Two of the tickets given to Kelowna-area individuals alleging violations of COVID-19 public health orders have been dropped by the Crown, a lawyer says.
But legal action in connection with two other tickets remains ongoing, according to a lawyer representing individuals given the tickets.
“We contested a number of tickets on behalf of clients in the Kelowna area, a number of which were then stayed by the Crown,” Jay Cameron of the Calgary-based Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms, said Tuesday.
“But there’s also a couple where we’re involved that are still going forward,” Cameron said.
Earlier in the ongoing pandemic, people and organizations were given tickets for such things as participating in public protests agains health orders, uncovering their faces against provisions of mask mandates, and attending worship services. The tickets were typically issued by the RCMP.
In March, the BC Supreme Court ruled public health orders prohibiting outdoor protests were unconstitutional.
In many cases, people who received pandemic-related fines refused to pay and filed a formal Notice of Dispute, signaling their intention to fight the ticket in court.
“In BC, when a ticket is disputed, it’s subject to charge approval before there’s a notice of hearing issued. So the Crown looks at it and decides, on the basis of two factors – whether or not it’s in the public interest and whether there’s a likely chance of conviction – whether or not the hearing is going to proceed,” Cameron said.
The Justice Center represented hundreds of individuals from across Canada who were given pandemic-related tickets and fines. As in Kelowna, Cameron says, some have been dropped and some are still ongoing.
Three tickets totaling $6,900 given to Nadine Podmoroff, a Nelson woman who organized protests against public health orders, were dropped last month, Cameron says. But he said the Justice Center is still defending “dozens” of people in the Fraser Valley against $2,800 tickets they received for participating in in-person church services.
