Photo credit: Instagram @ferreirarestaurant
The Montreal Fire Safety Service (SIM) sponsored the closure of several restaurant terraces deemed unsafe on Peel, Crescent and Notre-Dame streets in Montreal. This intervention took place last Friday evening, the first day of the Montreal Grand Prix festivities.
The co-owner of Café Ferreira – one of the restaurants which saw its terrace close that evening – reacted hotly in a video published on Instagram, which has more than two million views to date.
“We’ve been working hard for months to have a Grand Prix on Peel Street. We ended up getting a permit for our terrace. So why [le service de sécurité incendie de Montréal] waited until the Friday of the Grand Prix to come, when we have a packed restaurant? I find it cruel, I don’t understand. I’m ashamed, I’m ashamed for my city, I’m ashamed that this is happening in front of our customers,” Sandra Ferreira got angry.
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According to her, the SIM had already come by a few weeks ago to tell her to remove the marquees from the terraces, because they were not located three meters from the building. Then the restaurateur claims to have been told that ultimately, their location was correct.
A question of security
For his part, the SIM communications division head, Guy Lapointe, affirms that the restaurants were warned in advance. The Montreal Firefighters’ Association – which differs from the SIM – recalls in a press release that “society cannot afford to be lax, especially in periods of very high human influx, at the risk of causing disastrous events, or even even tragedies.” A fire on the terrace can in fact spread to nearby buildings if the marquees are too close.
Valérie Plante held a press briefing on Sunday following these events. Ensemble Montréal, the official opposition at city hall, believes that the mayor did not answer the merchants’ questions: how is it possible that the restaurateurs obtained a permit from the Ville-Marie borough if the terraces were non-compliant? Why did the operation carried out by the SIM take place on a Friday evening, and not a few days before the Grand Prix weekend? Ensemble Montréal therefore demands total and public transparency on “this shameful and unacceptable situation for Montreal restaurateurs”.
And they are not the only ones to express their concern. The general director of Montreal downtown, Glenn Castanheira, affirmed that “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 the area. downtown “.
Keywords:06 Montreal
Restoration
