“with the court injunction taking this seriously and giving police the authority they need to limit the size of these gatherings, and the enforcement that we’ve seen over the weekend, i want to focus on that rather than chasing people down the street for not wearing a mask,” colley-urquhart said.
brothers artur and dawid pawlowski were both arrested over the weekend as part of additional enforcement after conducting a church service where dozens of people attended unmasked.
they were ordered released from custody monday morning by justice adam germain after spending two nights behind bars. the court of queen’s bench judge agreed to release them on the condition they comply with the injunction giving police power to arrest persons for civil contempt for organizing illegal public gatherings.
their lawyer, sarah miller, argued against the condition, saying it was redundant considering they are bound to comply with the order, but germain said it was important for public deterrence to reassert the injunction is in effect.
they’ll face a civil contempt of court application by ahs on may 20.
calgary’s municipal mask rules have been in place since last august. they require face coverings if you’re in almost any public indoor space or vehicle, such as a store or public transit vehicle. the province has also since rolled out a mask mandate of its own, with rules that go slightly further, also requiring face coverings in indoor workplaces that the city would have considered “private” space.