Sask. government’s COVID-19 outdoor gathering limit challenged in court

Two anti-lockdown protestors are challenging the Saskatchewan government’s COVID-19 outdoor gathering limit.

Regina’s Jasmin Grandel is facing nine fines totalling $25,200 and Saskatoon’s Darrell Mills is facing two tickets worth $5,600 for breaking the public health orders by attending protests.

Marty Moore, one of the lawyers representing Grandel and Mills, called the government’s outdoor gathering restriction “entirely unreasonable.”

The defence, from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, wants to strike down the outdoor gathering law, which would dismiss all related tickets in Saskatchewan and set a precedent in Canada.

“The right to protest is one of the most cherished rights of democracy,” Moore told journalists outside Saskatoon’s Court of Queen’s Bench.

Moore argued restricting outdoor protests infringes on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“There is no demonstrable justification for limiting the right of people to protest outdoors,” Moore said.

The Crown argued the public health orders were constitutional.

On Dec. 17, 2020, the province prohibited gatherings of more than 10 people, to reduce the spread of the virus.

Two days later, people protested against the rule at Saskatoon’s Kiwanis Park — where Grandel and Mills received their first tickets.

Saskatchewan’s 10-person outdoor gathering limit was lifted on May 30, 2021.

The Crown said the gathering restrictions were in the public’s best interest to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and as a result, saved lives.

The lawyers debated COVID-19 transmissibility indoors versus outdoors, and read transcripts from Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab’s news conferences.

The Crown requested a quick decision from Justice Daniel Konkin, as it would impact similar cases scheduled at Provincial Court.

“It comes when it comes,” Konkin said.