Restaurant workers harassed and threatened over vaccine passport

The Ontario provincial vaccine passport requirement came into place on the 22nd of September, a local business owner was subjected to threats and verbal abuse for simply following the law. 

Hopes of a normal day at "Benny's All Day" were thrown out of the window on Wednesday as staff were threatened and verbally abused by a "regular" customer barely an hour after the doors opened. "I had to jump in and help the server because he (the customer) was making threats," said Bill Mahfouz, owner of the local diner. Speaking to CBC the server, Julie Pratt, said she was "in shock" at receiving the abuse from a customer who she serves regularly. 

A week since the incident and, although threats from customers in person haven't re-occurred, Mr. Mahfouz says the publicity he has received have lead to threats over the phone and online. "I'm not taking a stand, one way or another, over the vaccine passport," he said. "We're running a business and we just want to make sure it's safe for the clientele and the staff." 

Not all phone calls were threatening, in fact Mr. Mahfouz says he has received calls from a "Vancouver, Winnipeg and all the way out the Newfoundland" to thank them for doing their "part in this".

The Medical Officer for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, has often emphasized that vaccination will be vital to ensure businesses aren't forced to close their doors again, and another lockdown would be "devastating" says Mr. Mahfouz, with labor hard to come by already. 

"For all our great employees it has been so challenging... If I had to simply rely on employees in the kitchen I would've had to close, definitely," said the owner-come-chef now working 12 hour days to keep the business going. 

"We are now looking at ways to try and minimize the stress and mental effects on all our employees. We have some who are putting extra, extra hours, and we appreciate it but, at the end of the day, their mental health is paramount."