NOTE: in the article, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) filed an abuse of process application on behalf of the churches, in response to the ongoing prosecution. 12 days of proceedings are set aside in provincial court (for June).
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Drea Humphrey interviews B.C. MLA Michael de Jong, who questioned the NDP government on why it’s still prosecuting churches that safely opened during biased COVID restrictions instead of reconciling with them.
For over three years, the province of British Columbia has engaged in a legal battle with three Fraser Valley churches who served their community with in-person worship, despite COVID public health orders that forbid them from doing so.
Despite pubs, fitness classes and even indoor theme parks receiving accommodations to remain open during the declared COVID-19 pandemic, Abbotsford’s Immanuel Covenant Reformed Church, Langley’s Riverside Calvary Chapel and Chilliwack’s Free Reformed Church, were collectively slapped with over 40 fines, each costing $2,300, for practicing their religion.
“Isn’t it time that the government tried to reconcile with the law-abiding and yes, by definition, God-fearing folks who drew on their faith during a very difficult time and couldn’t understand why they could go to a Pilates class but couldn’t go to church,” MLA Mike de Jong, asked of the governing NDP during question period in the legislature last week.
While NDP Attorney General Niki Sharma declined to comment on the matter, the reality Premier David Eby’s government is still hammering down on the churches. Next month, 12 days of proceedings are set aside in provincial court for an abuse of process application the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms filed on behalf of the churches in response the ongoing prosecution.
In today’s report, I sit down and interview de Jong, who, while serving as a member of the legislative assembly with the B.C. United, was one of the very few politicians to speak out about the biased restrictions on Christian places of worship during mass COVID hysteria.