Business owners unsatisfied with city, police response to fires

WINNIPEG — A downtown Mexican eatery was set on fire early Friday — the latest in a string of restaurant blazes under investigation in the city’s core.

Windows were smashed and a fire was set on the back patio at La Roca at 155 Smith St. early Friday morning. Emergency crews responded just before 6 a.m. and the fire was extinguished about 40 minutes later.

No one was injured, and the owner of La Roca said he will be still be able to operate his business through the upcoming Grey Cup weekend, but after six fires at central Winnipeg eateries and event centres in just a few months, he said he and other downtown business owners are afraid.

“Bar owners, restaurant (owners), are feeling kind of threatened right now,” the owner, who declined to be named or photographed, said outside of the restaurant Friday morning.

Thida’s Thai Restaurant on Donald Street and Mae Sunee Thai Cuisine on Erin Street were hit by fires in July. Police believe they were targeted attacks.

Security video from both Thai restaurants showed the attackers breaking into the properties in the early morning before trying to ignite Molotov cocktails.

Commonwealth Kitchen & Bar in the Exchange District was set ablaze in July. Johnny G’s and Exchange Event Centre in the same neighbourhood were torched in August, and both are being investigated as arson, police said.

Boujee Restaurant and Bar on Main Street caught fire late last month. Police said the fire is being investigated by its major crimes unit as a possible arson.

Police were still at La Roca at 9 a.m., Friday. The owner said security footage shows someone approaching the restaurant before the fire.

Boards were put up on the windows later in the morning.

The owner said he and other downtown restaurateurs believe the arsons are linked. He said he’s heard of other local businesses being victims of extortion shakedowns.

The Winnipeg Police Service denied a request for an interview Friday. WPS spokesperson Const. Claude Chancy said the major crimes unit was investigating the fire at La Roca and had no updates to offer on the ongoing business fires.

For La Roca’s owner, not enough is being done to find the people responsible.

“Start investigating. Catch this person. Otherwise, it’s (the) downfall of Winnipeg,” he said. “This is not good for the businesses, this is not good for the families that live in this community.

“Downtown has become unsafe. It’s nonsense right now.”

The Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association has offered support to the restaurants hit by fire, but CEO Shaun Jeffrey said he hasn’t received enough communication from city leadership and from police on what could be done to put a stop to crime sprees targeting their sector.

“Some sort of communication would be great,” he said. “We have a very heightened awareness in our industry right now, and a lot of restaurant operators that are on eggshells operating their business.”

Jeffrey said he reached out to Mayor Scott Gillingham and the WPS after Friday’s fire “requesting immediate collaboration” on how downtown businesses can protect themselves from the current wave of fires and other crimes.

“It isn’t good enough. It’s not good enough for the owner of the business that was targeted today, it’s also not good enough for the business owner that was targeted six months ago,” he said.

Jeffrey said he doesn’t believe extortion is a factor in the reported fires.

Commonwealth Kitchen and Bar is still closed after it was set on fire in July. At the time, owner Nikola Maharajh told the Free Press a man used a brick or cinder block to smash three windows, before throwing something inside that lit a booth on fire. On Friday, he said he’s growingly concerned the fires aren’t random and his emails to the officer handling his case have gone unanswered.

“It’s a little demoralizing, I guess, to see that there’s zero progress on any of the many, many arsons,” he said.

» Winnipeg Free Press