'In light of the failure of courts in Alberta to uphold and protect our Charter rights and freedoms during a public health emergency, these changes to the Public Health Act and Alberta Human Rights Act are sadly necessary,' stated lawyer John Carpay.
On Monday, the Court of Appeal of Alberta acquitted pastor Tracy Fortin and her Church in the Vine in Edmonton of COVID-related convictions from April of 2022.
On Wednesday, the Alberta Crown Prosecutions Service in a statement said that 'there is no longer a reasonable likelihood of conviction in relation to Public Health Act charges involving the contravention of the disputed orders from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.'
In a case involving three individual citizens and two Baptist church communities that assembled during the COVID-19 pandemic, Judge Barbara Romaine declared that their rights were infringed upon by the government.
'The pandemic’s presence in Manitoba demanded decisive action in order to reduce the spread of the virus and in order to flatten the curve,' the Court of Appeal of Manitoba ruled Monday.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms warns that the Minister of Health and the provincial government are about to be granted alarming new powers.