(Montreal) Restaurant terraces were emptied of their customers Friday evening by the Montreal fire safety service (SIM) while the Grand Prix was in full swing and customers were flocking.
That’s what happened Friday night at Ferreira Café on Peel Street. In a video posted on social networks, the establishment’s operations director, Sandra Ferreira, recounts the ordeal she experienced after a dozen firefighters asked her to empty the terrace of her restaurant, although it was full of clients.
“The firefighters came to tell us that the terrace is not compliant,” explains Sandra Ferreira in her video. They wait until the Friday of the Grand Prix to come, even though we have a full restaurant. And in front of everyone, they ask us to evacuate the terrace.”
“I ask them what happens if I don’t do it [evacuate the terrace] and they tell me it’s the terrace or it’s the restaurant,” she says. I find it so cruel to have waited to tell us that [to make] a scene in front of lots of people, with me bursting into tears. »
The fine she allegedly received states that she “did not take all necessary measures to remove a dangerous condition. »
“[For] all the restaurants on Peel Street, it was months of relentless effort [to get the terraces],” adds Sandra Ferreira. This weekend, I am ashamed for my city, I am ashamed that this is happening in front of our customers […] Everyone arrives and the disappointment is that nothing happens on the street [Peel] . »
The event sparked the reaction of many people, including elected officials from the metropolis.
“Apart from the question of bad timing, I question the lack of leadership in the Ville-Marie district led by Valérie Plante,” writes the Official Opposition spokesperson for public security, Abdelhaq Sari, on X. Where is the consultation with all the stakeholders that the mayor is talking about? »
The SIM explains that it closed four terraces on Friday evening which were not compliant. This procedure took place as part of Operation Sentinel, which aims to ensure the compliance of establishments which welcome the public. This operation takes place four times a year during important festivities.
The SIM communications division head, Guy Lapointe, assures that the firefighters had been meeting the traders well before the Grand Prix.
“We met the owners a week and a half ago to tell them that it is not the terrace, but the marquise which must be three meters away,” explains SIM communications division head, Guy Lapointe. We asked them to move it, but we found [last night] that they had not followed the instructions. »
He refutes accusations from the owner of Café Ferreira that the firefighters came without warning. Guy Lapointe explains that Operation Sentinel also aims to verify that traffic limits are respected, which is why they intervened in the presence of customers.
Marie-Pierre Burelle is the manager of the Ryu restaurant on Peel Street. Her establishment is the only one that has not had a marquee installed on its terrace this year.
And yet, two agents from the morality squad stood in front of the doors of his establishment for almost half an hour while the customers were present.
“The customers were wondering what was happening […] why they would come in if there were two police officers in front of the [restaurant] doors,” explains Marie-Pierre Burelle. It emptied the terraces. »
The office of the mayor of the City of Montreal Valérie Plante had not yet reacted at the time of writing.