Aylmer, Ont. church ordered by judge to abide by COVID-19 restrictions

An Ontario judge has granted the province a court order against anAylmer, Ont., church restricting it from holding an indoorservice on Sunday.

On two separate occasionsin Januarythe Church of God welcomedits congregants into the church, allowing dozens to gather and sing indoors withno physical distancing or masksdespite provincial gathering limits to curb the spread of COVID-19. This led to fines for dozens of parishioners and the church leaders.

Last week, the Ministry of the Attorney General granted an interim order requiring the church to abide by the Reopening Ontario Act, which prompted the church to stick to a drive-in service last Sunday. On Friday, the courtgranted the province apermanent order.

"It's an enforcement escalation," said Lisa Bildy, alawyer with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms who is representing the church.

"It means that [the church]hasto abide by the regulations that are in place and if they don't, then the Ministry of the Attorney General can and likely will bring contempt of court proceedings," she said, addingcontempt would comein addition to any fines the church would receive for not complying.

Bildy said she and the church will be refocusing on the constitutionality of these restrictions.The churchand its leader, Pastor Henry Hildebrandt, havetaken a stand for Canadians' fundamental liberties during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

"Just a cursory look at the history books will tell us that it's very often when people are worried and afraid and relying on our governments extensively, that those kinds of fundamental freedoms can be taken away and even abused," she said. "With the benefit of hindsight, we may look back and and say 'Wow, we really shouldn't have done what we did here to people."

"People like Henry Hildebrandt, whether you agree with himor not, havetaken a stand for those fundamental liberties which our western, liberal democracy is based on."

Bildy said that while Canadians' freedoms can be limited when things like public safety are at risk, she believes the evidence does not suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic"warrants such dramatic limitations on our fundamental freedoms."

The church now has 30 days to bring a motion forward to see if the order can be dismissed.

As for the service scheduled for this Sunday, Bildy said the church will likely abide by the court order and hold a drive-in service as they did last week.

Southwestern Public Health,which oversees the town of Aylmer, enters the red zone of the province's reopening framework next Tuesday. At that time, placesof worship will be allowed to host 30 per cent of their parishioners indoors as long as physical distance can be maintained.