Beaumont, Alta., bakery ordered to close over 'vaccine passport' rules remains open
A Beaumont, Alta., bakery owner says she’d rather lose her business than stick her nose into that of her customers by asking for their proof of vaccination.
“I refuse to ask for the vaccine passports. It’s not any of my business,” Jen Foster from Bake My Day told CTV News Edmonton Wednesday.
As of Sept. 20, only restaurants that ask for vaccine proof, or a negative COVID-19 test, are allowed to stay open for in-person dining.
An Alberta Health Services closure order was posted on Bake My Day's front door - next to an owner-posted note saying the business is still open.
“If you wish to sit at a table, please talk to a staff member so we can stop being harassed by AHS,” the note said.
AHS suspended Bake My Day’s food handling permit on Oct. 8, alleging violations of COVID-19 safety rules.
Foster acknowledges she let customers sit and eat without asking for their vaccination records.
“I'll let my business go out of business before I ask for somebody's vaccination records,” she said.
“Everything in me just said that this is absolutely wrong, because we all know that vaccinated people can still get COVID, can still pass it along.”
But vaccinated people are a lot less likely to get the COVID-19 and end up in hospital when they do, Alberta government statistics show.
On Thursday, government data attributed 67 per cent of active cases and 72 per cent of hospitalizations to unvaccinated people.
Seventy-six per cent of eligible Albertans over 12 had received two doses.
Foster said AHS visited her location three times asking her to comply. The third time, she was given a closure notice.
An inspector has checked on her business twice since then, Foster said.
CUSTOMERS STILL COMING TO ‘CLOSED’ BAKERY
But the doors haven’t been barricaded, so she’s still making food and said she will keep serving it via takeout, delivery and curbside pickup.
“I’m trying to support my fellow small business person, and I feel like it’s OK to be open right now to everyone,” customer Kathy Austin said, declining to comment on pandemic safety specifically.
“I’m really happy that they’re open and that they’ve decided to not exclude anyone.”
In one of the orders that Foster is accused of breaking, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw writes that the rules are in place because COVID-19 “poses a significant risk to public health.”
“I have the authority to take whatever other steps that are, in my opinion, necessary in order to lessen the impact of the public health emergency,” CMOH Order 44 said.
But Foster doesn’t agree it’s a business owner's responsibility to check vaccine records.
She doesn’t know what AHS will do next to enforce the order, but insists she’s not changing her mind.
“It’s stressing everybody out. No matter which way you go with this, small businesses aren’t winning. We’re not coming out on top,” Foster argued.
On Thursday, Foster closed her shop to indoor dining only in hopes she'd be allowed to stay open.
CTV News Edmonton contacted AHS to see if that means she is now compliant, but a response was not immediately received.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.