The City of Burnaby's community centres are really starting to enforce their rules and guidelines around membership, as one local resident found out the hard way.
Marlene Smith was a full-time member at Bonsor Recreation Complex since January, but after taking a stand against wearing her membership band on her wrist, she says staff recently ended her membership.
"I understand the need to make sure you've paid," she told the Burnaby NOW. "I can understand getting kicked out because you haven't paid, but not being given an option is an affront to my personal privacy."
Smith was attending a fitness class three days a week, and her daughter also attends preschool at Bonsor. On June 19, her instructor told the class that everyone had to wear the wristband or prove with a doctor's note that it can't be worn.
It was all of a sudden, it came out of nowhere," she said,
Smith said shortly after she spoke with the director of the complex, explaining how the wristband makes her uncomfortable, the conversation led to the end of her membership, and she was prorated her fees. She was told she could still come to the centre, but could not attend the class without the band on her wrist.
"I'm a citizen of this community and I've done nothing wrong," she added.
Smith's situation led to a former fitness classmate, Laurie Sheard, start a petition, which asks the city to change the rule to allow members to have the band visible anywhere on the person, not just on the wrist.
"She is not the only one who has a problem with this," she said about Smith. "Some (members) have just stopped coming and others find other ways around it."
Sheard said most attendees in the class signed the petition and they recently turned it in to staff at Bonsor.
"We started the petition because we, as a group, felt that what they did to her was completely out of proportion for what she had done. She was wearing it on her body, it was fully visible and to revoke her membership, it was overkill," she said. "She stands up and defends herself, and as such, the rest of us did too."
However, the community centres have had issues with people using the facility without paying and the wristbands are a necessary measure to curb it, according to Dave Ellenwood, Burnaby's director of parks, recreation and cultural services.
"They're important because it's a consistent way to ensure that everyone is on the same level, that they've paid and they're entitled to be using the service," Ellenwood said. "We've had wristbands for over 10 years and nobody really likes the wristband ... It's small, but tolerable."
Ellenwood also said that Smith's situation happened because they can't make exceptions to the rule without compromising fair treatment to all members.
"If she had put on the wristband, she was welcome," Ellenwood said. "I guess it's a question of semantics, if we allow her to do it, somebody else is going to come and say, 'I want to wear mine on my shoe or on my hair - we have to have a consistent and efficient way for staff to know that people are entitled to be there."
Ellenwood said this situation does not happen often.
"I wouldn't say it's common, but it happens frequently enough to shake my head and wonder why people don't just pay and wear the wristband.
"Most people comply and most people see the need to do this, just like airport security and just like at concerts."
Ellenwood said wearing wristbands has proven to be the most effective way to track membership.
"(If) somebody is determined there is an equally efficient way to do it, then we'll consider it," he said. "An overwhelming majority of people comply and go about their business.
"Hopefully people will understand, it's not in any stretch us trying to be draconian - we're just making things fair."
But, Smith maintains that she was not aware that membership bands had to be worn on the wrist or risk membership loss as no one informed her until recently - and there are other options to visibly prove membership.
"They have no data to support how much theft and transferring of bands go on," she said. "It is all speculative. And if this was such a serious issue, why did they not make a more determined effort earlier on to make the customers aware, like when I started going there?"
For more information on Burnaby's membership guidelines at community centres, visit www.burnaby.ca.
