Ontario is still prosecuting Amish farmers over ArriveCAN — here’s the latest

Article by Rebel News staff

On Tuesday’s episode of The Ezra Levant Show, Ezra travelled two and a half hours west of Toronto to check in on one of the most bizarre legal fights in the country: an Ontario Amish community still being pursued by the provincial government over a smartphone app most of them have never seen and could never use.

The Amish, a pacifist Christian denomination that shuns electricity, automobiles and modern technology, live much as they would have 250 years ago. But when COVID-19 border rules required travellers to declare, through the ArriveCan app, whether they had downloaded it, Amish families crossing back into Canada from the United States were asked the same absurd question as everyone else. Having no phones, they had no way to comply — and no way of knowing they were being fined for it.

Roughly 40 Amish farms across the community were hit with fines, some running into the tens of thousands of dollars, without the families ever being notified of a court date, a conviction, or the penalty itself. Many only discovered the problem when liens quietly appeared on their land.

Mark Joseph, executive director of The Democracy Fund, has been leading the legal fight on their behalf alongside Adam Blake-Gallipeau. Joseph explained why the community had no idea anything was wrong.

“These community members didn’t know that they had a trial. They weren’t informed; they didn’t know they were convicted… They found out when they had liens [appear] on their property, which made transferring the property difficult.”

The Democracy Fund has so far identified 32 affected families. Of those, 24 have had their tickets reopened, and their fines stayed or zeroed out entirely. But eight families were refused, for reasons the Crown has not clearly explained.

“There weren’t a lot of substantive reasons in the denials that we received for these eight individuals. We’re a little bit in the dark here, but we have some arguments to make at the Ontario Court of Justice during the appeal,” Joseph said, adding that a “parity principle” should apply: cases that are alike should be treated alike.

One family alone is on the hook for $13,000 plus interest — a sum that would be devastating for a community that survives on subsistence farming and the cash sale of homemade jams, pickles and quilts.

Joseph laid out just how difficult the legal process is for a community with no phones, no email and no internet. “Meetings have to be planned in advance. They have to come in by mail. They have to attend here by horse and carriage.”

If the appeal fails at the Ontario Court of Justice, the case could move to the Superior Court, then the Court of Appeal, and potentially the Supreme Court of Canada. Joseph confirmed The Democracy Fund intends to see it through. “We’re going to appeal it as much as we can, until we’re told no.”

The Democracy Fund is a registered Canadian charity and issues tax receipts for donations. Rebel News is crowdfunding the effort at HelpTheAmish.com.