Fines finally flow for five of Fraser Valley's fervently faithful, facile to the finish
Pastors proselytize in BC Supreme Court one last time, defiant about an incorrect idea about rights to violate human laws that go against their god's laws
As the five-year anniversary of the declaration of a public health emergency approaches, and after four years of fighting, five Fraser Valley church pastors stood before a BC Supreme Court justice Friday to be ordered to finally pay thousands of dollars in fines they were handed for breaking the laws, laws almost every other church in B.C. willingly obeyed for the good of the community.
Unrepentant, unapologetic and quietly indignant to a man, each stood before Justice Andrea Ormiston unable to stop themselves for preaching into the court record before being ordered to pay the dozen or so fines in total for holding church services while it was illegal in late 2020 and early 2021.
“I will not concede the worship of god to authority in any way,” Pastor John Koopman of Chilliwack Free Reformed Church told Justice Ormiston before being sentenced Friday morning.
“Where my commitment to the Lord puts me at odds with this court, I will obey God rather than man.”
Luckily for him, Justice Ormiston is a woman, one who then ordered him to pay the $2,000 fine he was issued back in 2020 in addition to a mandatory $300 victim surcharge. He also was ordered to pay three other $200 fines plus $30 for each for a grant total of $2,990.
Koopman originally was fined 23 times but several of those fines were dropped.
There were five pastors in total on Friday accompanied by supporters filling up courtroom 305. In addition to Koopman was James Butler from Free Grace Baptist Church in Chilliwack; Timothy Champ from Valley Heights Community Church in Chilliwack; Brent Smith from Riverside Calvary Church in Langley; and John Van Muyen from Immanuel Covenant Reformed Church in Abbotsford.
Friday’s sentencing hearing resulted in nothing more than the original fines in addition to the mandatory 15 per cent victim surcharge.
Crown counsel argued, simply, that the penalties meted out for violations of the public health officer’s gathering and events order were appropriate. The defence lawyer speaking for the men via video link said the men made good faith efforts to maintain safety and security while holding services that were not permitted “in the context that many things didn’t make sense.”
The lawyer referenced an argument made in the 2021 case of Beaudoin v. British Columbia regarding what some saw as hypocritical or inconsistent rule on gatherings.
“People could go to the bar and watch a hockey game but you could not go indoors or outdoors in any opportunity to worship,” he said.
The Beaudoin case involved activist Alain Beaudoin along with pastors Koopman, Van Muyen and Smith. In it, they argued that the prohibition on religious gatherings violated freedom of religion, freedom of expression, as well as freedom of assembly and association guaranteed in the Charter.
They said the orders were “overbroad, arbitrary and disproportionate.” Chief Justice Thomas Hinkson rejected that argument, finding the orders were addressing a pandemic and by necessity were broad to protect all British Columbians.
In addressing Justice Ormiston Friday in advance of his $2,300 fine, Van Muyen was either grandstanding or trying to re-litigate arguing that it was unfair churches had restrictions while Costco and Walmart were open and full of strangers who don’t know each other, ignoring the fact that they sell food, which is essential.
“It’s a God-given right to do that as far as we are concerned and a constitutional right,” he said. “Those are the freedoms that we were given in this country and they were never taken away.”
Pastor Smith did not address the court.
The Beaudoin case, incidentally, almost went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada but the high court declined to hear the case.
Of the five, Koopman was the most defiant about violating human laws to do what he wanted to worship his god, essentially daring some government official not in the room to do it again.
“I must say that my convictions remain the same. I will not concede the worship of God to authority in any way under the threat of fine or imprisonment, and I hope the government never puts me in such a position again where my commitment to the Lord puts me at odds with this court. I don’t want to be at odds with this court, but if they do so, I will obey God rather than man.”
His final line sounded a little like a prediction of damnation, to whom exactly was not clear.
“Each of us will one day give an account to God himself on this matter.”
Regardless of this existential prediction, he was ordered to pay his fines totalling $2,990.
Next up was Butler who agreed that Romans 13 in the Bible says civil government should be followed, but not where those laws supersede God’s authority. He said that all followers of Jesus Christ were in fact “bound by scripture” to obey his rules to gather even when told not to.
Butler also addressed non-Christians, seemingly arguing that he had to violate public health orders because there were people who don't believe what he believes.
“The unbeliever needs the gospel of Jesus Christ as there is always a crisis worse than COVID,” Butler said before receiving his fines totalling $2,530, “And that perpetual crisis is rebellion of men and women against a holy god.”
He also said (somewhat unbelievably) that “unbelievers” need the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“For in that gospel the righteousness is revealed, which is the only hope of salvation from sin and the only preparation for the coming judgment of God.”
More planning for end times.
Champ was the least apocryphal or threatening or dramatic. He suggested, with somewhat circular logic, that his motivation was a “sincere and genuine belief” that Jesus Christ is the leader of his church and that’s why they remained open.
“We tried to remain open in a way that was safe,” he said addressing Justice Ormiston. “We singularly wanted to honour Jesus Christ and we believe that is what we were doing.”
His fines were $2,990. All men were given one year to pay.
The sentencing hearing on Friday followed the final step of the long drawn-out process, the penultimate of which was Koopman’s desperate hail Mary arguing, ironically, there had been an “abuse of process” in his case, which was rejected on Oct. 4, 2024.
This link below is my dare to Pastor Koopman, which can be shared with any of the five, regarding my suggestion that maybe they should break the law, specifically nothing more than city zoning bylaws, and do some of that Jesus stuff, you know, feed the hungry, house the cold and homeless.
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Paul J. Henderson
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