Mask-exempt Parksville customer goes on HUNGER STRIKE after Pharmasave denies prescription Remember when discriminating against people based on their medical, physical, and cognitive conditions was a bad thing? I miss those days. Back before mask mandates, lockdowns, and snitch lines were a thing. It’s all but a distant memory now. These days, it seems like it’s the “new normal” to discriminate against people if their health condition makes them mask-exempt. That’s precisely what happened to Ela Tanase, a Parksville, B.C., resident who was refused service at a Pharmasave when she went in without a mask to pick up her pain medication. Ela is mask exempt because of an underlying health issue, and as per B.C.’s human rights laws, she’s not required to divulge what that issue is to justify her mask exemption. But that didn’t matter to Pharmasave. They refused to listen and kicked her out of the store! If that wasn’t humiliating enough, the police were called, and when they arrived, they issued Ela a $230 ticket. It wasn’t until Ela embarked on a 6-day hunger strike that her pharmacy finally relented and allowed her to pick up her medication!\ Isn’t it ironic that a place that is supposed to help citizens with their medical needs is the same place ignoring their medical mask exemption? Why bother outlining mask exemptions in the law if it can just be ignored? Lucky for Ela, she doesn’t have to worry about paying that ticket. We set her up with one of our top-notch lawyers to challenge her citation.Hiring lawyers to defend a $230 ticket may sound strange, considering it will cost way more to fight the ticket than to simply pay it off. But this isn’t about the money — it’s about standing up for what’s right and sending a message that Canadian civil liberties are worth defending. |
Tag Archives: COVID Craziness
COVID POLICE STATE CRAZINESS: Aurora restaurant FINED $880 for allowing a customer to use the bathroom
COVID POLICE STATE CRAZINESS: Aurora restaurant FINED $880 for allowing a customer to use the bathroom
Chuck’s Roadhouse Bar and Grill in Aurora, Ont. was once a bustling neighbourhood restaurant.
But all that changed once the Wuhan virus lockdowns began — forcing many businesses to close, while others, like Chuck’s, were only permitted to operate at a reduced capacity.
Although they’ve managed to survive so far, George Aivalis, Chuck’s general manager, knows that he’s on borrowed time.
Earlier this month, when York Region was still in the Red Zone and restaurants were still permitted to host up to ten patrons indoors, George received a visit from bylaw enforcement to ensure his restaurant was complying with the health orders.
Sure enough, the 130-seat eatery was following the rules by limiting capacity to only ten customers.
But here’s the crazy part: while bylaw was inspecting the restaurant, a patron dining outdoors on the patio entered to use the washroom — inadvertently pushing the restaurant’s indoor headcount to eleven!
Obviously, the bylaw officer wasn’t counting himself. Otherwise, he would have counted twelve people.
In any event, that’s when the COVID enforcer sprung into action and came down on George with an $880 fine! Seemingly, it’s far deadlier to have eleven rather than ten customers inside a restaurant that can hold 130.
How bloody petty can a bylaw officer get?
The whole thing was caught on the store’s security camera. You can see it right here:
George is now joining our growing list of “Fight the Fines” cases. It’s where we crowdfund a lawyer to help people who received one of these fines fight it in court.
The restaurant industry has been hit especially hard during these lockdowns. Layoffs, spoiled inventory, and ongoing bills that can’t be recouped with food sales are just a fraction of the issues they’re facing. A fine like this is only rubbing salt in an already gaping wound.
We’re hoping you can help us help George fight this ticket. The last thing he needs is to spend any more time and money trying to get out of his ludicrous fine.
If you’d like to contribute to our legal efforts to defend George and fight for Canadian civil liberties in the process, please donate at www.FightTheFines.com.
Yours truly,
David Menzies
P.S. Our Chief Reporter Sheila Gunn Reid is back on the case in Winkler, Manitoba, where singing outdoors is STILL illegal. This time, we’re helping the Friesen, Harder and Unger families fight their fines for committing the crime of socially distant Christian hymn singing. You can watch her video right here. And as always, if you want to pitch in to help us crowdfund the legal fees to fight those fines, please click here or go to