09/16/2026
This one really hits close to home. 💔
What happened to one of our customers, but most importantly, a friend, is heartbreaking and completely unacceptable.
We’ve had the privilege of knowing and supporting the team at Mercasa, and they have always been more than just a customer to us. They are part of our community, and people we genuinely care about.
To see an act of kindness met with something so frightening and disrespectful is incredibly upsetting. No business, no staff member and no person should have to experience something like this.
We stand with our friends at Mercasa and their team. ❤️🇮🇹 We hope everyone involved is safe, and we hope our community continues to choose kindness, respect and compassion.
You’re not alone. We’ve got your back. ❤️ Mercasa Little Italy Eatery
I am angry, saddened and deeply disappointed by what happened at Mercasa during our busy lunch service today.
Two individuals entered our restaurant and asked if we could provide them with something to eat. We responded with compassion and offered both of them a complimentary meal through the Pass the Puck campaign.
This is how they chose to repay that kindness.
They deliberately set our Italian flag on fire inside the restaurant, creating chaos and putting our staff, customers and property at risk. My team and our patrons were forced to witness something frightening, dangerous and deeply disrespectful—all while we were simply trying to help two people who came through our doors asking for food.
Although we are not necessarily calling this a hate crime, setting fire to the Italian flag inside an Italian-owned business is profoundly offensive, personal and something we take extremely seriously. This flag represents our heritage, our family and the culture at the heart of Mercasa.
It is heartbreaking that an act of compassion was met with such blatant disrespect and dangerous behaviour. I am incredibly disappointed that incidents like this continue to happen in our City of Brantford, and even more disappointed that my hardworking staff and loyal patrons had to experience this today.
We will continue to be proud of our Italian heritage, our business and the community we serve—but no act of kindness should ever be met with such disrespect.
Tom Mercante
Brantford ExpositorBrantford Police ServiceCity of BrantfordBrant BeaconRogers
Please share this post. Our community needs to know what happened, and our staff and customers deserve to know that this type of behaviour will not be accepted or ignored.
