A Beiseker cafe has joined the growing list of other Alberta restaurants, most of them in small towns, that, out of desperation over having to close because of provincial government restrictions around COVI-19 that have thrown open their doors in defiance of those restrictions.  

The Arcadia Cafe reopened on Wednesday (January 27) to customers who wish to come in and sit down for their meals.  Owner Joanne Diaz says she and her staff talked about reopening the business for over three weeks before deciding to do it this week.  Diaz says the reasons she took the step were two-fold.

"It was a matter of survival and it was a matter of sending a message out there that this is wrong.  It was a matter of survival because we won't survive."

Diaz built the restaurant from scratch four-and-a-half years ago.  "It takes time to build a business," she says.  "So we were finally getting it to where our business was paying for itself and starting to make money and then COVID hit."

Diaz attempted to stay open for take-out but was struggling and decided to temporarily close the cafe.  She reopened on July 11th and it did very well during the summer.  As the government issued restrictions against dining in restaurants, she says they revamped their menu, offering pizza and wings.  While customers did come, Diaz says on an extremely good day they were making about $700, and on others, their take was less than $100.  

"We just said, 'we're going to die.'  We either open now or we're going to die.  So we opened."

Diaz doesn't feel the government has the right to take away people's freedoms and liberties.  She says she has obeyed all of the government's restrictions up until now but can't any longer. 

Yesterday, Alberta Health Services inspectors and the RCMP paid a visit to Diaz in the restaurant with AHS threatening to pull the cafe's food permit if she refuses to close.

"I said okay, worst-case scenario, you come in and yank my food permit and close me down and I'm closed.  Best-case scenario, in your eyes is I go back to take out and close my dining room and I continue to struggle and my bills continue to mount, they're already so high I can't see the top of them.  And then I end up closing my doors anyhow and now I have three times the bills.  You tell me what the better option is? 

Earlier today Beiseker RCMP were back at the restaurant to issue a $1,200 summons for unlawfully contravening section 73(1) of the Public Health Act, an individual contravening an order of the medical officer of health.  Diaz is scheduled to appear in Airdrie Provincial Court on Tuesday, March 2nd.  

She's being supported by The Rebel News who today supplied her with a lawyer.  "I feel like, if I'm going to close, I'll feel a lot better if I go down fighting."

Other restaurants in Alberta are also going against restrictions in an effort to survive.  The Whistle Stop Cafe located in Mirror is one and has had a steady stream of customers coming through the doors.  While Diaz says they haven't seen the same influx, they are doing much better since reopening.  

"We haven't been as busy but we have been busy for sure.  We're doing way better than we have been.  We're making money and the support has been wonderful.  People that are in here are the same, they're sick of the lockdowns, they're sick of the government telling us.  We're adults.  Why should we have the government telling us whether we can sit in a restaurant or not?  Everybody should have the right to take their own risk.  To decide for themselves what they're willing to risk. We don't need the government to tell us what we can and cannot do."

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