Toronto will allow canopies on CafeTO patios following social media outcry
The city will allow restaurants and bars participating in its CafeTO program to have rain canopies after one entrepreneur took to social media to accuse bylaw officers of “enforcing the letter of the law instead of the spirit.”
Jen Agg, who owns several Toronto restaurants, posted a series of messages on Twitter over the weekend after she was told that she would have to remove an open canopy that had been installed outside her Dundas Street restaurant Rhum Corner to shelter diners from the rain.
In the posts, Ag said that bylaw officers were going around asking “thousands” of restaurants like hers to remove the canopies under the logic that they were effectively four-sided tents.
She then questioned whether any restaurants were even consulted about the policy, which she said was “profoundly stupid.
“There has been RECORD RAINFALL THIS SUMMER! Without these tents we would basically have to close Rhum and Swan any night it rains, which might mean we can’t make payroll,” she wrote.
The city’s CafeTO program states that any area that is covered by a “roof, canopy, tent, awning or other element, must have at least two full sides open to the outdoors.”
But the canopy that Ag was asked to remove was mostly open on four sides, outside of a small covered portion near its top.
In a statement posted to Twitter on Monday, Mayor John Tory said that he has heard from Ag and several other restauranteur about the importance of canopies and has asked staff to work to accommodate them as soon as possible.
“I've confirmed Transportation Services will not require #CafeTO operators to remove canopies on curb lanes provided they do not create accessibility, safety or sightline issues,” he promised, noting that the adaptability of the CafeTO program has been a big part of its success.
CafeTO was launched in the spring of 2020 as a way to allow restaurants and bars to quickly open new or expanded patios during the pandemic.
This summer hundreds of restaurants and bars have set up patios on sidewalks and in curb lanes as part of the program.
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