Interior Health sues to shut down gym defying COVID-19 health orders
CBC
The health authority in B.C.'s Interior has filed a lawsuit in hopes of shutting down a gym in Kelowna, B.C., that has defied a number of public health orders over the past several months.
Interior Health claimed Iron Energy Gym has regularly broken orders around masks and vaccine passports, as well as the order to shut down completely during the Omicron wave.
"The defendants have and are continuing to willfully contravene the closure order, the public health orders and the Public Health Act," read the claim filed Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court.
"The conduct of the defendants is, among other things, putting the health and safety of the public at serious risk."
The gym has not filed a response to the claim in court, but has been open on social media and in interviews about its opposition to public health orders restricting fitness facilities.
"Of course, we're going to fight this and of course, we're not backing down," owner Brian Mark said in an Instagram live posted Wednesday, after the gym was served with the lawsuit. "This is just adding fuel to the fire."
The lawsuit details what it describes as months of defiance by the gym, starting with a refusal to ask gym members to show their vaccine cards after the requirement began in September.
It said the gym also ignored the order around indoor masks after it was reinstated in early December.
Tensions reached a high point later that month, after the province ordered fitness facilities across the province to close.
Iron Energy Gym stayed open for weeks after the order came down on Dec. 21. Its owners helped organize Operation Green Light, a campaign that saw roughly 100 gyms across B.C. open their doors despite the public health order.
Mark spoke with CBC News on Jan. 18 about the decision to stay open.
"Operation Green Light was about making a stand for our freedom. We were basically sticking our stake in the ground and saying, 'We're going to open and we're going to remain open.' And of course, we're going to protect the safety of our members and clean all of our equipment ... but like, we're not asking for permission to exercise," said Mark.
"We still stand for freedom. We stand for mental health."
Mark acknowledged at the time that the gym had received formal warnings, been fined $2,300 and ordered to close by Interior Health.
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