Judge dismisses Sask. restaurant owner’s legal challenge of COVID health orders

A Saskatchewan man who ended up in the ICU during a COVID-19 outbreak has lost his legal challenge against public health orders.

The Shorebird Inn in Tobin Lake was charged in March of 2021 after owner Bryan Baraniski was warned multiple times that masks and a list of patrons who dined in the establishment were required.

After an outbreak was linked to the establishment, public health officials trying to contact-trace infections found the lists kept by the restaurant were inaccurate and incomplete.

Now, Judge Steven Schiefner has upheld the public health order that required the customer list, saying it did not violate the customer’s Charter rights.

The judge even wrote in his ruling that the fact Baraniski ended up in the ICU “graphically illustrates the serious public health risk” of the pandemic.

— With files from The Canadian Press