Patrick Allard, a former Fort Whyte provincial primary candidate and opponent of COVID-19 restrictions, received the highest total: almost $35,000. Allard had received 14 tickets, more than any other. He also broke the terms of his police release, unlike the other four. The amounts for the other four defendants — Church of God (Restoration) pastor Tobias Tissen, Todd McDougall, Sharon Vickner and Gerald Bohemier — ranged from more than $14,200 to nearly $19,000. In total, all the fines came to nearly $100,000. All five defendants received multiple fines for repeatedly breaching limits on outdoor public gatherings in 2020 and 2021. They have “no expression of insight or remorse for their involvement,” District Court Judge Victoria Cornick said Thursday. “A message must be sent that public health orders … must be respected.” Tobias Tissen, pastor of the Church of God (Restoration), speaks with a protester outside the courthouse Thursday after being fined for violating public health restrictions. (Cameron MacLean/CBC) Supporters of the defendants packed the courtroom, with more standing in the hallway outside. The judge thanked those in the courtroom for their patience, saying it was an “emotionally charged” matter. A loud cheer and applause erupted from supporters in the hallway as the defendants left the courtroom, before security officials calmed them down. Speaking to reporters outside the court building, Allard said he felt no remorse for the offenses that led to the fines. “I never shy away from the truth and my real feelings,” she said. Each person was fined multiple times for violations over several months. In each case, Cornick issued a reprimand for the first offense, with progressively higher amounts for subsequent offenses. One of Allard’s fines was $5,000. The Crown had sought fines of between $18,000 and $42,000 per person, plus costs and surcharges, because the five had organized and spoken at rallies and urged others not to follow health orders. Defense attorneys asked for a reprimand, not fines. “They weren’t breaking windows. They weren’t rioting in the streets,” Alex Steigerwald, who represented all the defendants except Allard, told the court Wednesday. “My clients stood up and protested for something they believed in.” Cornick waived costs and surcharges for all defendants. They plan to appeal to the Court of Queen’s Bench, saying the public health orders they were convicted of breaching breach their constitutional rights. Bohemier, a retired chiropractor, said they want to appeal in order to “argue why the Constitution should and probably did protect us to be able to speak like this.” Supporters greet the defendants, including Allard and Wickner, outside the courthouse. (CBC) In the meantime, the defendants said, they have no intention of paying the fines imposed on them by the court. In 2021, Tissen, along with seven rural churches, launched a legal challenge to the province’s COVID-19 public health orders, arguing that they violate the freedoms of conscience, religion, expression and peaceful assembly. In October, Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal ruled that the restrictions did not infringe those rights.
