Halifax gym removes race-based pricing after 'criticism,' says it was not meant to be 'exclusive'
A Halifax gym says it has removed race-based pricing after “feedback and criticism” about a discounted rate intended “to foster diversity and inclusion.”
R Studios, which has five locations in Nova Scotia, came under fire this week after posts on social media pointed out the discount. Canadian veteran Jeff Evely said on X that charging “double for white people” compared to Black and Indigenous People of Colour (BIPOC) customers was in violation of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act. Evely is also a People’s Party of Canada candidate for Sydney—Glace Bay.
A business cannot discriminate against customers based on race, according to section five of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act .
Evely posted screenshots of the gym’s website, showing one studio drop in pass for $30 and another for $15, which was labelled as the “BIPOC drop in rate.” The discount is no longer available on the gym’s website and it has since posted a statement on social media .
“In a fitness industry that has long been predominantly white and often inaccessible, we have taken pride in being leaders who actively promote diversity through our hiring practices, in-studio equity and inclusion training, and the creation of our IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility) Committee, with ongoing efforts to ensure all individuals feel seen and represented within our walls,” it said.
“Recently, our organization has received feedback and criticism surrounding one of those efforts, a discounted membership created by our BIPOC team and IDEA Committee to help foster diversity and inclusion.”
The studio said it has historically offered such pricing options, which comes from a “place of compassion.” However, the statement said, “we understand that it has been interpreted by some as exclusive.”
It said it would be launching a fund to provide access to memberships for those who face “financial or systemic barriers.”
According to its website, R Studios’ first location opened in 2014. “This space was created for the misfits, the non-conformists, the everyday person,” according to owner Connie McInnes.
A nonprofit group in Halifax that offers circus lessons, from juggling to acrobatics, called Halifax Circus , says BIPOC discounts are available upon request.
VIA Rail offers a 33 per cent discount for Indigenous travellers as seen on its website. Advertisements for the discount appeared on Facebook in 2019, C2C Journal reported.
“I can understand why people may find it objectionable to vary prices by race, as we aren’t used to seeing discrimination in this form,” Bruce Pardy, a Queen’s University law professor, told the publication in 2019.
“But it is not inconsistent with the already very objectionable idea that you can have different rules for different groups of people across a broad range of other areas.”
In 2017, a filmmaker in B.C. faced backlash for charging white men more for movie tickets , calling it a “justice-pricing model,” in which the white men were charged $15 and other customers only $10, according to The Canadian Press. He said he stood by his decision and it was not a stunt.
In 2021, the B.C. Human Rights Commissioner granted special permission to allow for the preferential hiring of candidates who self-identify as BIPOC for a five-year term at the Burnaby Public Library and other organizations. A 2024 library report said that hiring managers only looked at resumes “from white candidates if there isn’t a sufficient pool of qualified racialized candidates.”
In December 2024, an event at a community centre in Montreal was cancelled after ticket prices for members of the BIPOC community were discounted by roughly 40 per cent.
R Studios and Halifax Circus did not immediately respond to National Post’s request for comment.
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