The owner of Arcadia Café said she will challenge the fine she was issued for illegally reopening her doors and offering dine-in service in January.
Joanne Diaz said she received a $1,200 fine from the Beiseker RCMP on Jan. 27, the day she defied provincial health orders by opening her café for sit-down service. At the time, restaurants were still restricted to offering takeout and delivery business service, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m not sorry I did it – I’d do it again and I wish I’d done it sooner,” she said.
On Feb. 24, the business owner said she intends to plead innocent at a March 2 court appearance, stating, “we have a constitutional right to make a living.” She added there is still the possibility of receiving significantly larger penalties from Alberta Health Services (AHS).
Arcadia Café was one of multiple rural restaurants that made headlines for ignoring public health restrictions in late January. Others included the Whistle Stop Café in the hamlet of Mirror, Jennie's Diner and Bakery in Bonnyville and the Mossleigh Bar and Grill in southern Alberta.
AHS initially pursued legal action against the Whistle Stop Café, though the health authority dropped the case on Feb. 23, according to a Global News report, and even covered the business' legal fees.
Diaz said she thinks the rural business-owners' defiance against public health orders contributed to the Alberta government announcing an easing of restrictions for restaurants on Jan. 29. Restaurants in Alberta have been allowed to offer sit-down service to customers since Feb. 8.
"We started opening up – I think there were three of us – even though we were threatened and ordered to close,” Diaz said. “I think that’s when [Premier Jason Kenney] decided to come out and let restaurants open. He wanted to be in control.”
Diaz acknowledged the decision to reopen Arcadia Café before restaurants were given the green light to do so has made her new enemies in Beiseker.
“There are a lot of people who think this pandemic is real, it’s going to kill everyone, everyone needs to socially distance, wear masks and everything needs to stay closed,” she said. “I have a few people in the village who won’t come here ever again, or at least until I leave, but that’s life. We also have a lot of people from the village who had never been here before who came here because we opened.”
Cpl. Leif Svendsen, the supervisor of the Beiseker RCMP detachment, confirmed local officers attended the café on Jan. 27 to issue Diaz a $1,200 fine. He said officers attended the café multiple times in the days afterward, sometimes with AHS representatives, to warn Diaz she could be issued additional penalties.
“We were doing our jobs, enforcing the public health order in effect,” Svendsen said.
According to Svendsen, Beiseker RCMP officers ordered takeout from Arcadia Café on the day they attended the restaurant, to show it is still possible to support local business and adhere to pandemic-related restrictions at the same time.
“Three members of the Beiseker detachment did it on one particular day, to lead by example and give her the support I’m sure she was desperate for,” he said. “It was to give her financial support and show we can do this and she could remain successful if the local community supports her in that way.”
Having been open for four weeks now, Diaz said business has been steady. She said before opening, she was not making enough sales through delivery and takeout to support the business' bottom line or pay staff.
“It was really busy at first – people wanted to come out and show support,” she said. “Since then, it’s been good. It’s been regular.”
Scott Strasser, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @scottstrasser19
