City suspends Kryptonian Ink’s licence after business defies stay-at-home order

A Hamilton Mountain tattoo shop has had its business licence temporarily suspended as it continues to operate in defiance of the provincewide stay-at-home order.

Speaking to The Spectator, City of Hamilton licensing manager Monica Ciriello said bylaw officers served Kryptonian Ink with a business licence suspension letter on Monday.

We've been taking progressive enforcement with this location," she said. They are not supposed to be operating for 14 days as of April 26th ... in addition to not only the suspension letter, they also aren't permitted under the (Reopening Ontario Act) to be operating because they're a non-essential business."

Under Ontario's COVID-19 lockdown, personal care services such as tattoo parlours, hair salons, tanning salons and spas are prohibited from operating.

But as of Thursday, the doors of the Concession Street tattoo studio remained open - despite already having been charged four times under the Reopening Ontario Act (ROA), according to Ciriello.

The Spectator reached out to owner Stephen Stacey early Thursday afternoon but has not received a response.

In a previous interview, Stacey said he could no longer afford" to keep his business closed after complying with the first two lockdowns that damn near bankrupted" him.

When asked what would happen if his licence were suspended, Stacey told The Spectator he didn't technically need a licence" to operate.

He added that nowhere" in his contract with the city did it say he was going to follow an unlawful, unconstitutional tyrannical rule from some mayor or some governor."

Ciriello said a licence is required to operate a business in Hamilton.

There is a bylaw that goes along with it, and one of the requirements there is that they must comply with other laws, and if they're not and they're in contravention, they risk having their licence suspended," she said.

Kryptonian Ink could engage" with the city to gain compliance," Ciriello added. But as of Wednesday afternoon, the city had not heard from the business.

The tattoo studio has now been ticketed for allegedly obstructing an investigation and is facing three charges for operating a non-essential business when not permitted.

The latest charge, laid Monday, was a Part 3 charge," which requires the owner to appear before court next month, said Ciriello. The previous charges, laid on April 14 and April 24, are known as Part 1s" and only require a court date if the business owner chooses to contest them, she added.

Stacey previously said he planned on fighting the charges in court, whilst calling them nonsense."

Ciriello said as part of the ongoing bylaw investigation, the city has referred it to the provincial enforcement team," which falls under the Ministry of Labour. That process includes providing them with details on the charges laid thus far.

They're currently reviewing the matter and determining what next steps may look like from their end," said Ciriello, noting the city will follow their lead when it comes to further enforcement.

The Spectator reached out to the ministry for comment Thursday morning but has not yet received a response.

Until now, Ciriello said the city has had great compliance" in working with community business owners while laying charges where they've been deemed appropriate." Since Nov. 13, 2020, the city has laid at least 160 charges against businesses that have allegedly flouted COVID rules.

This is the first one where we're seeing a continued flagrant disregard of not only city bylaws, but provincial regulations," she said, noting they are receiving continued" complaints. This is now reaching the level where we're engaging our provincial counterparts and we're determining what our next steps are."

In the city's COVID update Monday, Emergency Operations Centre director Paul Johnson said the business has made a very public statement ... that they are not going to close, they feel they are just going to stay open."

In an undated video posted to Facebook on Monday afternoon, Stacey can be seen inside the business without a mask as someone else records the video.

We've got bylaw here again," said Stacey. This is all unlawful, everything they're doing. They're basically mall cops."

Stacey can be seen going outside and pointing to a number of signs, while at least one bylaw officer can be seen in the video. He noted that these two gentleman have a hard time reading this information and processing it."

I'm not playing this anymore, this game is done," he said in the video. So what I'm going to do right now is go back to work."

Stacey then heads back inside, while one of the bylaw officers appears to try and hand him some paperwork."

More to come.

Fallon Hewitt is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: fhewitt@thespec.com