When staff at a Brantford, Ont., restaurant agreed to give two people free meals, they never could have imagined what happened next. It began on Wednesday afternoon when the pair walked into Mercasa Little Italy Eatery & Catering on Henry Street. “They asked our staff for a meal because they said they didn’t have any money,” said Tom Mercante, the restaurant’s owner. “My staff graciously started preparing this meal for them, and, unfortunately, as they were preparing this, serving our customers, one of the individuals proceeded to light the Italian flag on fire.” The flag typically hangs inside the restaurant, just above the front door. Brantford is home to a large Italian community. Beyond the obvious connection the flag represents, it held even more significance to Mercante. Not only was it a variation on the traditional flag, he had brought home from Italy. “It’s very, very disrespectful. Very disrespectful … to me, my family and the entire community. Very disrespectful,” Mercante said. Once they noticed the fire, staff jumped into action. They tore the flag down and took it outside to stomp out the flames. Mercante said even when the fire was out, the pair’s strange behaviour continued. “They waited in the restaurant here in the front foyer — actually watched all the chaos between my staff and all the patrons. Waited until they got their free lunch and then just casually proceeded to leave.” The free meal was part of a program called “Pass the Puck Forward.” Paying customers can make a donation for a miniature hockey puck, and then those pucks are used by others to buy food. Five restaurants in Brantford are part of the program: Pace’s Take Out & Catering, Mercasa, Maria’s West, Sweet Bakery and Altitude Coffee Roadsters. Mercante said this incident has not changed his view on the initiative. “We’ll always do what’s right. We’ll always help the community,” he said. “A one-off instance like this is not going to change how we do things.” Police investigation “We are launching a full-out investigation,” Det. Const. Jet Khagura of the Brantford Police Service told CTV News. “We will be conducting canvassing in the area.” For now, it’s not clear why the fire was started. “I wish I knew,” Mercante said. “There was no negative interaction, so we can’t chalk it up to that. I mean, it went from a place of compassion from all our staff to have that complete opposite end of the spectrum reaction is something that we just can’t wrap our heads around right now.” Police are trying to determine what motive, if any, prompted the act. “It’s still in the preliminary stages of the investigation, but we are looking at all avenues of being possibilities regarding this incident,” Khagura said. Mercante just wants to make sure everyone feels safe. “It’s very, very upsetting. It’s terrifying to think that this could have been a lot worse for the building, for my staff, for the patrons,” he said.
