Police Suggest Church May Lose Their Charitable Status For Having In-person Services

Police in Canada have threatened not only to fine and arrest members of a small Baptist Church for having in-person services but also report them to the Canada Revenue Agency for investigation (the Canadian version of the IRS) suggesting that their actions could result in them losing their T3010 status as a charitable organization (Think 501(c)(3)).

The province of British Columbia has outlawed all church services altogether, prompting some Christians to travel up to 200 miles each way to attend services with churches that haven’t closed their doors and who have vowed to stay open, come hell or high water. In this case, 100 Mile House Baptist Church in the town of 100 Mile House.

In a video shown below, a police officer showed up at Pastor Grant Reich’s home, after fining him twice previously by showing up at his home on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve to deliver the summons and to give him this message:

Just to advise you Sir, based on the substance of the call, we would notify the CRA in regards to this because you could potentially be in breach with your not for profit…the church organization could be involved in their not for profit for society legislation that they’ve agreed to, as far as being that. So we’re going to contact them and they’re going to do what they want with it.

Pastor Reich says he has no intention of shutting down and will fight the fines with the help of Rebel News, a media organization that launched a website with lawyers on hand ready to give the first 1000 Canadians given shutdown fines some free, pro-bono services.