Chrome salon shuttered by public health
Shop will have to comply with public health orders before reopening
Niagara’s public health department has shut down a St. Catharines hair salon that reopened in defiance of provincial COVID-19 regulations, under a law used to combat threats to public health.
Chrome Artistic Barbering on Lake Street in St. Catharines was ordered closed by Niagara’s acting medical officer of health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji, under section 22 of the Health Promotion and Protection Act, which empowers medical officers of health to make orders to limit the spread of a communicable disease.
Regional bylaw officers served the salon owner, Alicia Hirter, with the orders Thursday afternoon.
A notice was posted on the salon’s front door as required by the order saying the premises are closed.
Hirter, an antimask advocate who claims COVID-19 tests are grossly inaccurate, did not respond to an interview request from The Standard Friday.
She will only be able to reopen her salon if she satisfies the public health department that she has complied with the order, including creating a safety plan under provincial COVID-19 regulations that includes the wearing of masks by staff and clients along with proper physical distancing and ventilation.
Because the order was made under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, and not the Reopening Ontario Act, the salon will remain closed until the order is lifted regardless of what pandemic restriction zone the provincial government places Niagara in.
Like all salons and other personal services, Chrome was shut down Boxing Day by the provincewide shutdown ordered by Queen’s Park as COVID-19 cases spiralled out of control.
Hirter reopened her salon, claiming it was reformatted as a “film studio” producing a documentary, podcast or television show. She claimed her clients were now “auditioning” for a part in one of these hypothetical productions. However, they paid for a hair cut.
Legitimate film productions do not pay for auditions, and the practice is rejected by film studios and actors unions in Ontario.
While doing haircuts Hirter did not wear a mask, she said, because she was “performing” for the camera and did not require her clients to wear one either. Part of Hirji’s order closing the salon points out that COVID-19 spreads more easily in close contact situations.
Another St. Catharines salon, Evolution Salon and Spa, also reopened under the same pretences.
Film productions were allowed to continue operating during the provincewide lockdown under strict infection control protocols. Neither salon operated in the same manner as a professional film production company does under those rules, according to industry professionals.
Both salons and their owners were fined in late January by St. Catharines and regional bylaw departments for violating provincial pandemic regulations and were ordered to close. Hirter, and the owner of Evolution Dennis Costantini, also received a summons to appear in court later in March and face fines as high as $100,000.
An investigation into the activities at Evolution remains active.
Hirter reopened despite the order closing Chrome down, and bylaw officers spent several weeks documenting the activities at the salon.
The section 22 order — the same clause in the law that Hirji used to impose limits on restaurants and retail outlets — was issued Wednesday and bylaw officers attempted to serve to Hirter, who was not in her shop when the officers arrived.
The papers were successfully served Thursday.