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How an Ontario Amish community became saddled with COVID fines After being issued the tickets, many community members were unsure of how to navigate the court system. Nov. 24, 2024 By Abby O’Brien Staff Reporter The Democracy Fund For the past three months, we’ve been supporting members of the Amish community in Grey County, Ontario, who were convicted for various offences during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Seventy-four community members were fined nearly $300,000 for failing to complete the ArriveCan app and other alleged violations. Now, several of these individuals have liens registered against their farms, some totalling tens of thousands of dollars. If the government forces the sale of these properties, these Amish families could lose not just their homes but their livelihoods. This community avoids modern technology due to their faith. They don’t use electricity and have little to no experience using a telephone, much less navigating an app on a modern smartphone. Despite this, the government continues to pursue them for non-compliance. Click here to support this Amish community in their legal battle: https://www.thedemocracyfund.ca/tags/amish? This story is so egregious that even mainstream media couldn’t ignore it any longer. A few weeks ago, The Toronto Star contacted us and interviewed our litigation director, Mark Joseph, about this story. Their article was finally published, and it’s making waves. Politicians across Canada are likely seeing it in their news clippings today. Here’s an excerpt: 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. They assumed the province would be in contact with them to help them move through the process, he said, but that they never heard from either the federal or provincial government again. In turn, many were automatically convicted after failing to respond to court summons, but weren’t aware, said Joseph, who is now representing just under two dozen community members in the Welland provincial offenses court. “It’s just a bit of an outrage. This community doesn’t really have the capacity to deal with complicated legal systems in the first place,” Joseph said. “When we became aware of these convictions in September and we started talking to community members, we had to explain the concept of a legal trial to some of them because they just didn’t know, and their worry was, ‘OK, if we have to go to court, you have to tell us a week in advance, because it takes us two days by horse to get there.’” It wasn’t until this spring, nearly two years after the measures of the Quarantine Act measures were lifted, that some members of the community realized they had been convicted and that the subsequent fines were being sought by collection agencies by way of liens placed on their properties. According to Joseph, the community only became aware after one of their own visited a bank to obtain financing for a new property. You can read the full article here (see URL's below) The fact that Canada’s largest mainstream newspaper is covering this case highlights just how overreaching these government actions have been—and that people are paying attention. As Mark Joseph told The Toronto Star, we hope to reach a fair resolution once our legal team meets with the Crown. If no resolution is reached, we will proceed to court. We can’t fight this battle without your help. TDF lawyers have already successfully reopened tickets for several Amish clients, but our work is far from over. Your tax-deductible donation will directly fund the legal representation needed to challenge these unjust fines. Please consider donating today by clicking here: https://www.thedemocracyfund.ca/tags/amish? Thank you for standing with us, The Democracy Fund P.S. If you'd like to learn more about our work with this Amish community in Ontario, click here: https://www.thedemocracyfund.ca/tags/amish? P.P.S. Your donations are eligible for a tax receipt! If you want to help the Amish in their fight, please click here to make a donation today. https://www.thedemocracyfund.ca/tags/amish? https://archive.li/R3Ui9 or: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/how-an-ontario-amish-community-became-saddled-with-covid-fines/article_a77dc6c8-a69a-11ef-9267-d7ab7f526fb3.html #Amish #Canada #Cdnpoli #ON #ONpoli #ArriveCAN #TDF #DemocracyFund #TheDemocracyFund #Joseph #QuarantineAct #GreyCounty #Welland #TorontoStar #Lockdowns