Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated in Canada and many other countries that began as a day to give thanks for the blessing of the harvest of the preceding year.

Never in Canadian history was this day used to browbeat a pastor into submission for giving that thanks — until this past week.

It was another shameful day in a long line of shameful days for Canada over the past two years.

On Sunday, October 10, 2021, New Brunswick authorities arrested Associate Pastor Cody Butler and padlocked “His Tabernacle Family Church” because they dared host a Thanksgiving Service without government permission – specifically for holding a worship service with more people than the government currently allows due to COVID restrictions.

The inauspicious title of Thanksgiving Scrooge goes to New Brunswick Police, as shown in this video posted to Facebook.

New Brunswick joins Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario as the only provinces to arrest and jail Christian pastors and violate the Freedom of Religion section of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as Section 176 of the Criminal Code.

Along with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms being of no force or effect, neither is Section 176 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which states:

Obstructing or violence to or arrest of officiating clergyman

• • 176 (1) Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction who

    • (a) by threats or force, unlawfully obstructs or prevents or endeavours to obstruct or prevent an officiant from celebrating a religious or spiritual service or performing any other function in connection with their calling, or

    • (b) knowing that an officiant is about to perform, is on their way to perform or is returning from the perform­ance of any of the duties or functions mentioned in paragraph (a)

      • (i) assaults or offers any violence to them, or

      • (ii) arrests them on a civil process, or under the pretence of executing a civil process.

  • Marginal note: Disturbing religious worship or certain meetings

    (2) Every one who wilfully disturbs or interrupts an assemblage of persons met for religious worship or for a moral, social or benevolent purpose is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

  • Marginal note: Idem

    (3) Every one who, at or near a meeting referred to in subsection (2), wilfully does anything that disturbs the order or solemnity of the meeting is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

This is the section of the Criminal Code that the Liberal government — under Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould — wanted to remove.

Was that a portent of things to come, or just another random coincidence?

Pastor Phil Hutchings posted this on his Facebook profile:

WELCOME TO …WHERE THEY PADLOCK THE CHURCH ON THANKSGIVING. They came harassing me this morning at my home again…after the court told them not to return to our residence for any correspondence. Now Public Safety has issued closure of our church doors even after we complied. Church isn’t just Sunday services. THEY HAVE OFFICIALLY SHUT DOWN MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES & COMMUNITY OUTREACHES & FEEDING PROGRAMS.

Rebel News describes the events this way:

After several days of harassment and the arrest of the associate pastor, His Tabernacle Family Church in Saint John was ordered shuttered by an order of the office of public safety under minister Dennis Landry. The church now faces fines of up to $20,400. The closure order locks the doors to the public until the church can be brought into compliance under section 3 of Preventative Measures – Public Health Act. Section 3 requires the church to enforce proof of vaccination to attend “indoor gatherings.” Section 15 of the Mandatory Order, also cited in the closure notice, requires the church to allow for police or public health officers to enter the premises to check for compliance.

For those who say pastors and churches deserve this because “they broke the law” – you’re not paying attention. It’s the government and the police who are breaking the law.  You’re just going along with it and giving them cover.