Closure order reversed, fight still on to keep Corduroy restaurant open

December 27, 2021 in News, Video by RBN Staff

 

Source: Rebel News | By 

 

Small and medium businesses have been hit hard by COVID-19 restrictions in Canada. In their most recent report on the matter, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), estimated that “small businesses in Canada now owe a collective $139 billion” since life with COVID-19 began.

But for Rebecca Matthews, the owner of Corduroy restaurant in Kitsilano, Vancouver for the past 13 years, the threat of financial hardship hasn’t been enough to coerce her into implementing a discriminatory vaccine passport.

Matthews, has been shut down twice by government authorities in 2021. The first time, generous people donated to FightTheFines.com so that Rebel News could partner with The Democracy Fund to hire her a top-notch lawyer, Bruce Hallsor, to help Corduroy reopen after it was shut down for offering indoor dining when a public health order forbade it.

In September, B.C. announced it’s vaccine passport restrictions, which required restaurants to discriminate between patrons based on their vaccination status.

Matthews, worked hard to try and find a loophole to stay in business without demanding people show their papers to enjoy good food.

But the freedom was short lived, and the restaurateur was served a second closure order by Vancouver Coastal Health, and a GoFundMe was set up to help the family-run business fight to stay open another day.

Thankfully, a lengthy court battle was not needed, because a couple of days after being closed, the public health order was updated, allowing Matthews to be open for table services, but to only sell alcohol for takeaway.

Matthews says she could have flown under the radar like others by “being sneaky and pretending to check for passports,” but instead thinks that “if you feel what’s happening is wrong, you need to take a stand.”

Watch my candid sit-down interview with Matthews, as I enjoy one of her delicious non-alcoholic beverages and hear about her recent win that allowed her restaurant to be open without participating in medical segregation.

If you are concerned about what the normalization of vaccine passports will mean to Canada, please consider donating what you can to support our lawsuit against B.C’s passport, and other vaccine related case across Canada, at FightVaccinePassports.com.