphasis added)

JCCF has further confirmed that as a consequence of Ingram v. Alberta, “all charges against Pastor Coates and GraceLife Church have been dismissed by the Crown, and the Crown will not be seeking a further jail sentence for Pastor Coates.”

The Crown likewise withdrew all charges against Fairview Baptist Church.

Indeed, according to JCCF, “it is expected that the Alberta Crown will withdraw all Covid-related tickets and may reimburse all fines for violations of Covid-related public health orders paid by Albertans.”

The actions of Pastors Coates and Stephens provide an instructive lesson, not just for heavy-handed secular authorities, but also for Christians and Christian leaders who were critical of those who forged a more resolute path through COVID-era restrictions.

COVID-compliant churches commonly appealed to Romans:13:1Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
See All..., which states, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities….” However, an unquestioning application of this verse failed to take into account that public health orders were frequently issued hastily and on shaky legal grounds.

And the unfortunate reality of the situation is that the government has not admitted its actions toward Pastors Coates and Stephens—and many other Christians, for that matter—were morally wrong. The court noted the shaky legal ground of who was giving these orders and how those orders were given, but this misses the underlying violation of Christians’ right to worship together.

Indeed, the price for doing so was high for Pastor James Coates and Pastor Timothy Stephens.

https://intellectualtakeout.org/2023/09/jailed-for-holding-church-during-covid/