The City of Calgary has stayed all charges against Without Papers Pizza following a constitutional challenge brought by the Democracy Fund (TDF)-funded lawyers Martin Rejman and Chad Williamson. Without Papers Pizza was charged in 2021 with breaching multiple bylaws after its business licence was suspended for not complying with COVID-19 restrictions and after undercover inspectors were permitted to purchase pizza and remain inside without showing proof of vaccination, according to a Wednesday press release. TDF said the allegations against Without Papers Pizza were it permitted people to enter and remain on the premises without proof of vaccination and it did not display prescribed signage — all of which was contrary to the bylaws passed by the city. The smell of cooking pizza wafted out the second-floor windows of Without Papers Pizza in 2021, even though it had been shut down by the City of Calgary. READ MORE: The battle continues between Without Papers Pizza and the cityOne day after the city implemented the new bylaw mandating Calgary businesses to require vaccine passports, it said it would defy it. “We accept all, may they be vaccinated or unvaccinated, as being equal in their humanity and afforded the same dignity and equity as such,” it said. Rejman and Williamson argued in their constitutional application the bylaws in question were implementing public health orders found to be invalid by judges of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta. More specifically, they said the impugned orders were held to be ultra vires under the Public Health Act, as they were made by cabinet as opposed to the chief medical officer of health. TDF admitted the legal victory is bittersweet for Without Papers Pizza and owner Jesse Johnson, as it was forced into insolvency over the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions. Rejman and Williamson described it as a landmark institution in Calgary. Its owners supported the community by funding music festivals and donating pizza to flood-ravaged communities and homeless shelters. Johnson said he intended on pursuing a civil lawsuit. “It is a bittersweet irony what happened here today,” said Johnson. “My restaurant was shut unadjudicated.”.When the city shut his restaurant down, he said he was “deemed guilty without going to a court of law.” It shut it down after operating for 20 years.
