Religious Services -- Non-Essential Under COVID

"Never in 1,500 years of Western history has the Church of Jesus Christ not met for Easter or missed months of worship and ministry -- even in times of war or plague far more devastating than COVID-19."
"The inhumanity of abandoning people in their deepest hour of grief or need is gut-wrenching for followers of Christ."
Christian priests and pastors -- group letter to Premier Doug Ford, Ontario ... May 11

"There is no constitutional right to buy liquor and marijuana, but there is a constitutional right to worship and to assemble to practise one's faith."
"People are permitted to 'gather' at golf courses, beaches and stores in numbers greater than five, but not in prayer. This is unacceptable."
"We are an Orthodox faith that does not permit driving on the Sabbath."
"When violating any Charter freedom, a government must prove that such violations are demonstrably justified."
Toronto Rabbis, group letter to Premier Doug Ford, Ontario ... May 22

Orthodox Jews are silhouetted against the rotunda in City Hall during the Chanukah event called 'Occupy City Hall' in Toronto .Darren Calabrese/National Post

"The Ford government has been slow to make reasonable accommodations for faith groups, even where they present little or no public health risk, and even as the province is beginning to open up."
"The more we learn about this virus, and the longer these infringements on Canadians' civil liberties go on, the less likely governments will be able to meet that test."
Lawyer Lisa Bildy, Justice Centre for constitutional Freedoms

It is strangely anomalous to see alcohol and marijuana sales outlets classified alongside pharmacies and grocery stores as 'essential services' during a time of lockdown, when all other shops, along with industry and commercial outfits, schools, exercise gyms, public parks and other venues have all been shut down, inaccessible to a public that has been instructed by law to practise social distancing, to exit their homes only for emergencies or to obtain food or pharmaceuticals, leading many to unemployment lines.

Regulations were imposed, punishable by law if they were flouted, that forbade people from gathering in clusters, at meetings, for parties or celebrations, entertainment or sport events. Included in that were of course attendance at church or any place of worship. Gatherings of over five people other than those related to one another and/or living together were forbidden in the interests of 'flattening the curve' of the epidemic, getting it under control, and avoiding hospitals being overwhelmed.

For Christians, the most sacred of holiday events, Easter, was a dismal affair, church service essentially forbidden. For Jews, Passover was similarly distanced by isolation, and for Muslims, Ramadan and Eid were solitary affairs, all religious/social/cultural events high on the calendars of the faithful, for the first time in living memory entirely disrupted, people left in a state of astonished disbelief and feelings of abandonment.

The Province of Ontario saw its government relent, making drive-in religious services possible; gatherings remaining excluded, but brief exposure to priestly blessings possible in a surreal alternative to being present and involved in familiar, comforting religious routine. For Jews to hold prayer sessions, a quorum of ten participants must assemble. For Orthodox Jews forbidden from driving during the Sabbath, the drive-in solution is unworkable, unthinkable. The limit of five in an assembly is simply unworkable for Jewish prayer.

Ontario and Quebec are the two provinces in Canada hosting the greatest proportion of Canadian Jews. Making the majority of people of Jewish faith in Canada bound by government laws in those two provinces. Each province in Confederation works autonomously in their reaction to the novel coronavirus and each government's alternative choices to normalcy for their populations.

Worshippers in Alberta are permitted to gather in groups of 50 or one-third of the building's capacity, while in British Columbia indoor events are permitted gatherings of 50 people. Fifty vehicles are permitted presence at events such as a church service. Indoor and outdoor gatherings in Saskatchewan are permitted ten people, their choice of loosening their initial strict lockdown conditions more congenial to the needs of their religious communities, as guaranteed by the Constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Church of God in Aylmer, Ont. faced the threat of fines when it held this drive-in service on April 19. But houses of worship across Ontario can now hold drive-in services starting this weekend. (Submitted by Herbert Hildebrandt)