Whistle Stop Café in Mirror. (Facebook)

By Sheldon Spackman

Open For Dine-In Services

Café in Mirror remains open for dine-in service despite provincial restrictions

Jan 25, 2021 | 5:32 PM

Despite being ordered to close for violating the province’s public health measures, a central Alberta café continues to be open to in-person dining.

The Whistle Stop Café, which also operates as a gas station and convenience store, is located in the hamlet of Mirror about 66 kilometres northeast of Red Deer.

The café opened its doors to dine-in customers on Friday and was open again Monday, despite already being given a verbal warning from Alberta Health Services (AHS) public health inspectors as well as RCMP.

Owner Chris Scott says he willingly complied with the current restrictions for restaurants that went into effect on Dec. 13 and prohibit in-person dining, but was determined to reopen his doors for dine-in once again following the two-week extension that ended January 21.

“It wasn’t until the day of the 21^st that I decided enough is enough,” explains Scott. “I heard Dr. Hinshaw say there was no foreseeable end in sight to the restrictions, and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

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Scott says they’re getting to the point now where another few weeks of restrictions could spell the end of his businesses such as his.

He describes the current public health restrictions as “blanket measures” that don’t seem appropriate for many communities such as Mirror.

“I personally don’t know of anybody in my town that’s had COVID. I know it’s been around us, but there’s never been an outbreak here and at least the perceived risk from myself and a lot of other community members, is that the risk is low here.”

Scott feels restaurants and other small businesses are perfectly capable of operating safely during the pandemic.

“The numbers that I’ve heard for the restaurant industry are anywhere from one to four per cent of total cases of COVID transmission, based on that industry. But then big box stores are creeping towards 20 per cent. So why are those places operating and we can’t?”

Scott says he wants to make clear, however, that he still appreciates the hard work of AHS and Alberta’s healthcare workers during these very difficult times.

“I know they don’t have an easy job, but they need to put their thinking caps on and re-approach this. They need to consider the best interests of Albertans instead of using a blanket easing approach to managing this,” he suggests.

“I understand the need to protect the vulnerable in our society, I totally get that. What I would say is that our approach should be targeted at protecting those people. Then letting everyone else make their own decision.”

Scott notes the large majority of comments on his business’s Facebook page reveal an overwhelming amount of support for his decision to reopen. He admits he’s very grateful for that support.

“There’s the odd person that says that I’m selfish and do I care about old people dying, do I want people dying, or do I not care about death and long-term effects,” he admits. “Those are fair questions if you’re talking about something that is extremely high risk, but we’re not there. We’re not at a point where the entirety of society needs to hide in their houses for something that’s not affecting the majority of the population.”

AHS Environmental Public Health issued a Closure Order to the Whistle Stop Café on Friday (Jan. 22).

Spokesperson Heather Kipling says AHS continues to monitor the situation with RCMP.