As Ontario municipalities enact new measures regarding the use of masks in commercial locations, business owners are on their own when it comes to dealing with customers who refuse to comply.
On Tuesday, Toronto and Ottawa joined Kingston in establishing rules requiring a non-medical face covering inside businesses that are open to the public.
One scenario facing business owners is the possibility that an anti-mask activist will try to enter without a mask. Recent videos circulating on social media have depicted people trying to enter Toronto-area stores or hospitals without masks. In some videos, customers threaten legal action. "The establishment could refuse to serve this person," said Cara Zwibel, a lawyer with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. "They probably could contact law enforcement and deal with it as a trespass. I certainly don't think that's something that we should be doing, but that's not precluded by the bylaw."
Businesses, meanwhile, are left to enforce what the Retail Council of Canada called a burdensome patchwork of municipal policies. Businesses with multiple locations may find they are obligated to ask maskless customers to leave in some cities, but not in others, the council said. Zaman says she encourages businesses to document any enforcement interactions so they do not forget the details of how the policy was explained to the customer. She added that employees should be given frequent options to raise any incidents that concern them.
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