COVID lockdown gatherings appeal denied

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This article was published 13/10/2023 (736 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba judge has dismissed an appeal by five people convicted of repeatedly violating public health orders intended to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Patrick Allard, Gerald Bohemier, Todd McDougall, pastor Tobias Tissen and Sharon Vickner were fined a total of just more than $100,000 in August 2022.

They organized, attended or spoke at anti-lockdown rallies in Winnipeg, Steinbach and Winkler — breaching restrictions on outdoor gatherings — between November 2020 and May 2021.

The five appealed provincial court Judge Victoria Cornick’s pre-trial dismissal of a motion that claimed the public health orders violated their charter rights.

Cornick ruled the issue had already been settled in an earlier decision by Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal.

Joyal ruled the restrictions did not violate charter rights, following a legal challenge by Tissen and seven rural churches.

Tissen was a pastor at the Church of God (Restoration) near Steinbach.

In an 18-page decision, dated Oct. 10, Court of King’s Bench Justice Vic Toews agreed with the lower court judge’s decision and dismissed the appeal.

“She properly found that the charter challenges had no arguable merit,” Toews wrote.