Posted on 09/04/2023 2:06:27 PM PDT by Morgana
CALGARY, AB: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is pleased to announce that all charges for violating Public Health Orders against Fairview Baptist Church have been withdrawn by Crown prosecutors.
In early 2021, charges were laid against Pastor Timothy Stephens and Fairview Baptist Church for violating Public Health Orders, which included mandates regarding gathering limitations, masking, and social distancing. On May 6, 2021, Associate Chief Justice John Rooke of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench issued a restraining order that applied not only to the Whistle Stop Café but also to anyone acting independently of the Café anywhere in Alberta.
This Order was amended by Associate Chief Justice Rooke on May 13, 2021. Its scope was restricted to the Café only and to those acting in concert with the Café. As a result of the amendment, the restraining order could no longer apply to Pastor Stephens or Fairview Baptist Church.
Nevertheless, on May 16, 2021, the Calgary Police arrested Pastor Stephens at Fairview Baptist Church on the pretext of an irrelevant and over-broad restraining order. Pastor Stephens spent 18 days in jail but was released when provincial gathering restrictions were removed on July 1, 2021. Soon thereafter, four of the six charges laid against him were dropped by the Crown.
On September 15, 2022, Pastor Stephens went to trial on two remaining charges of violating public health orders. On November 1, 2022, Judge Allan Fradsham determined that Pastor Stephens had not been guilty of the two remaining charges.
On August 29, 2023, the Crown withdrew all charges against Fairview Baptist Church.
This follows the consequential Ingram v. Alberta decision. The Public Health Orders that Fairview Baptist Church had violated were found to be ultra vires the Public Health Act and were, therefore, invalid. The Act requires that all decisions with respect to public health orders must be made by the Chief Medical Officer of Health and not by the Alberta Cabinet. In her concluding remarks, Justice Barbara Romaine stated, “While involvement of elected officials in these important decisions may be desirable and even necessary, this involvement should have been structured in such a way as to mitigate the risk of political priorities interfering with the informed and well-qualified judgment of the [Chief Medical Officer of Health], as provided in the Public Health Act, without ignoring the underlying public interest.” (emphasis added)
“The Justice Centre is pleased to have been able to ensure that legal representation was provided to Pastor Tim Stephens, Pastor James Coates, Ty Northcott, and so many other courageous citizens who appropriately exercised their Charter rights and freedoms even when these were being unjustifiably violated by governments, from March of 2020 onwards,” stated John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre.
He fought the Law and he won!
Good for him.
“He fought the Law and he won!”
The winners here are nothing more than the LAWYERS.
Lawfare by attorneys and for the attorneys wallets.
Good news. He showed courage. Not many did.
The court found that politicians violated the law. Will they be prosecuted, or at least sued? Neither one seems very likely.
Yes, he won, nearly two years later, after spending time in jail.
Good news. He showed courage. Not many did.
Yes. It’s great he won. But the tyrant politicians will not suffer anything for their tyranny. They are blameless and free to be commie tyrants again with no repercussions.
That’s right, sadly.
Praise God for this Pastor standing.
Wish a lot more had joined him.
Some stood. God bless them.
I live less than a mile from the church, where it was located before, and during the CONdemic/PLANdemic. Before the illegal lockdowns, the church was sufficiently sized for its congregation and had congregational pot-lucks after each service.
After the church leaders decided to remain open and NOT require masking and a maximum of 15 people on site (as opposed to 15% of capacity for businesses), as dictated by Premier 'Justin' Kenney and Hellth Minister 'ShamWow' Shandro, many congregants left the church, but MANY more new people started attending. (As a personal aside, I am VERY thankful that both these two autocratic, globalist CINO politicians, are now out of office, hopefully forever! Unfortunately, neither will face 'justice', this side of heaven!)
Church attendance grew so much that the church had to have two services every Sunday. This was not what the church leaders wanted. With two services, they could not do the pot-luck and there was limited time for congregants to interact after the services.
In December 2022, they found a United Church of Canada (UCC) church that was failing so badly that the 'corporate' organization of the UCC chose to sell the building to Fairview Baptist Church (FBC).(Northminister United Church moved in with St. David's United.)
FBC held its first 'official' service at the much larger, newly owned church on Sunday, June 4, 2023. It is mortgage free. Again, what Satan tried to destroy, God instead, grew the church and gave it a more suitable location.
FWIW, the Premier at the time of the CONdemic/PLANdemic, CINO and globalist Jason ‘Justin’ Kenney, got kicked out, at least partly for illegally arresting Pastors and seizing churches. Our current Premier, Danielle Smith, became leader of the Alberta Conservatives, BECAUSE of her stand AGAINST all the illegal actions by Kenney, et al.
The Minister of Health at the time of the illegal lockdowns, ‘ShamWow’ Shandro, stood for election in the last Provincial election, in the riding (district) where I live. He lost by 7 votes. THAT was the best outcome that I could imagine! Unfortunately, the NDP (read:socialists/communist) took the riding. I voted for a separatist party, as I want Alberta out of Laurentianist Canaduh, I don’t like being a ‘colony’ of the Laurentianists.
Many other ‘Conservatives’ who supported Kenney’s and Shandro’s actions, did not stand for election this time around. Several were defeated in the election, unfortunately by the NDP. The good news is, most of those authoritarian CINOs are NOT in government anymore. AFA ‘justice’ for their actions? Likely not this side of Heaven.
One of the few in the whole country that stood up.
And paid the price, at least short term.
I was in Alberta the last two days. They seem like sheep. Trying to be too polite to speak truth. Seem to think someone is looking over their shoulder. A fellow made a comment in poor taste about Trudeau and they all laughed under their breath.
If someone would have said what he said about Biden where I live, the place would have erupted.
Now sue them for violations in Canada
Xlnt ending to the political machinations.
What did he say about Fidelito ?
So, this was a historic talk in the lobby of the Prince of Wales Hotel at Waterton National Park. Someone asked which “famous” people had been to the hotel in the last 100 years. He said Trudeau had pledged to spend three nights there. He flew in on a helicopter, gave some sort of speech, and went to spend his time at some faygs guest retreat (my interpretation). They all laughed under their breath.
That’s good to hear about a little sanity in Canada. Keep fighting the good fight. Alberta is full of good people.
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