I’d be careful about reading too much into this decision. It seems to have come down to the Court deciding that the province needed to pursue other remedies before they came to the Court looking for a common law injunction.

The Honourable Chief Justice Hinkson states:

 

[68]         I am left to wonder what would be achieved by the issuance of an injunction in this case. If it were granted and not adhered to, would the administration of justice yet again be brought into disrepute because the B.C. Prosecution Service considers that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute those who refused to adhere to the orders sought from this Court?

[69]         When asked, counsel for the respondents said that the respondents accept that the petitioners’ beliefs are deeply held, but in response to my question as to why an injunction was sought, responded that while the petitioners and others like them are not dissuaded from their beliefs and practices by the impugned orders, an order from this Court is more likely to accomplish their compliance.

[70]         Given the other remedies available to the respondents, I have reservations that an injunction alone, without enforcement by the B.C. Prosecution Service, would overcome the deeply held beliefs of the petitioners and their devotees. Taking into account the decision in Sager, and the other means of enforcement open to the respondents, I find that the balance of convenience does not favour the respondents in this case, and dismiss their application for an injunction.

Source: 2021 BCSC 248 Beaudoin v. British Columbia