N.S. church fined $5,000 for defying COVID-19 ban on gatherings

An Annapolis Valley church has been fined $5,000 for violating restrictions on faith gatherings that were enacted by the province in the spring of 2021 to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

RCMP responded to services at Weston Christian Fellowship Church in Kings County on three consecutive Sundays in May 2021.

After giving a verbal warning the first Sunday, RCMP issued summary offence tickets under the province’s Health Protection Act to the church and more than 20 of its congregants over the following two weekends.

After several delays, the church and elder Marty Elson were scheduled to stand trial in mid-February in Kentville provincial court.

But the case was added to the Windsor provincial court docket Tuesday, when Judge Angela Caseley found the church guilty after receiving an agreed statement of facts worked out by the Crown and the defence.

According to the agreed facts, an order made by the province’s chief medical officer of health was in place from April 29 to June 4, 2021, and prohibited certain gatherings, including faith gatherings of more than five people.

“On May 9, 2021, the church held a service with more than the permitted number of participants,” the facts said. “The RCMP attended and issued the summary offence ticket that is before the court.”

Crown attorney Alex Keaveny told the court that the church was not changing its plea to guilty but was agreeing to be convicted based on the negotiated facts.

The ticket issued to the church originally carried a $10,000 fine plus victim surcharge and court fees, for a total penalty of $11,622. 

On Tuesday, Keaveny and the church’s lawyer, Gayle Karding, jointly recommended a $5,000 fine instead.

Karding asked that the usual 15 per cent victim fine surcharge be waived given the church’s circumstances. 

“It’s a small body of believers,” she said of Weston Christian Fellowship Church. “It’s certainly not a lucrative proposition. The church doesn’t have a lot of money, so $5,000 is quite a meaningful sum of money for them.”

Keaveny said the Crown had no issue with that request.

‘Fit sentence’

“This order … was a serious step taken to address the risks of COVID-19,” the prosecutor said.

“This violation of the order was a serious one, however, with the guilty plea and with the passage of time, we would submit that a lesser fine than the face value, a $5,000 fine, sends the message that these orders must be obeyed but at the same time is not overly harsh. 

“We would submit it is a fit sentence for Your Honour’s consideration.”

Karding pointed out that the resolution was saving the court three days of trial time. She also explained why the church’s decision not to go to trial came so late in the process.

“It’s kind of an unusual situation with the way that the church operates,” Karding said. “While there are officially the three elders who make decisions for the church … it’s not a situation where it’s a church with a legal team or a strong hierarchical structure.

“It is really a family of a body of believers. It’s a very small, tight-knit community and it’s not … quite as simple as just (the elders) being able to make these decisions when they wish to. There is sort of a larger consultation process.

“I just wanted to make the court aware of that when considering how much time has passed before this change in the course of the decision-making.”

‘Faced with a choice’

Mike Slauenwhite, one of the elders, addressed the court on behalf of the church.

During the pandemic, Slauenwhite said, “we at Weston Christian Fellowship Church found ourselves facing rules and regulations that caused confusion, uncertainty and some instability. In some cases, they contradicted what this country was founded upon and supposedly stands for, which is God and his supremacy.

“All things that were deemed by the government to be non-essential were being shut down or severely limited. It was at this time that we found ourselves faced with a choice to make – to obey God or to obey government.”

Slauenwhite said members of the church felt governments “acted beyond their authority.”

“During this time, people were looking for stability, and that stability was and is only found in God,” he said. “By Biblical definition, … the church is not a building but a family, a way of life, a living body, and a body that is commanded to gather together in person.

“Meeting in person is the only true way to encourage, admonish and teach and hold each other accountable while offering this hope and stability to others. This is why, as dedicated brothers and sisters in Christ, we were resolved to obey God’s direction and gathered despite the health and prevention order.”

One year to pay

The judge accepted the recommendation for the $5,000 fine and waived the surcharge.

“Orders such as this need to be followed,” Caseley said.

“It is a small church, as I understand from the submissions of counsel, not one that is significantly wealthy. So, a $5,000 fine will have significant meaning to this congregation.”

She gave the church one year to pay the fine.

“I can only imagine the incredible hard work that counsel put in to finding a way to resolve this matter,” Caseley said. “The court is very thankful and appreciative of the work you did to arrive at this juncture today.”

Keaveny announced the Crown was offering no evidence on 31 other Health Protection Act tickets issued to 24 members of the congregation. Those tickets, which each carried a penalty of $2,422, were dismissed.