When you have to go, you have to go.
But some drivers who are supporting local restaurants by delivering food to Newmarket and area restaurants are finding themselves in the uncomfortable position of not being able to access washrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
John Heckbert, a local mortgage broker, said he has been delivering for SkipTheDishes to do his part in helping local restaurants survive, as they provide food by pick-up and delivery as essential services under the province’s emergency orders.
Heckbert, who was active in helping to promote Davis Drive restaurants and small businesses when they were struggling during the prolonged road closures for construction of the Viva Rapidway, said restaurants play a vital role in our local economy.
“It’s all about keeping local businesses alive. We need them when we come out of this,” he said. “Restaurants and retail employ a third of the population.”
Delivering for restaurants in Newmarket, as well as in Aurora and Richmond Hill, he’s often on the road for five to six hours a day.
“At some point in the day, you’ve got to go,” he said.
However, of the 25 restaurants in Newmarket where he has picked up orders, at 16 of them he has been told their washrooms are closed to the public as required by public health.
“I understand from the restaurant staff that I’ve talked to that this is a public health initiative. They’re basically saying they have shut everything down to the public … so the washrooms are off limits.”
“I get that public health doesn’t want them to let the public in, but do I look like the public? As long as I’m delivering food for you, I’m staff. I’m standing in your restaurant, I’m picking up your food and I am delivering it to your customer,” he said.
However, restaurants are not prohibited by public health from allowing delivery drivers to use their facilities, according to Scott Cholewa, manager, infectious diseases, for York Region Public Health.
The Food Premises Regulation under the Health Protection and Promotion Act sets out requirements for sanitary facilities, Cholewa said.
"The implied expectation is that sanitary facilities be made available for staff and customers within a food premise. Given the unique circumstances that have been brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, some essential businesses may have implemented their own policies which prevent the availability of sanitary facilities for the general public," he said.
Finding public washrooms in the community is challenge, too, Heckbert said.
It appears some gas stations in the area have closed their washrooms by posting signs on the doors saying “out of order.”
Male drivers “can always find some place to go” if necessary, he said, but that’s not the preferred option, obviously.
And it's not an option for his wife, Lisa Heckbert, who is working part time doing deliveries for SkipTheDishes in Newmarket.
While she is still working at her full-time job, she said she also wants to help local restaurants get through the pandemic.
She, too, supported the Davis Drive campaign, and unfortunately saw a good friend lose his business, she said.
“Your delivery drivers are an extension of your staff,” is Heckbert's message to the restaurants. “It’s disappointing that they don’t see that.
“Even more so, I’m your neighbour. So, please, let us use your washrooms.”
Access to washrooms became a provincial issue last month when Premier Doug Ford learned that truck drivers delivering crucial supplies during the pandemic were finding closed rest stops and limited access at gas stations to be a growing challenge.
Ford pleaded with business owners to “have a heart” and keep their washrooms open for truck drivers, saying they wouldn’t be able to keep their businesses open without the deliveries being made by truckers.
“So have a heart, you know, open up the washrooms for these truckers,” Ford said. “It’s not right, it’s not fair. They’re doing their job.”
