Pastor Arthur Lucier

Image Credit: FACEBOOK: Art Lucier

A Kelowna pastor who held a church service during lockdown has lost a legal challenge against the province.

According to a Sept. 21 B.C. Provincial Court decision, Pastor Arthur Charles Lucier from the Kelowna Harvest Church challenged the province after he got a $2,300 ticket for holding a church service in January 2021.

Pastor Lucier argued that the public health order issued by Dr. Bonnie Henry which restricted gatherings infringed a number of his rights guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The decision says the pastor got the $2,300 ticket for breaching the public health order by holding church service at his Harvey Avenue church on Jan. 24, 2021.

Not long afterward the pastor filed the legal challenge.

The pastor was a prominent vocal opponent of the lockdown rules restricting religious services and appeared at protests in Kelowna last year.

The decision goes over an array of complex legal arguments about the structure of the public health order and how it relates to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Pastor Lucier argues the Public Health Act is "flawed and insufficient" in its review process and gives him no process in which to appeal its orders.

"He says the result must be that his Charter challenge in these proceedings must be allowed," the decision reads.

However, Judge Clarke Burnett dismissed the pastor's legal argument.

"The legislature did not intend for individuals to 'breach now and challenge later' when drafting the legislation," Judge Burnett said. "I find that it would undermine the purpose of the (Public Health Act) if individuals were allowed to ignore orders issued by health officers put in place to address an imminent health risk to the public and then be allowed to challenge them in subsequent separate proceedings."

He pointed out that Pastor Lucier had several legal options regarding how to deal with the public health order.

"He could have sought a reconsideration under the (Public Health Act) he could have pursued a judicial review... or he could have pursued both," the Judge said. "However, instead of doing so, he chose to ignore the January 8, 2021 (public health order) and seeks to challenge it in this prosecution."

The judge said he chose to "breach first" and then challenge the law later.

"The result... is that he shall not be permitted to do so," he said.

Ultimately, the pastor had his Charter challenge dismissed.

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