Canada Amish Community Faces $300,000 In COVID Fines
No, you’re not reading an old post from 2020 or 2021.
I’m surprised to be sharing another COVID-related story with you, as we’re nearly into 2025.
But this is a current story – and a big problem for Amish in one Ontario community.
The root of the problem? The Amish in question didn’t use an obligatory Canadian smartphone app when crossing the border. From The Toronto Star:
An Amish community in southwestern Ontario is facing an estimated $300,000 in fines and property liens after failing to comply with COVID-19 measures when crossing the U.S. border.
The tickets and subsequent fines were issued to members of the religious community during crossings in 2021 and 2022 after they failed to submit proof of quarantine plans and vaccination receipts to border officials using the ArriveCan App, they and their lawyers told the Star.
In a nutshell, the Amish apparently failed to respond to infractions they were issued for failing to use the government’s smartphone tracking app.
And later, they did not respond to court summons which they allegedly weren’t even aware of – and so were automatically convicted.
The problem was discovered only when a member went to the bank to get financing for a new property purchase. Some members of the community had had liens placed on their properties by collection agencies.
More explaining their case, including one or two obvious points:
…one member described a lack of clarity surrounding the process. Their community only interacts with technology in very limited circumstances, they explained, and weren’t aware of the COVID measures when they crossed the border to the U.S.
Even if they had been, they didn’t have cellphones to operate the app or medical records to show border agents, they said.
As dual citizens, the group was still permitted to make the crossings without vaccination records, but, in doing so, 15 members were issued more then two dozen failure to comply infractions. After being issued the tickets, however, many community members were unsure of how to navigate the court system, according to lawyer Mark Joseph.
One note – since this is Canadian reporting, this is, I assume, $300,000 in Canadian dollars.
Which translates to about $215,000 in US dollars. I don’t think that changes the story though. It’s still a mountain of money.
Is this reasonable?
There are the obvious issues here. One of course, is requiring a people who do not generally use high-tech, to comply with the requirements, which (apparently?) could only be done using a smartphone app.
It seems to me that Canada has a large-enough Amish population (around 6,000 people) – not to mention its sizeable Plain Mennonite population – for this sort of thing to be accommodated, so that it never gets to this point.
It’s not like Canada just received a new population of Amish for the first time, that they’re now figuring out how to incorporate into their systems. Amish people have lived in the country for over 200 years.
There is also the matter of the size of the fines themselves.
$300,000 ($215,000 USD) for around two dozen infractions seems excessive if not absurd – even if there is accrued interest or fees added into that.
Canadian Prosecutor: The Amish Could Have Addressed Their Fines
Leaving aside the issue of whether the Canadian government failed to accommodate their Amish citizens, a Canadian government rep is maintaining that the Amish could have responded to their fines – but did not:
The Ministry of the Attorney General, which oversees Ontario’s court system, directed questions from the Star to regional prosecutors in Niagara. When reached for comment, spokesperson for the Welland Provincial Offenses Crown office Bryan Sparks maintained that community members could have responded by mail or travelled to the court, just under 250 km away, in person.
“Whether an individual is disputing a ticket or planning to pay the fine, relevant information is included on the back of the ticket, such as the court mailing address for mail correspondence. Individuals also have the option to go in-person to any Provincial Offences Court in Ontario to address the ticket,” Sparks said.
Could the Amish have reasonably handled this? Is it possible that community members were aware of a reasonable way to address it, but preferred to ignore it? I don’t know.
But some are arguing that expecting the Amish to comply this way was unreasonable, or failing that, some accommodation should have been made before convicting the Amish infractees.
For instance, at least one political representative has taken up the issue for the Amish:
The issue has made its way to Canada’s House of Commons, where Conservative MP Alex Ruff (Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound), has argued that the Liberal government not only failed to sufficiently communicate with the community after the tickets were issued, but that it did not notify or inform them of the Quarantine Act measures before its implementation.
While others could access that information online or by phone, Ruff’s Amish constituents could not; “They don’t use technology, so they weren’t even informed of these measures until they arrived at the border,” he said in an interview.
Ruff, who has likened the prosecutions to discrimination in the House of Commons, is imploring the Liberal government to rectify the situation.
