Cancellation of Saskatchewan drive-in church service questioned

Saskatchewan’s premier wants an explanation as to why a drive-in church service on Easter Sunday wasn’t allowed.

Scott Moe’s office is asking for answers from the Saskatchewan Health Authority about why it decided to stop a church in Nipawin from proceeding with its Sunday service.

“While we must remain vigilant in observing physical distancing, we should also encourage innovative and unique ideas that support the ability of Saskatchewan residents to pull together while staying apart,” Moe’s office said in a statement to the Canadian Press on Tuesday.

Nipawin Apostolic Church lead pastor Jordan Gadsby began circulating the idea of hosting a drive-in church service at the Centennial Arena parking lot.

Attendees would be expected to keep their windows rolled up as they tuned into the service via FM radio. Everything was in place until Gadsby got a phone call from the Saskatchewan Health Authority on Saturday afternoon after numerous complaints.

“We thought that having people in their vehicles would be a great way to celebrate Easter and still keep everyone safe,” Gadsby told Gormley on Wednesday.

“We were told that it would still be considered a mass gathering and that there was a concern that we wouldn’t be able to enforce people being in their vehicles, even though we asked them to.”

Gadsby said there was room for roughly 50 to 60 vehicles to attend the service.

Even though many drive-in services took place across the country, SHA CEO Scott Livingstone said events like the one planned in Nipawin aren’t allowed, for the time being, citing the current public health order that limits “internal and external gatherings to 10 people.”

“Our public health inspectors in the north were notified of some advertising of this event, they followed up directly with the organizers … and had a discussion about what plans were in place for the event, even though it was at a drive-in theatre, to protect the participants from gathering outside their vehicles, and there were none,” Livingstone said during the provincial COVID-19 update on Tuesday.

Gadsby thinks limiting gatherings of vehicles could lead to some other control and enforcement issues in the province.

“It does seem like it would be hard to control all the parking lots and things that people have to go out to get,” he said. “Being in vehicles does seem to be a reasonable way to keep separated.”

Gadsby never imagined co-ordinating a drive-in church service would get the attention of the premier, but he sure appreciates the demand for an explanation.

As far as any future drive-in services, Gadsby wouldn’t commit to planning another one just yet.

“We thought that it was a creative way to do something to encourage our community and give some hope to people,” Gadsby said.

— With files from The Canadian Press