Liable to a $2,000 fine: SIM inspectors tighten the screws on other Montreal events

After closing terraces during the Grand Prix, inspectors from the Montreal Fire Safety Service (SIM) are cracking down on other summer events in the city, to the great dismay of small entrepreneurs facing a fine of $2,000.

“The City should take into consideration that changes like this at the last minute greatly affect small businesses,” laments Stacey Matchim, owner of Paddhawan, a natural soap company.

She is scheduled to participate, on August 10 and 11, in La Grande Fabrique, an annual event that brings together more than a hundred local artisans in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district.

Every summer, they set up on Sainte-Catherine Street East to sell their products, often under marquees to protect themselves from the rain and the sun.

Viability of the in-game event

In previous editions, the event tolerated the presence of marquees of all kinds. However, this year, all marquees must have certification proving that they are fireproof, SIM warned the organizers.

This is what the craftsmen learned in an email sent a few days ago including The newspaper got a copy.

“We are contacting you today following a meeting between our team and the SIM to inform you that compliance with the regulations will be in the spotlight this year. It’s a question of the viability of the event,” wrote Julie Lavallée-Ansay, general director of the SDC Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, which organizes the event.

The latter specifies that offenders are liable to a fine of $2000.

This tightening of rules comes after the closure of terraces in the middle of last week’s Grand Prix, which plunged the SIM into controversy and led to the suspension of two of its executives.

Incomprehension

Several merchants who have rented their space at La Grande Fabrique deplore this new rigidity of the SIM.

This is the case of Marjolaine Deneault, owner of the jewelry company Herba Luminaria, who “does not have the means” to buy a fireproof marquee that sells for at least $300. She also emphasizes that La Grande Fabrique wants to be open to companies that are just starting out and therefore often have few resources.

“I had everything I needed. I have a commercial marquee, but it is not fireproof. I had equipped myself accordingly. I have difficulty understanding why we require this standard,” she laments.

“We bought a marquee last year for Hochelaga. Will I have to buy another one? They should have given a lot more notice and told us last year, but not at the last minute like that,” regrets Stacey Matchim.

The SDC Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and the SIM did not respond to our interview requests.

The Mural Festival also tastes it

At the Mural Festival, which took place from June 6 to 16, organizers reported “a tougher approach” from the SIM than in its previous 11 years regarding the types of tents permitted for traders who set up on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, closed to traffic for the occasion.

Several of them have also reported on social networks that they had to dismantle their kiosk after an inspection.

“If our tent was not certified fireproof […]we were all going to receive fines of $2,000,” Limparfaite Boutique, specializing in vegan accessories and cosmetics, reported in a written exchange.

She indicated that she had lost a day, despite renting the space, in order to find a solution. “Really sad to go through all this. We are all working so hard to barely make it,” the company added.

“Several traders and exhibitors had to try to find new tents in the middle of the Grand Prix weekend in Montreal and some missed days of activities because of fears of receiving fines,” wrote to Newspaper Pierre-Alain Benoit, general director of the Mural Festival. The Festival had to analyze the situations experienced by several exhibitors and made partial reimbursements to some of them to help partially repair the damage suffered, which also resulted in financial losses for the Festival.

– With the collaboration of Vincent Desbiens, The Quebec Journal