In this episode, I cover section 176 of the Criminal Code, which provides protection under the criminal code for churches and pastors. This section provides protection from criminal charges for obstructing, obstructing or attempting to obstruct a religious or spiritual service or any other function in connection with their calling.
00:11:44.500so if you're charged and you receive a ticket or a summons
00:11:50.680understand that these are provincial offenses these are not criminal offenses these are the equivalent
00:11:58.220to a speeding ticket so respectfully accept the ticket and do not throw it away do not discard
00:12:06.020it do not throw it in the trash do not ignore it because once it is served to you it is now your
00:12:12.400responsibility to deal with it the courts will deem that it has been served to you so you will be
00:12:18.320responsible for responding to it so dispute the ticket on the back of the ticket or the summons you
00:12:24.440want to check off the section that says you want to dispute the fine make a copy of that ticket as
00:12:30.280you're going to probably have to send the ticket into the court by mail and include in your notes or
00:12:36.520journal that you were taking at the time of your interaction include the information that's on that
00:12:41.700and then make notes and when you do make notes again i've just added some further information here
00:12:47.440make sure you put the date on your notes and the time that you're writing the notes and sign each page
00:12:53.440of your notes and include what is said and who said what during the interactions it's a good idea
00:13:02.100before you start writing all your detailed notes after you've had contact with law enforcement that
00:13:08.060you do review any video that you've taken because reviewing the video is going to really help you
00:13:13.960remember the sequence of exactly what happened and who said what and you will be allowed to introduce
00:13:19.940video and audio information that you have as evidence in court should it be required but i don't
00:13:26.920believe you're you're going to get that far you're not i don't believe you're going to even need to
00:13:30.780testify in court and i'll explain why um so um also the notes can be used to refresh your memory in
00:13:39.420court and that's why you should be taking the notes but they have to be made uh by yourself they can't
00:13:45.520be somebody else making notes for you and you have to do it immediately following the incident you
00:13:51.120can't make it a few days later so in provincial courts they're generally closed right now most of
00:13:58.060them are so in your first appearance you're going to expect to have a zoom meeting rather than an
00:14:03.160in-person court appearance um in alberta and ontario there's no trials that i know of and i think
00:14:12.340that's the same in british columbia as well depending on which province you're in i'm pretty
00:14:17.480sure all the provinces right now are having zoom meetings so the fines that you're being charged with
00:14:24.120whether it's a summons or a ticket these are for deterrent purposes designated to instill fear
00:14:29.540and to prevent you to stop your actions and to prevent you from proceeding any further with any further
00:14:36.640gatherings but i will say that i am not familiar with a single case yet where anybody has been
00:14:44.320convicted of any charter violation as a result of these lockdown measures or covid fines because these
00:14:51.400are all constitutional charter violations so i have here if arrested and only when taken into custody
00:14:59.420you must be given access to your preferred lawyer or if you don't have a preferred lawyer to free legal aid
00:15:05.260lawyer which is free of charge as soon as possible following any arrest and that you have to be given
00:15:12.140privacy for a conversation when you do have access to your lawyer so the only times we've seen any
00:15:17.800pastors that have actually been arrested and taken into custody it doesn't come from having a service
00:15:24.620and getting a ticket it comes from eventually when you violate the the provincial laws
00:15:32.940um enough times and i can't say how many times or enough times in every province uh it varies but
00:15:40.620assuming you've done it 10 20 30 times um then generally the police contact the attorney general of the
00:15:49.380province and they say we've issued numerous tickets to this pastor at this church and he's still violating
00:15:56.700we we can't get them to stop and so the attorney general speaks with the prosecutor of the local
00:16:03.000courthouse and they arrange to bring you before a judge and there'll be an order to have you attend court
00:16:10.860before a judge and then the judge will make a ruling on this violation and when the judge makes a ruling
00:16:18.460now the the court ruling will have more weight and more authority than the ticket and the judge might
