Our Vancouver office acted for Fraser Health Authority (FHA) in respect of an action for injunctive relief against the operators of a business called “Rolly’s Restaurant” in Hope, B.C. (the “Restaurant”). We applied for and obtained an interim injunction against the defendants prohibiting them from operating the Restaurant while a closure order issued by FHA in respect of the Restaurant is in place. 

In September 2021, the Provincial Health Officer in BC issued a public health order which, among other things, required certain restaurant businesses to confirm that customers have been vaccinated prior to service. FHA received complaints from the public that the Restaurant was not complying with the health order, and upon investigation, FHA confirmed that the Restaurant was refusing to check its customers for vaccination status prior to service. 

After issuing several fines and making other efforts to have the Restaurant comply with the public health order, FHA issued a closure order for the Restaurant prohibiting it from operating until certain conditions had been met. The Restaurant refused to comply with the closure order and continued to operate in non-compliance with the public health order. FHA then retained our firm to seek the injunctive relief. 

This matter was significant because there was considerable media attention regarding the Restaurant’s flagrant non-compliance with the public health order. Further, the Restaurant was beginning to receive support from individuals and groups that are against vaccination or share similar views, and there was concern that if the Restaurant continued to operate in non-compliance with the public health order, other like-minded business operators would begin to similarly flout the public health orders.

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