Springs Church, which has a gathering place here in Steinbach, is taking the province to court over their decision to temporarily ban drive-in church services.

While the Springs Church building in Steinbach is closed, their website advertises the weekly drive-in worship services taking place at their sister location in Winnipeg.

For the past two weekends, the church has gone against public health orders by holding large drive-in services. For not complying with current COVID-19 protocols as outlined in the "critical" level of the Pandemic Response System, the church has been ticketed $5,000 on five separate occasions. In total, the church and its pastors have been issued $32,776.00 in tickets.

Springs was one of two churches penalized for meeting illegally last weekend, the other was the Church of God (Restoration) located along Highway 12, south of Steinbach.

feels there is an inherent risk that people will leave their vehicles to gather or even just to use the washroom.

Still, Fontaine believes it can be done safely and says his church has reached out to Health Minister Cameron Friesen to discuss how a service could be held.

"We believe this is an oversight on the part of the Government of Manitoba as other provinces across Canada have made accommodations for drive-in worship services while working to stop the spread of COVID-19," states the pastor. "We have reached out to Minister Friesen to find a positive path forward to ensure our drive-in services continue to meet all rules related to preventing the spread of COVID-19, but our efforts in reaching a meaningful diplomatic solution have failed."

Now, the church will be going to the Queen's Bench over the ability to hold what they call "Church in Our Cars".

"We will be challenging this ruling in court, as we believe that Manitobans can have their right to practice their faith upheld while simultaneously upholding government COVID-19 prevention rules. We hope to work with the Government, not at cross purposes, in this regard."

The court proceedings were scheduled to begin at 9:30 A.M. today.

Springs is citing the Canadian Charter of Human Rights, the 1982 Constitution Act, Court of Queen's Bench Rules, and Public Health as part of its statutes.

They will be arguing many points, including if the attendance at Church in Our Cars constitutes "assembling in a gathering of more than 5 persons at any indoor or outdoor public place," if the health orders violate the right to freedom of religion, and if the Church in Our Cars is considered a "social service."

During their previous services, Fontaine says no one left their vehicles and all cars were spaced two to three meters apart.