The judge grants a court order to close the Hope restaurant but rejects the police order

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A judge granted a court order to shut down a Hope restaurant that has been breaking COVID-19 rules for more than a month, but refused to order that police have the power to make arrests and enforce the order.

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BC Supreme Court Justice Andrew Mayer said it was neither necessary nor appropriate for him to make the RCMP enforcement order requested by the Fraser Health Authority in the Rolly’s Restaurant case, which has challenged the orders of public health monitoring clients for COVID vaccines since September.

“A court order from this court is a legal order that, therefore, the RCMP must enforce,” the judge ruled.

However, it was not immediately clear whether the police would step in and take action on the court order without the judge issuing the execution order. In an email, RCMP said they were waiting for a copy of the court order that they will review before deciding on next steps.

Fraser Health said in an email that they were working on a response to the decision, but what they could say would be quite limited.

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After granting the court order, the judge asked Marlene Abeling, one of the restaurant’s co-owners, if she had any questions or comments. Abeling, who was listening to a telephone connection to the Vancouver Courts of Justice rather than attending the proceedings in person, did not respond to the judge and they could not locate her.

In September, provincial health authorities ordered that in order for people to attend certain non-essential locations, such as restaurants, they must show proof of COVID vaccines. Restaurant owners were asked to screen their customers for proof of vaccination.

The move came after COVID numbers spiked, driven by a fourth wave of variants.

Almost immediately there were complaints that Rolly’s Restaurant did not meet the requirement to verify customers. Multiple tickets were issued for violation, and when the restaurant continued to disobey the directive, Fraser Health issued a closure order, which was also ignored by the restaurant’s operators.

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The Hope District also suspended the restaurant’s business license, but it stubbornly remained open.

In his ruling Thursday, the judge said the type of injunction sought was an injunction, which gave him little discretion except to approve it as long as it could be proven that the Public Health Law and sanitary orders were being violated.

“The court has limited discretion not to issue a court order in breach of a valid legal order, as has been shown,” he said. “As I have already discovered, the defendants have violated the closure order by failing to close Rolly’s restaurant.”

The judge noted that public health officials have determined that the presence of unvaccinated people in restaurants constitutes a danger to public health.

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“It is not the role of this court to challenge the decisions of public health officials regarding what activities constitute a health risk,” the judge said.

Regarding the execution order requested by Fraser Health, the judge said that there are provisions in the Public Health Act that establish the right of public health officials to request the assistance of the police to enforce the orders.

And he said that as recently as October 18, the Hope RCMP had indicated that they would execute any court order issued: “In the opinion of this court, it is not up to the RCMP to decide whether or not to execute a court order. . order of this court “.

Meanwhile, the Corduroy restaurant in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighborhood was ordered closed and its business license suspended again for defying COVID health rules. The city said it suspended the license after a shutdown order from Vancouver Coastal Health for not following mask rules and not asking customers for vaccination cards.

– With files from Tiffany Crawford

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