No indoor training, but outdoor demonstrations. Most of the gyms that planned to open their doors on Sunday did not do so in the end, several having held rallies in front of their businesses, to issue a cry from the heart to the Legault government. Some, however, chose to defy the rules.
Posted at 5:02 p.m.
“We will not open until it is allowed. My goal was never to open up and break the rules, it was above all to send a message. And what you have to remember above all is that training in our fitness centers is safe, ”says the owner of the L’Atelier de Laval gym, Hugo Lauzon.
On the facade of this establishment on Boulevard Industriel, which mainly gives group lessons, several signs display slogans, including “we are part of the solution”. “We are very well able to control what is happening,” argues the businessman. “There are not 500 people left free here. We are 8-12 people at a time. Me, I’m in front, I coach. I see everything that’s going on,” he said.
PHOTO CATHERINE LEFEBVRE, THE PRESS
“The main thing to remember is that training in our fitness centers is safe,” says the owner of the L’Atelier de Laval gym, Hugo Lauzon.
Like the instigator of the #lasantéenpremier movement, the co-owner of the club Le Vestiaire Karim El Hlimi, Hugo Lauzon deplores the negative perception of gyms in general since the start of the pandemic. “People always think it’s a bunch of people together. But it’s not that. In our case, it’s a small group that pays attention to its health, that wants to motivate each other together. We’re not bad guys, we want to help. »
“We hear about reorganizing the health system. It would be good to put us forward. There, we are put aside when we could contribute. We just ask to work. We are all capable of helping, but they are not letting us help at the moment”, he insists, before adding: “There is no new initiative that has been taken by the government, whereas we do cancer and heart disease prevention. We don’t talk about that, even though it’s very important for our future generations. »
However, some gyms have indeed decided to open their doors, and to defy the instructions of Quebec. This is particularly the case of Gym Proactif, in Drummondville, which was visited by police officers from the Sûreté du Québec barely a few hours after its opening. “We really had an awareness-based approach in the first place. The police informed the people on the spot of the decree in force, then they asked to stop the activities. The person in charge on the spot collaborated and closed his establishment, ”said the spokesperson for the police force, Catherine Bernard. The co-owner of the training center, Mylène Arseneau, told Radio-Canada on Sunday that she did not regret her gesture, indicating that “this little three o’clock did so many people good this morning” and that “it will have worth it”.
“I ask them to be united”
A gathering was also held in the morning in front of Club Le Vestiaire, outside with entertainment and music. But no training seems to have taken place indoors. On the way from The Pressa few onlookers were trying to enter the establishment on rue Jeanne-Mance, the doors of which were barred.
“We should be integrated into the equation to lighten the work of our colleagues in hospitals”, argued last week Karim El Hlimi, in a video posted on social networks on Wednesday, which was widely shared by hundreds of internet users. He then said that his gym would open on January 30, “a day, with the greatest respect for sanitary measures, in order to demonstrate the importance of our profession and our role in society”.
PHOTO CATHERINE LEFEBVRE, THE PRESS
At the beginning of the afternoon, Sunday, the Prime Minister François Legault however launched an appeal for solidarity, imploring the gyms to respect the sanitary instructions. “I ask them to show solidarity, like the majority of Quebecers. What I also tell them is to respect the will of the majority of Quebecers, who agree with the instructions,” he said.
“We do this for two main reasons: to minimize the number of deaths and to keep some control in our hospitals. I understand that people are fed up, that they would like to go to the gym, to have big parties, but currently, with 2900 hospitalizations, it is still high, ”added the Prime Minister.
He affirms that Quebec “is going in the right direction, that there is hope”, but asks the merchants “to be patient”. Other reductions could also occur in the coming days. Mr. Legault promised on Sunday to “go around the situation” in order to determine whether new relief is possible in the coming days. A meeting is scheduled for Monday with Public Health.