00:16:26.540release you and say okay you know you've been to court now i'm giving you a court order not to
00:16:34.300continue your church service and if you do you can be arrested and brought before me again and this is what
00:16:41.620we've seen happen in several jurisdictions and once you're arrested and brought before the court
00:16:46.760the police would like to release you on a recognizance for violating a judge's order and in that
00:16:55.600recognizance the courts have the authority to put conditions on your release and one of the conditions
00:17:02.120would be that you no longer hold church service and in some provinces we've seen pastors
00:17:07.880um refused to sign that court order because uh or the the release order they refused to sign it
00:17:15.960as pastor coates did because he can't swear that he is not going to hold continue to hold church
00:17:21.320service so this is where your lawyer would get involved and they'll negotiate for your release
00:17:27.400without having to sign these types of conditions next slide
00:17:32.120so here are the basic human rights protections that we are all afforded and they still exist they
00:17:42.440haven't gone they're still there but they are being ignored and so the rights that we have is first of
00:17:50.660all the international declaration of human rights that came from the united nations and i think about
00:17:57.0001948 following the nuremberg trials of 46 and canada has signed on to those international basic human rights
00:18:05.040and we have the bill of rights from 1960 which gives you the freedom of religion and the freedom all the
00:18:13.240other freedoms that you'll see within the charter they exist on another federal platform called the bill of
00:18:20.040rights then we have the canadian charter of rights which was founded uh and the document was signed in
00:18:28.7601982 in 1982 happens to be the year that i started policing and i was one of the first classes went through
00:18:36.720one of the first classes in ontario to fully understand the effects of the canadian charter of rights
00:18:43.240and how as a law enforcement official we are supposed to protect people's charter rights and ensure that
00:18:51.600we never violate anybody's charter rights because there are serious repercussions for doing so
00:18:56.340so these are the different levels of protection that we have and in addition to that police services have
00:19:04.920what they call the police services act which was the police bible for how we operate and how you conduct
00:19:11.880business and it'll say right in the police services act that operations are pursuant to the canadian
00:19:18.520charter of rights and then police officers also take an oath and that oath in ontario police officers
00:19:27.880oath includes swearing to uphold and protect the canadian constitution which includes the
00:19:35.480canadian charter of rights so these are all the layers of protection that you have
00:19:41.400that are being violated right now they still exist but they're just being ignored and this is a big
00:19:51.240problem and there are a number of police officers who stand fast and say i will not violate anybody's
00:19:58.440charter rights i'm not prepared to issue these types of fines or lay these charges against people and there
00:20:05.560are other police officers who think that it's okay because some minister of health has declared that
00:20:12.840this law is necessary even though it goes against all those layers of protection that we have been afforded for
00:20:21.08060 70 years now so this is uh this is a real problem and at least currently to my understanding it appears that the courts are still protecting individuals in these cases
00:20:33.560cases next slide next slide so um we'll hear of things being legal and we'll hear of things being lawful lawful
00:20:43.240lawful carries much more weight than the term legal so a minister of health may write a law that is legal but it is not
00:20:52.840necessarily lawful and the differences between the two essentially on the legal side it's uh about being obedient
00:21:02.120it's just the core substance of the law and uh on the lawful side it deals with issues of morality and ethics
00:21:11.320and it represents the form and nature of the law so i have here on one side the term interior versus exterior
00:21:20.760and that essentially in describing the difference between legal and lawful would be
00:21:26.040on the legal side it would be how how a human looks at another human how a man looks at a man and you
00:21:34.200just see the outer shell what you see is on the outside but lawful uh on the interior is how god would perceive
00:21:44.360man he would look on the inside in the core and in the sustenance of the character and the morality and
00:21:52.600and and what it is that that makes that person tick so it's it's a much deeper stronger understanding of the system