And on solving the issue post-infraction, Richard Moon, a professor at the University of Windsor commented:
While the professor pointed out it’s not unusual or unreasonable to be expected to adhere to regulations when crossing a border, he said he’s still “somewhat surprised” that the Crown, or government, had not reached a form of accommodation before the convictions were registered.
“It does seem unduly kind of harsh in the circumstances,” he said.
The group has legal representation in the above-mentioned lawyer Joseph.
He explained that “We hope that once we speak to the Crown, we can come to a reasonable resolution,”…“If not, we’ll proceed to court.”
COVID Repercussions Continue
As mentioned at the top, I didn’t expect to be posting about such a story at the tail end of 2024.
COVID seems like a bad dream at this point – but one that’s been pretty much over for a long time.
Over at least, in an active pandemic sense. The virus is still out there, but much milder. But more consequentially, the secondary repercussions and negative effects are still playing out.
Some of those are social effects. Some are health-related. And in this case, financial problems for members of a low-tech religious group who failed to satisfy high-tech state monitoring requirements.
Tell Pierre
I hope that Pierre Poliverre is aware and can help. Just another example of Trudeau’s massive mess.
Provincial not Federal
This has nothing to do with Trudeau. This is provincial matter within Ontario. Go complain to Doug Ford, It’s his government that is imposing it.
False
It does have to do with Trudeau and the Canadian government at the federal level. The province is following through with federal policy requiring proof and receipts regarding vaxes, and introducing federally-instituted fines for not complying.
A familiar story
Along with an Amish person on the passenger side of my car about 3 years, we were crossing at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit into Canada. I had never heard of the smartphone app, and the car had to be inspected and we both had to be interviewed by Canadian Homeland Security. We received a stern warning that if it happens again, the fine would be several thousand dollars. We laughed it off even though during the inspection one homeland security person stood behind us, hand on the gun holster. Some of my Canadian colleagues have since told me that the regulation was generally unwelcome by Canadians, Amish and non-Amish. My Canadian friends tell me that the U.S. Homeland Security personnel are not nice, but my reply is that it goes both ways, depending on one’s nationality.
The Rest of the Story
Sounds draconian, but it is likely that events moved along automatically without knowledge of the lawbreakers’ specific situation, apart from when the citations were given at the border. Keep in mind that the officials writing the tickets do not have the authority to pick and choose whom to charge and whom to let off. Abatement would happen in the court system if appropriate. Although the Amish who got the tickets didn’t participate in the system until recently, it is likely that the charges and leins will be dropped in court. Especially given that the requirements were temporary and have since expired, so there isn’t likely to be an ongoing issue.
Going forward, perhaps a liaison between the Amish community and the world’s society/government could regularly visit with the bishops/community leaders to head off similar problems before they snowball. If the Amish had someone to help them deal with the citations they received early on, perhaps events wouldn’t have progressed.
It is draconian..
The draconian nature of demanding secondary tracking over border crossing is meant as a means of control. Canada has never been friendly to the Amish and even less so in recent years. The burden being placed upon them is purposeful, not a fluke.
Amish being fined
This is nuts to fine these fine people. These people are crazy and out of this world over this covid. Could we do a go fund me to help them? Maybe the Amish should kiss Canada goodbye and move to US.
It's the law
oh look people they are not angels by no means they know what there doing they just shred it of f they don’t have too abide by any English ways there above that, been around them for a long time I know how they think, on many issues they alway play the religious right card even though it has nothing to do with religion
Correct Kirt
I have never seen a people so intent on skirting the law. Like children trying to fool their parents. They aren’t a religious community, they are citizens with equal responsibility.
????
Prove that they know!! No tv, no news, no radio, no communication with idiots!!
A problematic requirement in several ways
It’s not over for those of us who were left damaged by lockdown, and possibly never will be over: being in chronic poor health, I was previously able to struggle on with a lot of activities which I haven’t been able to reassume after being prevented from doing them. Persistence meant I could stay strong enough and sufficiently accustomed enough to cope; its interruption seems to have been final despite ongoing efforts. I’m especially frustrated about the fact that we (the ones who had our lives ruined and health destroyed specifically by lockdown measures) almost never get acknowledged – we were invisible and expendable at the time, and we seem to be invisible still. It’s a nightmare that still continues with no sign of awakening for us.
