WINNIPEG -- A Winnipeg tattoo shop owner who defied the province's public health orders has been handed a second ticket for opening the business amid code red restrictions.
Phil McLellan, the owner of Parlor Tattoos in Winnipeg decided to open the shop against health orders on Saturday after being shuttered for nearly 10 weeks. On Monday, he was visited by public health officers and three Manitoba Justice sheriffs who handed him a $1,296 ticket.
McLellan said on Wednesday another health inspector showed up at his business.
"He asked me if I was open. I said that in fact I was," he said. "They already had the ticket written out, and just handed me the ticket and told me I was being served again."
McLellan said under provincial rules he is allowed to open for curbside pickup and delivery, yet no one checked to make sure tattooing was being done.
"On neither of these occasions did they enter my establishment and witness any tattooing going on before they gave me these tickets," he said.
McLellan said he was told a letter is being drafted to inform him about other health order enforcement actions the government can take.
He said tattoo shops can open safely because they contact trace all clients, and until the province meets with the tattoo industry to discuss a safe reopening proposal, he plans to continue operating.
"This isn't a personal matter for me to (Brian Pallister) or me to the government," he said. "This is an action that needs to be addressed because we are being prevented as citizens from working in a lawful and legal industry that we are licensed to work in."
