As a business owner, this is why vaccination passports terrify me
Last week, an irate customer stormed out of one of my shops after my employee reminded him that he needed to wear a face mask to enter our establishment. He then turned around, re-entered the shop and spat towards her. Yes, this is still happening 17 months into the pandemic in Ottawa.
As an employer, I'm appalled that this happened to one of my own. As a human being — I simply have no words. As a small-business owner, I am dreading the customers' reactions if vaccination passports are rolled out and enforced in the near future.
Last week, Quebec announced it is moving forward with a vaccine passport that will allow vaccinated residents to visit non-essential businesses. Instead of closing businesses and limiting activity under specific circumstances, it will be necessary to show proof of double-vaccination via a QR code that will be scannable at the point of entry.
Although Ontario is adamantly opposed to this, if I learned anything in this pandemic, it is that business owners are rarely involved in the design process of things that affect our establishments directly, that things change quickly and we must learn to adapt and follow arbitrary decisions that happen almost overnight.
“I'm worried that small businesses will be squeezed out of existence. The ones that are already understaffed, stretched thin from the pandemic, mentally exhausted, and the list goes on,” said Jennifer Schurer, owner of upSpace. “A lot of people are not interested in policing this and I agree.”
Policing this is exactly what I'm scared of. If we are getting spat on for reminding people to wear a flimsy mask, what reaction can we expect from those who don't want to share their personal vaccination information?
Vaccination is a very personal decision and as a collective it is something that is already dividing us. What type of training and extra security is the government going to provide to business owners so that we don't become the first line of casualties in such a divisive topic? So that we don't get sued or assaulted while we struggle to keep our businesses alive.
I wonder if establishing these passports will create more harm than good. If people will stop visiting places because they simply don't want to deal with the hassle associated with having to provide deeply personal information they don't want to share.
One way or another, these passports will have negative effects in businesses that are already struggling to stay afloat.
Having to ask for proof of vaccination to allow customers to enter our businesses will have economic, emotional and physical responses that we are not equipped to deal with.
How about involving businesses and our customers in the design process? We are tired of being passive bystanders and would much rather be active partners working toward an integrated solution that could help untangle the complexity of this issue and create something that is as safe and acceptable for as many businesses, staff and patrons as possible.
Karla Briones is a local immigrant entrepreneur and owner of Global Pet Foods Kanata & Hintonburg; Freshii Westboro; founder of the Immigrants Developing Entrepreneurs Academy; and an independent business consultant. The opinions here are her own. Her column appears every two weeks.