THUNDER BAY – Salon owners and tattoo artists say they are being unfairly targeted by Ontario’s lockdown rules and as a result, may reopen their doors to customers, regardless of where the city lands on the provincial COVID-19 framework.
Tony Muia, owner of Serenity Salon and Wellness, on Tuesday said those in the personal care industry were prepared for an across-the-board lockdown when it became clear last week that the District of Thunder Bay would return to Grey.
But new rules instituted by the province permits most non-essential businesses to remain open, with 25 per cent capacity limits in place.
“We’re just absolutely dumbfounded and confused. When the lockdown was announced, we were expecting a hard lockdown, including ourselves, for sure, with the numbers skyrocketing in Thunder Bay,” Muia said, joined by about 30 other personal service workers and entrepreneurs outside of his Golf Links Road business.
“When they announced the shutdown, we were flabbergasted that pretty much it’s hair salons, spas, gyms, tattoo parlours and in-store dining closed, only. Everything else is open.”
It's having a drastic effect on the mental health of those involved in the industry, with workers not sure when they'll be allowed to return their lives to some semblance of normalcy.
"It screws with your mental health. I have to watch my wife cry every night," Muia said, adding employees and owners alike deserve some certainty, especially given the limited impact personal-care services have played in spreading the pandemic.
Muia said only 24 cases have been traced back to hair salons in all of Ontario, noting there were 573 cases in Thunder Bay reported between Jan. 9 and Feb. 16 -- when his business was allowed to reopen – and not one of them had anything to do with someone getting a haircut.
“What it’s telling us is ... the health minister is not doing her job at all. They’re totally sticking with the same-old and keeping us away from our chairs, keeping us away from our patrons, keeping us away from doing our job, in a safe way,” Muia said.
Meg Niittynen, a tattoo artist at Ink Factory Tattoos, said the vast majority of people working in her industry already utilize safe practices, sterilizing equipment between use, wearing a mask, contact tracing and using disposable equipment where possible.
Additionally, she’s only allowed a group of 30 clients to be serviced since the pandemic began – when she’s been permitted to work.
The rules aren’t fair, she said.
“It’s completely asinine that I can go to WalMart with 500 other people. I don’t know who they are or where they’ve been or what they’re doing – and then I can’t tattoo a personal friend,” Nittynen said.
The group wants the province on Friday to either announce a strict lockdown that allows only essential businesses to remain open, or relax the personal-care regulations and allow their industries to operate safely.
The alternative is a lot of businesses going bankrupt, government supports not nearly enough to carry them through another shutdown.
“Either we open our doors, or we close our doors. There is no other option here, right now,” Muia said, adding many salons will do it illegally if need be.
Nittynen said she won’t be far behind, adding she can’t keep scraping by to pay her bills each month, reliant on the generosity of a loyal customer base pre-paying for future appointments.
“I am already a member of WeAreEssential.ca. We are an anti-lockdown group and I am 110 per cent for opening illegally – and I know how to do it.”
