A free yoga class at the University of Ottawa (U of O) put on by the Centre for Students with Disabilities (CSD) was cancelled out of concern the practice was culturally appropriative, first reported by the Ottawa Sun on Nov. 20.
Jennifer Scharf, the instructor, was quoted by the Sun saying a complaint caused the class to be cancelled for the 60 students who attended.
However, Roméo Ahimakin, acting president of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), was quoted in the same article saying there was no complaint and the class was paused “to make it better, more accessible and more inclusive to certain groups of people that feel left out in yoga-like spaces.”
Scharf provided her email correspondence with the CSD to media outlets. As Buzzfeed reported, the centre wrote they wanted to be mindful as they practiced things like yoga which come from “cultures that have experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy.”
SFUO’s vice president of equity, Nicole Maylor, said to Buzzfeed “We acknowledge that cultural aspects of yoga is a large discussion going on around the world but it was not the only aspect to this conversation.”
The CSD released a statement on Facebook on Nov. 22, stating the yoga program needed revision and “a decision was made by CSD staff to temporarily suspend the program.”
“We have taken this semester to do this review with a mind to reintroducing new programming in the winter semester,” the statement continued. “We would like to stress again the fact that the classes were not cancelled. They were put on hold to allow the service centre to do proper consultation.”
The university tweeted on Nov. 23, stating the class was cancelled by the SFUO, and followed up with tweets about other free yoga classes offered on campus. One tweet from Nov. 24 said, “uOttawa [U of O] is not ending free yoga. While the [SFUO] has cancelled one class, [U of O] continues to host yoga.”
CSD’s Facebook statement currently has more than 300 comments and 105 shares. The issue is trending on Facebook and has been covered by news outlets worldwide.
