Five Manitobans, including a pastor who openly defied COVID-19 restrictions, have been convicted of repeatedly violating pandemic public health orders and are set to learn their sentences Thursday. Tobias Tissen, Patrick Allard, Todd McDougall, Sharon Vickner and Gerald Bohemier admitted to violating limits on outdoor public gatherings that were in place for several months in 2020 and 2021. Provincial Court Judge Victoria Cornick sentenced the five on Wednesday based on a statement of facts agreed to by their attorneys. “All five people indicated that they breached (public health) orders in a very public way,” said Crown attorney Shaun Sass. They encouraged others to attend (demonstrations) and break the law.” Thiessen, a pastor at a rural church southeast of Winnipeg, has been one of several high-profile opponents of the COVID-19 restrictions. He was fined for holding church services above the then-allowable limits and was a frequent speaker at anti-restriction rallies. The others organized or spoke at rallies and continued to do so even after being ticketed, Sass said. “Repeated ticketing has done absolutely nothing to deter these offenders.” After the tickets, worth $1,296 each, continued to pile up, police arrested the five. The Crown is seeking fines of between $18,000 and $42,000 for each person, depending on the number of offences, plus court costs and surcharges. McDougal, a citizen journalist, is on the low end with convictions on eight charges. Allard, who ran as an independent in a provincial election earlier this year, has the most with 14. Defense lawyers said the fines proposed by the Crown would be unduly harsh and overwhelming. They asked the judge to issue a reprimand, which would not carry a fine. “They weren’t breaking windows. They weren’t rioting in the streets,” Alex Steigerwald, who represents four of the five, told the court. “My clients stood up and protested for something they believed in.” All five told the court they have already been punished for their actions. Two said they lost their jobs. Bohemier, 72, said the stress has taken a toll on his health. All five spent brief periods in prison after their arrest and before being released on parole. “We were peaceful, publicly rejecting government excess,” Wickner said. Allard and McDougall have already said they plan to appeal to a higher court, where they hope to challenge the public health orders under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They were not allowed to do so in the district court, they said. “We need to complete the entire trial to proceed with an appeal,” Allard said in a social media post earlier in the week. The judge said she would issue her sentencing decision Thursday morning. Thiessen was part of a group of several churches that lost a Charter challenge last year against Manitoba’s COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings and religious services. A Court of Queen’s Bench judge ruled that the restrictions were permissible under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in response to a public health emergency. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 24, 2022.
