A trans businesswoman says she's had to close her café in the Laurentian community of Val David last month because of a wave of harassment, both online and off.

Not only that, Sophie Banks says the harassment over her gender identity, and over her opposition to Bill 21, is causing her leave Quebec altogether.

Banks opened her café, the Vegan Canteen, this past spring. At the time the it opened, there had already been pieces published online about it, and its policy of paying its workers a proper living wage — $25 an hour — instead of allowing for tips.

But not long after the opening, the trouble started.

"Within a week or two, there was a dead bird left outside the front door," Banks told CJAD 800's Natasha Hall. "The next day, we came in, and we were broken into and robbed. And then, following that, every week, second week, I'd coming in and there would be smashed glasses, bottles, all the patio furniture would be flipped all over, another dead bird left at the door, people would be urinating on the doors and the windows of the café, that sort of thing..."

All of this, she says, left Banks stressed, and constantly wondering what was going to happen next.