The moving parties, consisting of two churches and their members, brought motions to set aside judicial orders directing compliance with COVID-19 religious gathering limits.
They argued the capacity restrictions infringed their freedom of religion under s. 2(a) of the Charter.
The court found that the numerical and percentage capacity limits did infringe s. 2(a) by interfering with the claimants' ability to engage in religious activity as a collective in-person congregation.
However, applying the Oakes test, the court concluded that the restrictions were demonstrably justified under s. 1 of the Charter as a reasonable limit in a free and democratic society to protect public health during the pandemic.
The motions were dismissed.