The notion that people are actually required to have and use something like a smartphone would be disability discrimination as well. It’s possible they were more alert to that. It’s also a lack of social justice as the devices are expensive – the more so if disputing the consequences is liable to require travelling several hundred kilometres! It does sound as if there might be an issue with making sure things are announced via media everyone can access, as well, though it would be necessary to have more information to be clear about that.
Leftist fascism
Worldwide prosecution of selective community members indicative of the obvious two tier justice system run by “politburo” type unelected government agencies (already in operation here in the U.S.) and subsequent convictions on trumped up and false charges abound with unfair and malicious intent. Why make an example of the peaceful Amish? Does the Canadian govt. go after unvaccinated migrants or the indigineous communities? No. They receive taxpayer funds. Outrageous.
yes
Totally agreed!
Peaceful?
Since when are people breaking the law peaceful?
We have laws for all, not some..
Another..
You didn’t even read the last part of their factual comment.
Pathetic and sadly comical that government behaves in such a way. So many wrongs on the side of the government. I could write a novel how wrong the government is here but I’m pretty sure the government doesn’t care about me or what I think. So I’ll just keep laughing at them.
Falling into Autumn
They are just singling them out and targeting them for harassment, discrimination, and persecution! That is the crime here. That government is really bad when it comes to encroaching tyranny and many are complaining about it. I hope they get the justice they deserve!
I always saw through the covid bee-ess and myself refuse to get any of their recommended needle injuries. But the government there is being spiteful and unreasonable at best.
Sadly I have seen an increase in targeting the Amish community over the last few years.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Ironically…..
Say what?
How do you know that they are singling them out? What proof do you have?
Why is it every time the Amish break the law they are victims?
This will be a valid case, and treated as such.
How do YOU know how they think?
$300,000 in fines.Get real
That’s ridiculous to fine so few people $300.000 in fines just because they didn’t know about the requirements of using an app on a phone that the Amish as a rule don’t have access to ??? I think it’s discrimination and I don’t believe their fines should be so outrageously high.
I think a petition to the courts should be posted. I would definitely sign it.
Sadly...
This is not limited to the Amish, nor is it unique to Canada. We will not know the full impact of the ways “we” tried to react to COVID for decades–if ever. Sadly, it’s debatable whether or not we have learned much in the process. I am reminded of a line from Startrek, “Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.”
Bullying and Intimidation
I’m glad this has been brought to the forefront. I hope it will make it to the media if hasn’t already. I appreciate those who are speaking in their favor and behalf.
This nothing short of an inept and deficient, unqualified, overreaching government agency. For Canada being a country that welcomes people with open arms, this nothing short of being hypocritical to people who have contributed to the betterment of Canada for well over a hundred years. It is bullying and intimidation and overreach by a prosecution who needs immediate “firing”. I believe this is limited to a department or agency, hopefully, and the rest of government will lower the “boom” on this rogue malaligned outfit.
Fines
The government is just trying to find a way to steal their land, and what? Maybe they want to GIVE it to the illegals and Muslim bunch that Turdy seems so proud of. The government is never to be trusted.
bullies feeling threatened
and just like in usa, if they had been north american indians or other ppl of color, this would not have happened and/or the politicians/government would have bent over backward to resolve the situation, the media would have been screaming racism and demanding new policies and no fines….they’re being targeted just like the jews (Jewish Canadian Journalist Ezra Levant Arrested at Pro-Hamas Rally in Toronto)….just like christians targeted by the us’s fbi, especially those attending latin mass….my hope is that ppl wake up and realize this is all about control and eliminating the faithful who think for themselves and know in the end, you do not answer to the government, greedy globalist control freaks can’t handle that
Financial Aid
How can I contribute to a legal defence fund? Jack Toronto.
Change Jurisdiction
The current system is faulty and meant to not consider the honorable actions in various situations. This should be a no brainer for the men and woman who sometimes act or work for the corporations. The corporations (Canada and provinces and cities) along with fabricated (made up) systems/rules/acts/laws (legal system but no lawful) fall short for the good men and woman across Canada and cultures. Have you heard about becoming sovereign? If yes, do you know what it means to become sovereign? Changing jurisdiction doesn’t mean we are lawless or not honorable. We see what has happened and is happening, and changes are made. Lawyers are in the system. Courts are in the system although the court of i, is a different story.