A Superior Court judge has ordered a restaurant in Minden, Ont., closed for failing to comply with provincial COVID-19 regulations, health officials revealed Thursday.
According to the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit, the Minden 50’s Diner consented to an order from the Superior Court of Justice to close after failing to comply with a Section 22 order issued by medical officer of health Dr. Natalie Bocking earlier this month.
The health unit says a Section 22 order was initially served to the restaurant owner/operator on Dec. 14 after it received “multiple” complaints about the restaurant not following Ontario’s COVID-19 regulations. The order was issued under the Health Protection and Promotion Act and required the business to either comply with all provincial measures for restaurants under the Reopening Ontario Act or close the business.
“Health unit staff visited the site multiple times to provide information and education to the owner before progressing to further enforcement measures,” the health unit stated Thursday.
On Dec. 23, a Superior Court judge made an order with consent of the parties that the restaurant remain closed until further order of the court.
“Because patrons are not always fully masked while in a food premise, the province’s Reopening Ontario Act requires that restaurants take additional actions to prevent spread of COVID-19,” said Bocking.
“By not complying with provincial regulations for indoor masking and proof of vaccination, operators put their staff and customers at risk.”
In a lengthy statement on its Facebook page, the diner — owned by Jason Lake — said it won’t “willingly participate in vaccine passport segregation,” in reference to asking patrons for proof of vaccination.
“There is health and safety and then there is government unjust overreach,” the post reads. “You don’t have to be a doctor or scientist to know that if you’re vaxxed or not the infection rate is the same. So why create an absurd discrimination vax passport.”
The diner called the Ontario government “draconian” and says the hospitality industry was “picked on from day 1” and “forced to discriminate against the unvaxxed.”
“The 50’s Diner believes in human rights and freedoms and if we can’t serve everyone then we would rather serve no one,” the post states.
The restaurant in the spring of 2020 reopened in defiance of Ontario’s Emergency Measures and Civil Protection Act at the time, as Global News Peterborough reported in May 2020.
Bocking says the health unit is “grateful” to businesses that are following provincial requirements.
“We are grateful to the many operators in our region who continue to work with HKPR in meeting the provincial requirements and helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” she said.
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