A drive-in Easter Sunday service was set to take place at Centennial Arena's parking lot, but was cancelled due to public complaints and orders from Public Health. (Facebook/Chad Jeremy Glascock)

By Aaron Schulze

Drive-in Drama

Law firm questions reasoning behind cancelled drive-in Easter service in Nipawin

Apr 17, 2020 | 11:38 AM

A public drive-in Easter Service in Nipawin that was called off the night before has drawn attention from outside the province.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), a law firm based out of Calgary that specializes on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, believes the Government of Saskatchewan infringed on the rights of Nipawin Apostolic Church staff.

Jay Cameron, a litigation manager with JCCF, claims multiple sections of the Charter including freedom of conscience and religion, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association were infringed upon, when the public health ordered the drive-in service to shut down.

“Public health ordering social isolation is to prevent the spread of the virus, not to shut down worship or social gatherings if there’s no risk of transmission,” Cameron said. “When you have a church service when people are in parked cars with their windows up listening to a service on the radio, and there’s no risk of transmission, the government is acting in an unreasonable and arbitrary fashion. The government has to be consistent. Restaurants are open and you can get out of your car and get take-out food, as long as you stay two metres apart. That’s people leaving their cars. In this church service, there was nobody leaving their cars.”

The drive-in, hosted by Nipawin Apostolic Church, was set to take place on Sunday, April 12 at 10:30 a.m. at Centennial Arena’s parking lot, with traffic guides to ensure vehicles are six metres apart.

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Pastor Jordan Gadsby previously told northeastNOW: “Unfortunately, Public Health has received complaints about this event now and decided that it is classified as a mass gathering and should not happen.”

Scott Livingstone, CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), said during a press conference on April 14 that the Public Health officer in question did not cancel the drive-in service; he received public complaints, contacted the Nipawin Apostolic Church, and found there was not a plan in place to ensure attendees stay in their vehicles.

“[Public Health officers are] not in the business of licensing events of this nature,” Livingstone said. “When they’re asked for their advice and provide that advice, it’s not in the context of approving these events. It’s to provide the advice of how to best run these events and protect the public from doing these types of things.”

Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer, added while the province’s State of Emergency orders no gatherings of more than 10 people, the recommendation is to minimize any gatherings outside of the household.

Cameron said the JCCF asked the SHA to confirm it will permit activities such as drive-in church services and to not threaten churches with fines.

“We’re waiting for a response from them, and depending on what they say, it may be necessary to take further steps,” Cameron said.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow