Municipal officials are still hoping to find a peaceful resolution when it comes to repeat offenders and illegal gatherings under the province’s stay at home orders.
CAO Don Shropshire says there is the option for police and bylaw enforcement officers to close churches or businesses that refuse to comply with COVID restrictions.
“That’s not the preferred method. It starts with the education, then moves to fines, and then it can move to closures if people are not being compliant,” Shropshire says. “The best way and the most efficient way is to get everybody trying to get on side and respect it, but closures are a possibility if people are refusing to comply.”
Shropshire says the majority of Chatham-Kent residents, including businesses and religious organizations, are doing their best to adhere to the rules.
The municipality’s medical officer of health, Dr. David Colby, has the jurisdiction to issue a closure order, but says it’s somewhat redundant when there are other means already in place.
“It’s a little bit of wearing a belt and suspenders to issue a closure order, because the provincial law is very clear about what churches are allowed to do and what they’re not allowed to do,” Colby says. “This has recently been recognized as a legal precedent by a judge closing a church in the Aylmer region.”
Chatham-Kent Police and bylaw enforcement officers have laid a dozen charges against organizers of gatherings at Old Colony Mennonite Churches in Chatham-Kent, including one in Dresden Monday, and at the Wheatley branch of the church both Sunday and Monday.
