A Canadian pastor says he could face up to one year in jail and a $100,000 fine after local police charged him for violating health restrictions by leading his congregation in worship on Easter Sunday.
Jacob Reaume, pastor of Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo, Ontario, says in a blog post that local police, known as by-law officers, visited his church last Thursday to “hand deliver two new summonses to appear in court.” One was for the congregation, while the other was for Reaume.
“Our offence? We worshipped the risen Christ together on Resurrection Sunday,” the pastor wrote.
He wrote — “Each summons to the church carries a maximum penalty of $10 million, .. Each summons to me carries a maximum penalty of $100,000 and one year in jail.”
Under local restrictions, churches are limited to 15 percent capacity for in-person gatherings. The church building’s capacity is officially listed at 600, although Reaume says it can hold more than that.
The restrictions, he added, are an example of government overreach – especially in light of the restrictions’ lengthy duration.
He added – “At one point it was 15 days to flatten the curve. That was well over a year ago.”
The pastor argued that the restrictions don’t reflect the situation in the region, where he said 10 people are in local ICUs with COVID-19 in an area with a population of more than 500,000.