‘It’s a detriment to our character’: Business owner reacts after being wrongly listed among COVID fines

A business owner in Swift Current is speaking out after Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Health mistakenly listed her business as one that broke COVID-19 guidelines.

The owner of Central Ave Hair Studio, Laurie Wieler, says the error instantly had a negative impact on her business.

“There were multiple people telling me, ‘It’s all over the news, it’s on Twitter, it’s on every news source around,’ ” Wieler said. “It’s a detriment to our character. We have been doing everything by the book.

“It’s sad that it has come to this, that people will think that we aren’t trying to follow the guidelines.”

After publishing the release on Tuesday, the ministry retracted the error Wednesday by issuing a statement saying the business should not have been included in the release.

Wieler says the mistake raises a lot of alarm bells for her, adding she’s worried about other innocent businesses being placed in the same position.

“It’s just so disappointing how the health inspector can make such an error. It just kind of (casts) doubts (on) any information that gets posted, like how many errors have they made?” she said.

According to Wieler, the incident in question took place on Dec. 29, after a health inspector visited the building.

“We have up to about nine tenants in the building with separate businesses. It had nothing to do with me,” she said. “This involved a lady that was a receptionist. He just saw my business’ name and must have used it.

“It was totally false. I just find it amazing how they can take down this information and broadcast it all over the province.”

Wieler claims she was never contacted by the ministry to let her know her business was included in the release.

Since the retraction, she says she still has not received an apology aside from the public one that was included in the correction made to the release on Wednesday.

Wieler says she has since emailed all of the hair studio’s clients to let them know what happened.

“I have had lots of support from our clients, so at least that is positive for us,” she said.

In an emailed statement to 980 CJME, the Ministry of Health said the ticket was given to an individual located in the same building as Wieler’s studio but who wasn’t in the business. The ministry said the business “was incorrectly reported as the location of the ticket.”

“The reporting process has been flagged and will be improved to ensure that businesses and organizations are not named in error,” the statement added.