A small bookstore has taken the Alberta Health Services (AHS) to court after being closed and alleged harassment for refusing to comply with their COVID mandates.

Stacey Pacholek, owner of the Eckville bookstore Stacy’s Happy Place, is seeking retribution and is challenging AHS’s authority for its closures and alleged harassment of her establishment. 

Pacholek told The Counter Signal on Monday that she never imagined how much persecution she would have to endure when she started her business one year before the so-called pandemic. 

Pacholek said she faced over 30 inspections by the AHS after a customer complained over the fact that she wasn’t enforcing their masking and social distancing mandates.

Starting January 2021, AHS constantly harassed Pacholek in her bookstore, and intimidated her family, said her pro bono lawyer, Lani Rouillard. 

“Three business closures, six AHS orders, three appeals to the Public Health Appeal Board, three judicial reviews with one denied, and three applications by AHS to dismiss the judicial reviews,” Rouillard said. 

Lawyer says AHS was abusive towards Stacey’s business and family

During an earlier court hearing for failing to comply with COVID mandates, Pacholek was arrested for not wearing a mask. The court was subsequently adjourned for one week, and after she went home, a warrant for her arrest was issued for failing to appear in court.

Rouillard alleged that Pacholek’s bookstore was also “subjected to unlawful search and seizure.”   

Within a few hours of their first hearing with the Public Health Appeal Board, the RCMP and AHS arrived at her business, and without a warrant, threatened to arrest her family if they didn’t forfeit their cash register receipts.

AHS also allegedly handed their inspection records over to the prosecutor, thus using the evidence against Stacey, personally charging her with quasi-criminal charges.

“Huge” legal case for the treatment of small businesses over COVID-19

Rouillard likened the actions of AHS to totalitarianism, where a government agent can arbitrarily decide when an individual is breaking the law. 

There’s been a “significant institutional shift where the subjective belief or assertion of a government agent is going to determine whether you are in contravention of the law,” she said.

The initial court appearance for the judicial review took place on Monday at the Court of King’s Bench in Red Deer Alberta.  Rouillard submitted her assertions before the justice and summarized the cases of “harassment and bullying” which the business and Stacey endured.

With a full gallery of supporters for Stacey, the judicial review is set to continue its first hearing on January 10, 2024, and the second following in April.

In order to proceed with the hearings, the court has demanded $27,000 security for costs, prompting the court to put a lien on the business’s assets to ensure a portion of the payment before the first hearing. Stacey’s friends have started a GiveSendGo in order for her to have the funds for this payment to continue the review.

Rouillard noted the significance of Pacholek’s case since essentially no other business has taken this route for a judicial review. 

To date, most COVID trials have been declared moot since they didn’t start until after the mandates were dropped.