Sherbrooke bar counters police claims of breaking pandemic guidelines
La Microdistillerie, a bar in Sherbrooke, is trying to clear its name after local police claimed to have witnessed over 200 people in the establishment last weekend skirting several of Quebec’s health and safety measures.
The Sherbrooke Police Service (SPS) reportedly walked into the building at 11:15 p.m. on Nov. 7 to see many patrons not wearing masks or respecting physical distance rules. They also claimed people fled when officers entered the establishment.
On Wednesday, the bar’s owners revealed it hired a PR firm, Local9, to counter the accusations made by the police. La Microdistillerie sent out a mass press release with video attachments to prove the allegations submitted by the SPS are unfounded.
“When you look at the surveillance camera footage, you don’t see anyone running away, as the SPS mentioned. This statement is completely false and biased,” co-owner Jean-pierre Desrosiers said.
Local9 said that Desrosiers spoke to SPS officers for a few minutes on the evening of the incident. They added that the exchange was routine and amicable; police often pass by to check in on the bar’s activities. They said police left without any mention of a fine or infraction.
The Microdistillerie team was shocked when media coverage began “citing totally erroneous facts from the SPS,” the PR firm continued. And it was particularly troubling to Desrosiers as it could have a negative impact on the bar’s survival given the current pandemic situation.
“I’ve always had a good relationship with the Sherbrooke police and I understand that the pressure is high,” said Desrosiers. “But these statements are detrimental to my business and the facts must be rectified publicly.”
According to Martin Véronneau, a Local9 spokesperson, the bar took its time gathering information in order to get all of the facts straight, which is why they only released a statement on Wednesday. They needed to comb through and compile video evidence.
“They needed to understand the situation, I’m not a partner with them, I was hired to do communications, so it took time to gather information, make sure 100 per cent about our claims that the police are wrong,” Véronneau told The Record.
The bar’s ownership is claiming police arrived at 11:21 p.m. and that, backed by video footage, there were between 75 and 85 customers in the building; well below the maximum capacity of 130 people — 50 per cent less than its normal 260-person capacity pre-covid.
The SPS declined to comment on the situation. It is out of their hands at this point, a spokesperson told The Record. Files from that evening have been sent to the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales (DPCP) for further evaluation.
“There were email exchanges all week between the police service and the owners of the bar,” the spokesperson said. “The documents and the infraction report were submitted to the DPCP, so we have no more comments.”
Véronneau said the situation will blow over. With all of the evidence they compiled, there is no way La Microdistillerie should be in any sort of trouble, he said. If it has to go to court, the Local9 spokesperson believes it is a slam dunk for the bar.
“We have a register of all the names and phone numbers of the people who entered the establishment along with the exact time they entered throughout the day, so I think this will be difficult for the DPCP to bring this to court,” Véronneau said.