00:22:01.880and you know a lawful um is the charter of rights is clearly lawful and it deals with human rights issues
00:22:10.200whereas on the legal side we have the health minister's decision that you should be charged which
00:22:15.160is in total conflict with the lawful side so i don't see i i'm i'm an individual who doesn't see
00:22:23.080how there could be a misunderstanding on these issues clearly the the health mandates that have
00:22:30.360come about are clearly unlawful and they are they are not to be enforced how they're being enforced is uh
00:22:41.160is a real travesty in this country especially with all the layers of protection that we currently have
00:22:46.600in place that has not been suspended under campaigns you're going to find church resources
00:22:55.320resources and then under church resources you will find so many different uh resource tabs there so
00:23:02.440one of those would be um you know tanya god delivering a message to to the churches protect faith family and
00:23:10.840freedom the next tab is our webinar which is actually a hundred an hour and 40 minute webinar talking about
00:23:19.160um you know the deceptive ploys and tactics of the government and and to sway and mislead and
00:23:24.760deceive and along with other things uh then we have a tab in their freedom and rights notice a printable pdf
00:23:32.280file after that we have actually our charter rights and freedoms clergymen so uh section 176 that
00:23:39.080constable vincent jerseys just went over so a printed copy of that we also have this no trespass signage
00:23:46.200uh which why don't you just cut right into it since i'm on this document right now uh constable vincent just
00:23:51.880to share where to post this uh at at the church yeah so a great location to post this would be um
00:24:01.240right at the entrance to the driveway of your property so anybody prepared to to turn on to your
00:24:08.120driveway let's say they make the turn on your driveway and they're coming up to an area where
00:24:11.960there could be a gate just prior to the gate have this sign and have something bring attention to it you
00:24:18.440can say uh you can put another sign next to it well it does say trespass notice and and it's quite large
00:24:24.600and it says private property but you could put an additional sign above it that says uh police read
00:24:30.440below or law enforcement read carefully something bring attention to law enforcement you need to read
00:24:37.320this and they need to understand this because as i said there are many law enforcement agencies that are
00:24:43.400not aware of section 176 and this not only applies to police but uh by law as well because quite often
00:24:51.960it's in in a lot of areas it's by law that are issuing the charges and you want the by law to know that
00:24:57.320they are also going to be violating a criminal code section if they come during the times of your your church
00:25:05.240process that's awesome thank you uh so along the the lines again what we have here interactions with
00:25:13.880government agent police and clergy and then we have also file a complaint against law enforcement um
00:25:21.480vincent you want to share a little bit more about that because there is a process as well too
00:25:27.080yeah so uh the filing a complaint process is different in every province and i can see here uh somewhere in
00:25:34.440there yeah it's all laid out for you by province which is fantastic you don't really have to do
00:25:39.320any homework just come to this page and all the information is there for you just have to click on
00:25:44.200the hyperlink and it'll take you right to the complaint process depending on the province that
00:25:48.840you're in um i can describe the one in ontario but you know it's going to be different in every
00:25:54.280province that the the complaint processes are usually the same they're somewhat independent
00:25:59.800independent um and then depending on your province it could be somewhat independent and um there will
00:26:06.600be a file number so just make sure that when you do file a complaint before you exit out if it's an
00:26:12.280online procedure or if you're speaking to somebody on the phone that you do get a case number or a
00:26:18.520complaint number you want to make sure you have the incident number uh with you because everything is
00:26:24.600relative to an incident number so always get that number so let's let's see uh if we'd love to field
00:26:30.280some questions that you have yeah there was a there was a question in the chat by um paul uh kamonko
00:26:37.560uh just so you know paul he says we're being told that the current lockdowns override the constitution
00:26:43.800and the charter of rights um that is not true the the lockdowns um many of the laws and enforcement
00:26:53.080strategies are violating our charter of rights but our charter of rights have not been suspended
00:27:00.360technically there is a notwithstanding clause in the charter that says the government may suspend
