Another charge laid at the Old Colony Mennonite Church in Wheatley

Another charge has been laid, following the province-wide lockdown, at the Old Colony Mennonite Church in Wheatley.

Chatham-Kent Police Service officials allege yesterday morning, December 27, 2020, shortly after 11 a.m., police once again responded to a report of a large gathering at the Wheatley church.

“Upon police arrival, officers observed over 100 unmasked people inside the church,” police officials said in a press release.

“The current regulations for religious services only allows for 10 people indoors. The Municipal by-law also states that masks are required during worship.”

A member of the church, a 43-year-old Merlin man, took responsibility for the gathering and was charged with failing to comply with a continued section 7.0.2 order, contrary to section 10(1)(a) of the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020, police say.

He will be required to attend court on a later date.

“Everyone complied with the officers’ requests to end the church service early and leave the property,” police officials added.

On Saturday, December 26, 2020 at 12:01 a.m. a province-wide shutdown took effect and Chatham-Kent entered the ‘Grey-
Lockdown’ tier of the ‘Keeping Ontario Safe and Open’ framework for a period of 28 days.

“The Chatham-Kent Police would like to remind everyone that restrictions have been implemented by the provincial government to halt the spread of COVID-19,” police officials say.

“As a community, it’s imperative that everyone does their part to keep the citizens of Chatham-Kent safe and healthy.”

This is the second charge laid at the Old Colony Mennonite Church in Wheatley in the past two days.

Details about the first charge can be found, here.

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