It didn’t take long for the first charges to be laid in Chatham-Kent for breaking the province-wide lockdown regulations.
All of Ontario entered into the Grey-Lockdown framework of COVID-19 restrictions at 12:01 on December 26th.
At 11am that morning, police were called to a large gathering at the Old Colony Mennonite Church in Wheatley where officers found over 100 people inside without masks, despite provincial restrictions allowing only 10 people for indoor religious services.
A member of the church, a 50-year-old Merlin man, claimed responsibility for the gathering and has now been charged under the Reopening Ontario Act, and will appear in court January 27th.
Chatham-Kent Police say everyone complied with the officers’ request to leave the property.