Council approves ‘holistic healing centre’
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/11/2011 (5255 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The city has given a downtown massage parlour the green light to open with certain restrictions.
This morning, council’s downtown development committee heard from Youth for Christ director John Courtney, who worried that a proposed massage parlour at 328 King St. will have a negative impact on the neighbourhood. The City of Winnipeg recently gave Bliss Body Works the go-ahead to open a massage parlour just steps away from the new $13.3-million non-profit youth centre.
Bliss Body Works owner John MacKenzie told the committee that he wants to open a holistic healing centre that offers martial arts training, yoga, boot camps, and massage. However, he said under the city’s current bylaws he was left with no other option than to call his business a “massage parlour.”
Massage parlours are only permitted inside the downtown area and employ “massagists,” who are different than registered massage therapists, as they have not graduated from a recognized school of massage therapy or equivalent educational program. Currently, there are three licensed massage parlours in Winnipeg.
MacKenzie said people who practice certain types of alternative medicine -such as reflexology – are not registered by a recognized program. But MacKenzie said the city does not have an approval process for holistic or alternative therapies, so they must apply for approval as a massage parlour.
“It’s been a little stressful, ” he said.
Council’s downtown development committee voted to place certain restrictions on MacKenzie’s business. The massage parlour must not be open past 7 p.m., and MacKenzie must return to the committee for in 18 months to renew the city’s conditional approval.
The committee has also asked city administration to review existing bylaws to see if there could be another category – such as holistic treatment – to approve certain businesses.
Courtney said his “gut feeling” is that MacKenzie and his fiancée intend to open a legitimate business.
“I would hope in 18 months there actually is a new licence they could go for that would allow them to do what they want to do without this attachment of “massage parlour,”‘ he said.