Canadian Province Backs Off COVID-19 Crackdown On Drive-In Church Services

The Canadian province of Manitoba backed off from its strict COVID-19 lockdown against houses of worship earlier this week, which had rendered even drive-in church services illegal.

Premier Brian Pallister and chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin announced Tuesday that they would be loosening the restrictions on drive-in church services, according to CTV News Winnipeg.

“The Justice Centre is pleased to report that the Pallister Government in Manitoba has reversed a previous ban on drive-in religious services, and will now allow church members to attend church parking lots to worship in their own cars while services are broadcast through vehicle radios,” said The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which is a law firm that sent a letter of complaint to Manitoba after the province banned drive-in church services.

“Various Manitoba churches had attempted drive-in services since the Public Health Orders banned them on November 22,” The Justice Centre further explained. “These churches had been carefully following social distancing guidelines by planning church services using the same format as a drive-in movie. Churches asked worshippers to stay in their vehicles and to listen to the service and participate in religious services via their radios. Car windows remained closed. Many such services have occurred without incident across Canada and began earlier this spring when the first lockdowns shut down churches.”

Under the new rules, drive-in church services will be permitted as long as churchgoers stay in their cars and keep the windows up.

Springs Church in Winnipeg was recently fined more than $32,000 for its drive-in services. As The Daily Wire reported:

A court in Manitoba, Canada, ruled that a church in the province is not exempt from COVID-19 lockdown orders against houses of worship and that the congregation is not permitted even to gather for drive-in services.

Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal denied a plea from Springs Church in Winnipeg to hold drive-in services in its parking lot, striking down the church’s request to be given a stay of the province’s public health order that forbids in-person religious gatherings, according to the CBC.

“The congregation attending in cars are persons,” Joyal argued. “They are persons who have attended for a common purpose.”

“These orders necessarily restrict rights … in order to prevent death, illness and the overwhelming of the public health system in Manitoba,” Joyal further ruled. “I do not believe that the applicants meet their burden of showing that [the church] will suffer irreparable harm if the injunction is not granted.”

The church and two of its pastors have been fined more than $32,000 for having allowed the drive-in services in defiance of the province’s public health order. The order, which is set to expire Dec. 11, prohibits places of worship from being open to the public. Manitoba’s onerous lockdown orders also ban stores from selling non-essential items and render visitors in private homes illegal.

Related: Canadian Judge Rules Church Not Permitted To Hold Drive-In Services, Pastors Fined More Than $32,000