00:27:05.880your rights where the government um indicates and proves demonstrably uh why they need to be suspended
00:27:13.160and the test for proving why they need to suspend your rights is is substantial and the government has
00:27:19.480never done that they have never provided the data or proof they're just ignoring it that's what they're
00:27:25.240doing they're ignoring our rights but they have not suspended them and uh this is a big problem you
00:27:31.240know they think we're just going to write another law and yeah it kind of violates your rights but so
00:27:35.160what it's a big deal and it's something we cannot tolerate and that's why when when these charges come
00:27:41.160before the courts um whether you're representing yourself or somebody else is representing you
00:27:47.960you need to always state on your first appearance when you're at court that you are going to be
00:27:53.400challenging your constitutional rights on this charge and when the prosecutor knows you're going
00:27:59.800to be doing that they cannot defend that issue and and once you've once you've indicated you're going
00:28:07.080to be making a claim that your rights have been violated it's going to get thrown out because they
00:28:13.080can't prove the government cannot prove why it was necessary to violate your rights and so they are
00:28:18.680getting thrown out they're all getting thrown out i could just add to that vincent paul has asked where
00:28:24.040that document is if you look up the federal emergency act it actually states and i'm going to paraphrase it
00:28:31.000but that no order supersedes the bill of rights the charter of rights and the what was the universal
00:28:37.720declaration or something on human rights um so it's really clear and uh even though justin trudeau has
00:28:43.480not enacted it um he has not enacted if this was truly a an emergency a pandemic don't you think the
00:28:50.920government would have put that in place but trudeau has chosen not to because if he puts the emergency
00:28:56.920federal act in place then the he would lose uh power if things would have to go before the legislature
00:29:04.040they would have to prove demonstrably due to section one of the charter that this actually
00:29:09.240is an emergency and pandemic and of course they can't do that so he's making these backroom deals
00:29:14.120with the premiers and counting on them to do the dirty work and put these um unlawful orders in place
00:29:21.640any of these bills like um i don't know what province you're in we have bill uh c19 in bc i think
00:29:28.360it's bill 195 in ontario bill c10 in alberta and there are these uh provincial emergency orders but
00:29:36.040they bypass the legislature it's in violation when your mla no longer represents you that's actually a
00:29:43.160violation of the content constitution act of 1867 so there's nothing legal about what they're doing
00:29:48.680they're pretending that what they're doing and they're they're very convincing uh to the public
00:29:53.720that this is how it is action for canada is taking legal action in the form of having retained rocco
00:30:00.040galati and we're doing a constitutional challenge and we're taking on the bc and federal government
00:30:05.560to overturn bill 19 you can't ask them pretty please will you you know remove that bill even though they
00:30:11.160did it unlawfully so we are taking action we're doing a lot of work and uh to defend the rights of
00:30:18.120every canadian yeah and in ontario we have an ontario provincial emergency measures act so there's
00:30:25.080a federal emergency measures act and a provincial emergency measures act and both of them say pursuant
00:30:32.200to the canadian charter of rights so right yeah they're just ignoring your rights they're they haven't
00:30:38.920they haven't revoked them they're just ignoring them and and you know we know you cannot do that that
00:30:45.800that that is a big part of being a canadian is having these rights and you know it's uh it's a
00:30:51.400it's a huge joke that somebody would think it's okay to just ignore your rights we don't we don't
00:30:59.160well and the other thing yeah again to add to that vincent is that it's not even that the government has
00:31:03.800taken them away canadians have just handed them over you have every right to go to work and make a
00:31:08.840living for your family you have every right to go to assemble and the freedom of religion and that's
00:31:13.800why these tickets uh you know that they're writing none of them are coming to fruition the courts
00:31:19.320aren't approving them because they absolutely 100 percent know it's in violation of the constitution
00:31:25.160and charter rights and freedoms i really think i need to stress to you that uh you need to tell
00:31:30.760people and especially the pastors here on the obstruction charge which we see most pastors
