Ontario’s highest court dismisses appeal by Trinity Bible Chapel over COVID-19 restrictions

Court appeal from Trinity Bible Chapel dismissed Ontario’s highest court has dismissed an appeal a Woolwich church made about COVID-19 restrictions. Heather Senoran reports.

The Ontario Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Woolwich Township’s Trinity Bible Chapel and Alymer's Church of God after the two churches pushed back against COVID-19 restrictions.

“While the church initially complied with pandemic regulations, it began disobeying public health restrictions on in-person gatherings in December 2020,” the decision said, referring to Trinity Bible Chapel.

Trinity Bible's elders and the church were fined several times for hosting indoor sermons and defying pandemic restrictions. In 2021, during a province-wide stay-at-home order, religious gatherings were capped at just 15 per cent capacity. In April 2021, the region reported 300 people were gathering inside for a Sunday service.

According to an online post from Pastor Jacob Reaume, Trinity Bible Chapel and church elders were convicted twice of contempt of court, which carried penalties totally about $220,000.

Both churches brought forward motions arguing that the province’s pandemic-related restrictions infringed on Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states everyone has the freedom of religion and peaceful assembly.

At the end of February 2022, the Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance dismissed the constitutional challenge.

The motion judge, Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance, acknowledged pandemic restrictions infringed on freedom of religion, but said it was justified under Section 1 of the Charter, “as public officials were faced with an unprecedented public health emergency and were required to balance competing considerations including evolving medical and scientific opinion. The mix of conflicting interests and perspectives, centered on a tangible threat to public health, was a textbook recipe for deferential review.”

The motion judge said that the salutary benefits of the restrictions “outweighed the deleterious effects on religious freedom.”

The decision said restrictions impacted religious institutions for “no longer than was reasonably required.”

APPEAL DISMISSED

The churches appealed the judge’s ruling. On March 1, 2023, a three judge panel released its ruling.

“This was a case that engaged the limits of institutional pluralism, balancing the accommodation of religious freedom with achieving Ontario’s objective of reducing the spread of COVID-19,” said Appeal Court Justice Lorne Sossin, one of the judges involved in the appeal ruling.

Sossin explained that Pomerance’s decision was rooted in evidence and was a “balanced response to an urgent public health crisis.”

LEGAL EXPERT WEIGHS IN

Ari Goldkind is a legal expert not directly involved with the case but has watched this case closely.

He said he is not shocked by the decision to dismiss the appeal.

“The idea that the court of appeal would turn that over or basically say the Ontario government was wrong – that would be a stretch. I understand why the church litigated it. There were a lot of constitutional implications here and problems. “

Goldkind said it’s important to not use hindsight when looking at this case.

“You can agree or disagree politically, but the job of the court is not to second guess the government eight months later with the knowledge we have eight months later. It’s to look at what did the government know at the time. That is the fundamental care of the decision,” Goldkind said.

Goldkind said there isn’t many options left for the churches besides appealing to the Supreme Court, which could be costly.

“The church can waste a whole ton of money going to the Supreme Court. It will be throwing good money after bad,” Goldkind told CTV News. “I can’t think of a greater waste of money.”

Whether or not the churches will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court is unknown.

CTV News reached out to Trinity Bible Chapel. The church said Pastor Jacob has no comment at this time.