Edmonton church FIGHTING against Alberta government to stay open

Fight The Fines

Reporting on and fighting the pandemic fines.

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Fight the Fines is helping an Edmonton church beat 12 obstruction charges after the pastor's wife blocked Alberta Health inspectors from disrupting services.

Fight The Fines is a civil liberties project, where, in partnership with the registered Canadian charity The Democracy Fund, and through crowdfunding, we put victims of lockdown tickets in contact with top civil liberties and criminal litigators to fight their charges and fines at no cost to them.

Church in the Vine's Pastor Rodney Fortin and his wife Tracy have spent the pandemic leading their congregation through the maze of restrictions and contradictions in the government's new COVID regulations. They did their best to follow the rules while honouring their faith in God and what they say he calls them to do: meet together in a body of believers each week.

But the Fortins and the Church in the Vine congregation want to do that uninterrupted by the state. They won't let government COVID inspectors defile the security of their weekly gatherings, which is why each week, during Sunday services, Tracy positions herself at the front lobby of the church while Rodney is at the pulpit. Tracy may be salt and light, but she's also full of strength. She's the bouncer — at her own church — plunked at the front doors to keep the government out.

So like many other churches in Alberta, the government is trying to bring Church in the Vine to kneel before them. They have slapped Tracey and the church with a dozen obstruction charges. The Fortin's lawyer, James Kitchen, used to be with the Justice Centre but he has since left the charitable law firm for his own practice. However, the Fortins so liked Kitchen that they have been paying him out of pocket to keep him working on their case.

They need some help. Fighting 12 charges is an enormous and expensive proposition. The good news is that Rebel News likes James Kitchen too! We have absorbed Church in the Vine — and their lawyer — into our Fight The Fines civil liberties project so we can lift the burden of those legal fees off their shoulders. It shouldn't be a crime to protect the sanctity of church services from the state.

If you would like to help Church in the Vine and over 2,000 other people, businesses and churches fight their lockdown tickets in court, please donate at www.FightTheFines.com