00:31:37.000being being being arrested under obstruction bringing back to the legal side the unlawful
00:31:44.440sides not being or the lawful sides not being represented and the police are actually being
00:31:49.160unlawful in this in this area which then is using the constitution to their benefit if they're investigating
00:31:55.800uh anything they have the right to arrest if you interfere with with the investigation this is where most
00:32:04.520pastors we see poloski we see uh grace life we see um the baptist church allowing people into their
00:32:12.600churches have allowed them to then also obstruct the services or they're obstructing the services but
00:32:19.880at the same time they're obstructing investigation with the police yep so there's there is a way to
00:32:26.600vocalize your concern and be uh forceful and tactful by indicating that you want them to
00:32:34.360get out of your process to get out of your church to get out of the ceremony and the service that you
00:32:41.640are holding because it's a 176 violation but that's being vocal to stand in the way of somebody who's
00:32:49.720trying to get past you or to try to physically grab or hold or block i would never suggest that you do
00:32:56.760that because that could be uh an obstruction under the criminal code but to stand there to stand your
00:33:03.240ground and to vocalize your concerns and to vocalize section 176 and to tell them to leave
00:33:10.280that is not an obstruction so feel free to do that just don't uh don't block their car or you know you
00:33:18.520can't grab them you can't get physical with them not that i suggest you would nor has any pastor that i'm
00:33:24.360aware of but you can certainly be vocal for sure i do have to say though when you come into an
00:33:34.040argument with an officer and you can't obstruct them in that point can you know this is what i've been
00:33:40.120seeing well they'll charge you they'll charge you with obstruct if you do not identify that's why i say
00:33:47.000you know when they're when you're asked to identify you must identify and so you can be one up on that
00:33:53.080by identifying before they even ask you to identify you've already identified so that's having the upper
00:33:59.320hand on that it's not like they had to ask you you just volunteered it right up front but if you do not
00:34:05.480if you do not provide your identification then they will consider that as an obstruction
00:34:10.920right right and now i i can't speak on on some things that we have done in our body our church
00:34:19.240is with tanya and glotti there um but i wanted to say on the trust back part of it that uh in our
00:34:26.680situation we had our signs posted at the post and they still failed to read those signs so my
00:34:35.800encouragement to other pastors here when these things do take place that they have them
00:34:40.760formed in paper uh to give them as they speak and not to allow them that inform them that they're
00:34:49.880not going to obstruct their investigation but inform them of their right yeah and in addition what i've
00:34:58.120seen uh that actually works quite well is if you do form a small but effective security team i've seen it
00:35:06.440where you can have one or two say two individuals at the entrance of the driveway um sort of um
00:35:14.600screening the vehicles as they come in and if law enforcement comes in then you can actually talk to
00:35:21.400them there at the entrance and have that discussion at the entrance to the driveway similarly
00:35:27.400uh some have two-way radios and they would radio ahead to the security team that's in the church
00:35:34.360and say the police are now on site just letting you know and when um when there there's been cases
00:35:41.480where service is taking place uh police have shown up and the security team has when the service starts the
00:35:49.160security team puts a chain across the entrance to the driveway so it's already chained across and they stand
00:35:55.320away from that chain so they're not in a position to open it or unlock it they'll stay a substantial
00:36:01.320distance away from the chain and so that blocks the police vehicles from coming in but if the officer
00:36:06.760gets out of the vehicle and starts walking toward the church they go into the church the security team
00:36:12.760goes into the church and they and they lock the doors and they actually have one-way mirror reflective
00:36:20.440film on the door and then they just lock the door and go inside so there is no face-to-face contact
00:36:26.360with the police and the police have no way of getting into the church because the door is now locked
00:36:31.320so that just that just resolves that confrontation and i've seen that happen but if you're going to stand
00:36:38.120there and have conversation and they're telling you to open the door they may consider that an
00:36:42.840obstruction but if you go in and lock the door and disappear there's no one there for them to to blame for that