A West Kelowna gym that made news for defying British Columbia’s latest lockdowns has now been forced by health authorities to shut its doors or face jail time.
“We have lost the big fight to Big Brother,” said Iron Energy Fitness co-owner Brett Godin on an Instagram post Tuesday. “This is something that’s super emotional for the owners…. We fought our asses off.”
The six owners of Iron Energy had originally intended to defy a closure order they received last Friday after the regional health authority – Interior Health – took them to court and obtained an injunction. The ruling by the B.C. Supreme Court forces the gym to close for six months or as long as the closure order is in effect.
According to court documents, the gym was subject to more than 40 complaints of noncompliance over masks and vaccine passports as well as ignoring a closure order from Feb 3. which co-owner Brian Mark allegedly tore in half on a social media post.
Iron Energy had originally announced the injunction would not stop them from operating, but the owners say that changed on Tuesday when they received threats of criminal charges.
“We’re simply forced by court order right now and the owners will actually be serving jail time and (will face) criminal charges if we allow the gym to be open and operating,” Godin said. “We have chosen, you guys, obviously to follow the court orders and remain closed at this time.”
Godin added that Iron Energy may re-open at some point, following COVID protocols, although the gym’s address appeared on MLS real estate listings at time of publication.
Iron Energy made waves in B.C. and across the country when government lockdowns over the Omicron variant of COVID-19 forced gyms and many other businesses to close yet again. Bars, nightclubs, fitness centres and other indoor facilities were ordered shut in late December, but Iron Energy Gym said it would not comply.
Citing the importance of fitness to mental health, the gym launched the #OperationGreenLight and #FreeBC social media campaigns to encourage other businesses to stand up to government lockdowns and to advocate for fitness centres to be made essential services.
Gyms were allowed to reopen in B.C. on Jan 20 after the government had suggested earlier in the week that it might keep them closed a while longer. #OperationGreenLight is credited with helping to apply the necessary pressure to open them.
Iron Energy’s campaign continued, however, and eventually grew to challenge the vaccine passport, which fitness centres in the province have been forced to adopt.
In addition to the closure order on Friday, Iron Energy received 21 tickets over its decision to stay open, totalling $7,245. This is on top of a $2,300 fine for refusing to comply with the original health order from January.
The gym had originally announced that it would remain open for the purchase of merchandise, but a Facebook post on Wednesday said the gym is now closed and that purchases could only be made online.
Another gym in Quebec – CrossFit 819 in Gatineau – had also tried to stay open after defying lockdowns and receiving a court order but closed after the owner was threatened with jail time.
As of Wednesday, B.C. remains the only province that has not signalled definitively when any of its vaccine policies will end. Instead, B.C. recently expanded its vaccine mandates to include healthcare professionals in private practice, including physiotherapists, midwives, dentists, chiropractors and many others.
