Whistle Stop Cafe Owner Acquitted of All COVID Charges by Alberta Court

A supporter sits outside the Whistle Stop cafe during a freedom rally in Mirror, Alberta, on May 8, 2021. Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

Chris Scott, owner of the Whistle Stop Cafe, has been acquitted in an Alberta court of all public health charges laid against him during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The acquittal follows a court decision last month ruling that orders made by Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) were invalid and breached the Public Health Act (PHA).

The court decision was announced on the Whistle Stop Cafe’s Facebook page on Aug. 28 with one word: “Acquitted!!!”

“Todays acquittal was great. I no longer have THIS portion of grey cloud over my head, in which I was under the threat of huge fines and prosecution. The real battle lies ahead in the near distance,” said Mr. Scott in a social media post.

“We’ve been alerted to the potential storm, the potential impacts to our rights, freedoms and privileges. Now it’s time to act. Do you all realize that we live constantly under threat of having our rights stripped from us, by bureaucrats, with little to no accountability for them? I have a problem with that and so should you.”

Mr. Scott was accused of ignoring public health orders and Alberta Health Services (AHS) orders to close his business, allegedly serving customers in person and holding public gatherings and attending protests against government lockdowns. Those orders have since been struck down as invalid by a higher court.

A room at the Red Deer Provincial Court was filled with supporters of Mr. Scott who erupted in applause after the acquittal, as Judge Jim Glass told Mr. Scott, “You’re free to go.”

“This is the end of me worrying that I’m going to get fined into oblivion, but this is just the beginning of pursuing some reform in this province and fixing things so that people never have to go through this again,” Mr. Scott said after the acquittal was announced.

“Holding people accountable who unlawfully took authority that never belonged to them in the first place.”

Charged During COVID

Mr. Scott had been in and out of court for more than two years and faced nine COVID-related charges, as well as charges related to the Whistle Stop Cafe, located in the small hamlet of Mirror, Alberta. After attending a protest in May 2021, Mr. Scott was accused of breaching public health orders, was fined $20,000, and spent three days in jail.

Had Mr. Scott not been acquitted, his lawyer Chad Williamson, who was unavailable for comment on Aug. 28, said his client could have been given tens of thousands of dollars in fines by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission and under the Public Health Act, and even a possible jail term.

Chris Scott, owner of the Whistle Stop Cafe, speaks during a rally against government lockdowns and business closures at his cafe in Mirror, Alberta, on May 8, 2021. The Whistle Stop was shut down by AHS for not complying with COVID-19 public health orders that have since been found by a court to be invalid. Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

The acquittal in Mr. Scott’s case follows a separate court decision on July 31 that ruled public health orders issued by the Alberta government were outside the jurisdiction of the province’s Public Health Act (PHA) and therefore invalid.

On July 31, Court of King’s Bench Justice Barbara Romaine, in the R. v. Ingram case, issued a ruling that invalidated all public health orders issued by the province’s CMOH from March 2020 until September 2021.

Justice Romaine said the orders were enacted outside of the powers of the PHA and were issued by cabinet rather than then-chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw. The 90-page court decision followed a legal challenge to COVID public health orders filed by two churches and a business owner in December 2020 alleging that CMOH orders were unlawful and unconstitutional.

This legal precedent has now had a trickle-down effect on all outstanding court cases and charges laid during the pandemic in the province, including the acquittal of Mr. Scott.

During the restaurant owner’s court appearance earlier this year, court heard that health inspectors routinely showed up at the cafe, located in Lacombe County, from January to April 2021. According to Mr. Scott’s lawyer, there were communications between multiple agencies about “going after” his client that he was slowly obtaining through disclosure.

Mr. Williamson suggested that Mr. Scott had become a “political target, and none of this had anything to do with public health.”

Supporters gather during a rally to protest lockdown measures mandated by government and health authorities at the Whistle Stop cafe in Mirror, Alberta, on May 8, 2021. Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

At one point in 2021, Mr. Scott and the Whistle Stop Cafe were the subject of a court-ordered, very rare blanket injunction, which allowed police to arrest unnamed Albertans for “organizing an in-person gathering, including requesting, inciting or inviting others to attend an ‘Illegal Public Gathering,’” which was defined as one that does not comply with masking, physical distancing, and limited gathering requirements ordered by the CMOH.

AHS enforcement officials began arresting Albertans not connected to the Whistle Stop Cafe, for example those who protested lockdowns, until the order was challenged and subsequently amended on May 13, 2021, making it applicable only to Mr. Scott and those associated with the Whistle Stop Cafe.

“Big box stores were able to operate with impunity […] but a little diner in Mirror that services a community that’s far away from everywhere else, well they got the big hand of government come down upon them,” Mr. Williamson said outside the courtroom.

“Is it right that a guy can go and buy a TV during a pandemic but an elderly resident of somewhere in or around Mirror can’t go for and have a meal prepared for them in a small diner, especially if they can’t cook? I think that it’s inhuman to go after some people and not others and produce a policy that’s not consistent,” added the lawyer.