During a press conference today at noon, Ontario premier Doug Ford announced that churches will be opening at a much higher capacity, starting June 12.  

“During these uncertain times, our faith has never been more important.” Ford says. “That’s why I’ve asked that places of worship across the province be able to reopen at 30% building capacity.” 

This is a big difference from the small jump in social gatherings from 5 people to 10 in public places, starting this Friday.  

The public announcement started with Ford stating that their province will be taking a regional approach to phase 2. Twenty-four of the thirty-four regions of Ontario will begin reopening certain aspects of businesses, to help the economy.  

This doesn’t include Toronto and the surrounding area, as this is where most of the coronavirus cases were found.  

However, the announcement about churches reopening at 30% capacity is province-wide, regardless of confirmed COVID cases.  

For churches that have a big number of congregants, like The People’s Church in Toronto that have an average attendance of 4,000 people, 30% of building capacity is 1,200 people in the building on a Sunday morning.  

In Manitoba, the limit is 25 people inside any building, including churches no matter the average Sunday attendance or size of space. The outdoor limit of 50 people gathering has many churches in the province taking advantage of the weather by hosting services outside.