(Montreal) Four restaurants on Peel Street had a nasty surprise Friday evening when the Montreal Fire Department (SIM) forced the closure of their terraces for safety reasons, in the middle of the Grand Prix weekend . The terraces were able to reopen on Saturday, but without the marquees which protected them, thus leaving them exposed to the rain.
Sandra Ferreira cried her eyes out, recounting the ordeal she experienced Friday evening. In a video posted on social networks, the operations director of Café Ferreira explains having received a visit from a “dozen firefighters” who asked her to empty the terrace of her restaurant, although it was full of customers.
“The firefighters came to tell us that the terrace is not compliant,” Sandra Ferreira explains in her video. “They are waiting until 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 reactions from many people, including elected officials from the metropolis.
The office of the mayor of the City of Montreal, Valérie Plante, said it was “shaken” by the testimony of Sandra Ferreira. He also assured that the SIM teams have “confirmed the conformity of the terraces on Rue Peel” and that they would all be able to reopen during the day on Saturday.
“The SIM must ensure constant dialogue and continue the search for solutions to ensure the safety and vitality of the businesses that we all love,” added the mayor’s office.
“Apart from the question of bad timing, I question the lack of leadership in the Ville-Marie district led by Valérie Plante,” wrote on X the spokesperson for the Official Opposition on public security, Abdelhaq Sari. 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.
“We met the owners a week and a half ago to tell them that it is not the terrace, but the marquise [a small marquee] which must be three meters away,” explains the 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 operations director 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.
The general manager of the Montreal Centre-ville commercial development company, Glenn Castanheira, expressed his “deep concern” about the measures taken by the SIM with regard to the terraces.
“This approach, initiated on the first day of the festivities, during a period of high tourist influx, raises serious concerns about its consequences on the economic vitality of certain merchants in our city center,” declares Glenn Castanheira.
The Montreal Firefighters Association distanced itself from the SIM operation, saying it was “irritated and deeply disappointed” to see its members “wrongly and intensely taken advantage of” by several restaurateurs whose terrace was closed by the SIM .
She said that the firefighters “had nothing to do with these interventions by the Montreal Fire Safety Service, the SIM. »
“The confusion comes from the fact that this spectacular operation, called Sentinel, was carried out by prevention agents, civilian employees, who, unfortunately, wear a uniform similar to that of firefighters,” declared the president of the Firefighters Association , Chris Ross.
And the intervention of the SIM did not displease only the restaurants whose terraces were covered. Marie-Pierre Burelle is the manager of the Ryu restaurant on Peel Street. His establishment is the only one not to have installed a marquee 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 rain did not help the cause of the restaurateurs on Saturday evening. Although they had been reopened, the terraces on Peel Street were completely empty around 8 p.m., due to a lack of canopies to shelter them from the elements.
In the vestibule of Café Ferreira, customers crowded together, while overworked employees whirled around. To say how the evening was going, the maître d’ Claudia Ferreira only had one word. ” Wrong “.
The restaurant tried to find a new seat for the nearly 80 people who had reservations on the patio for dinner. Due to lack of space, a quarter of these reservations had to be canceled, according to Claudia Ferreira. “We did our best,” added the young woman, with a tired smile.
For Dominic Plouffe, who comes to dine on the terrace of Café Ferreira every year, in honor of the Grand Prix, the intervention of the SIM “makes no sense”. The customer, who had been waiting to be seated for around ten minutes, sympathized with the plight of the restaurateurs. “Now they have to reorganize everything inside, right during F1. It’s a lot of management,” he stressed.
A little further up the street, the Alexandre et Fils restaurant also had to say goodbye to a large number of customers. Alain Creton, owner of the establishment, however, acknowledges having received the warning from the SIM ten days before the intervention. “We look bad in Montreal,” commented the restaurateur, according to whom 70 reservations were canceled due to the rain, which represents nearly $7,000 in losses.