EDMONTON, Alberta, May 7, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — On the second day of Canadian Pastor James Coates’ trial, his lawyer suggested that he was given a COVID-19 health fine because he was critical of his provincial government’s health orders in a sermon.
“He just preached a sermon that’s critical of the government, which is different than the other Sundays that RCMP and [Alberta Health Services] has shown up,” said Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) lawyer James Kitchen during the trial of Coates, who is a pastor at Grace Life Church.
“We know RCMP are not acting unilaterally. They are under the direction of Alberta Health Services. The evidence at trial establishes that AHS bureaucrat Janine Hanrahan directed the RCMP to ticket Coates after he gave the sermon critical of the government,” said Kitchen.
Coates was jailed for over a month for defying COVID-19 lockdown rules. He refused to accept bail conditions which blocked his release unless he agreed to not hold church services amid severe lockdowns.
He received a ticket on December 20, 2020, under the Alberta Public Health Act, after conducting a service at Grace Life which health inspectors claimed did not follow the 15 percent capacity limit, physical distancing rules,
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