The Nationswest Field House in North Battleford has closed its door to the public for two weeks.
The city rented the facility, which is equipped with walking tracks, courts, and community rooms, to a religious organization to host a private event called Battle for Canada.
According to the Battle for Canada website, the group opposes legal abortion and same sex marriage.
Those values upset Joe Palmer, a regular user of the facility. He said it’s also unfair that the Field House is closed to the public.
“Everything that I’ve seen on the website, is pretty much against everything we have fought to gain,” he told CTV News.
The city just recently painted its first LGBTQ rainbow crosswalk, a belief the organization is against, he said.
“I don’t know what’s going to be next that they’re trying to take away from us.”
Another avid user of the Field House, lawyer Rob Feist, wrote a lengthy Facebook post critical of the rental that has been shared more than 300 times.
Mayor Ryan Bater said the city does not discriminate who it rents its facilities out to.
“For us this is rental facility and this is private event and these are private activities.”
Bater said the facility was planning on shutting the Field House down for three weeks this year anyway to make up for the budget shortfall. But now that’s being rented - for $25,000 - the facility is only going to be closed for two weeks.
“It’s a net benefit for all the users,” Bater said.
All members will be compensated for the lost time by giving each member an additional three week membership for free, he said.
