James Coates. (Screenshot: GraceLife Church of Edmonton/YouTube)
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An Albertan pastor heads to court this morning to stand trial for allegedly violating Alberta public health orders by holding worship gatherings in violation of gathering size limits.
James Coates remained in police custody for over a month after being arrested in mid-February and refusing to agree to bail conditions. All but one of his charges were dropped in March, with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms saying at the time that Coates and the JCCF wanted to contest in court the constitutionality of limiting worship gathering sizes.
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Calgary police are working with the province to better enforce COVID-19 restrictions, as many tickets issued under the Public Health Act have not been prosecuted.
Forty per cent of the 576 tickets issued provincewide for public health violations between March 2020 and March 2021 have been withdrawn, according to the Department of Justice and Solicitor General.
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And while 38 per cent of the cases remain before the court, only 12 per cent of the tickets have ended in conviction. The other 10 per cent have been “quashed or resolved by the court.”
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CALGARY Police and bylaw officers across Alberta have issued 576 tickets under the Public Health Act since the start of the pandemic, but only around 12 per cent of those tickets have resulted in a conviction. According to numbers provided to CTV News by the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, 40 per cent of all tickets issued have been withdrawn, but many are still yet to make it to court. Fewer than 70 tickets have resulted in a conviction or were paid before reaching court. About 218 tickets, or 38 per cent, remain in court and it could take several months for them to work through the court process. Another 10 percent of tickets were quashed or otherwise resolved by the court, according to the province s prosecution service.
Pastor James Coates and family. (JCCF)
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An Albertan pastor who has been in custody for a month after violating public health orders is set to be released from custody, with all but one of the charges brought against him being dropped.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) says that Crown Prosecutors agreed to drop most of the charges against James Coates of GraceLife Church near Edmonton. The JCCF says he will be released from jail in the coming days, without any conditions, pending his May 3-5 trial in Provincial Court. The Justice Centre will defend Pastor Coates on one remaining charge of violating an Order of the Chief Medical Officer of Health by challenging the lawfulness of the public health order that he is charged with violating, the JCCF says in a release.