Can a gym refuse to cancel your membership?

A gym can hold you to the notice period and fees in your contract, but it can't refuse a cancellation that your contract or your province's law allows. If it won't process yours, send a written notice by a method you can prove, keep a copy, and complain to your province's consumer protection office.

Do you need a doctor's note to cancel a gym membership?

Only for a medical exit, and only in some places. In British Columbia, a disability has to be confirmed in writing by a doctor or nurse practitioner, and in Saskatchewan by a doctor. In Quebec you don't need any reason at all. Elsewhere, it's up to your chain's own medical policy, so ask the gym what it accepts before you get one.

Do these rules cover a YMCA or a city recreation centre?

Often not. Ontario's and Nova Scotia's gym rules exclude non-profit facilities and ones run by a city or a charity, Manitoba's exclude non-profits and co-ops, and Quebec's exclude municipalities. Where a facility is excluded, its own membership terms decide, and the YMCA section above shows how three associations handle it.

Can you freeze a gym membership instead of cancelling?

At some chains. GoodLife lets eligible memberships freeze for 4 to 26 weeks at a time, up to 26 weeks in a rolling year. LA Fitness charges $10 a month to freeze a month-to-month membership, and YMCA Calgary lets you pause at no charge. Fit4Less and Éconofitness don't offer freezes, and at franchise gyms like Anytime Fitness, your club decides.

How to Cancel a Gym Membership in Canada, Chain by Chain

You joined in January, went a handful of times, and the payment still comes out every two weeks. Yes, you can cancel a gym membership in Canada. How you do it depends on your chain, and what it costs depends on your contract and where you live.

Some provinces give you more room than your contract does. In Quebec, for one, you can leave at any time, and the law limits what the gym can charge you for it.

How do you cancel at GoodLife, Fit4Less, Planet Fitness and other chains?

Each chain sets its own method and notice period, and your province’s law can add rights on top. GoodLife and Fit4Less ask for 30 days’ notice. Planet Fitness, LA Fitness and Éconofitness let you cancel online. At franchise chains, each club sets the terms. The table shows what each chain’s own pages said in November 2026.

Chain	How to cancel	Notice
GoodLife Fitness	Member Portal, or the front desk	30 days
Fit4Less	Kiosk at your home club	30 days
Planet Fitness	Online, in person or by mail	7 days before billing
LA Fitness	Online, in person or by mail	5 business days before billing, by mail
Éconofitness	Online, in your member space	None stated
Nautilus Plus	The contract’s form or a written notice	Ends when you send it
Anytime Fitness, Crunch	Set by your club	Set by your club
YMCA	Set by your local Y	Set by your local Y

GoodLife Fitness

Some GoodLife memberships can be cancelled online: log in to the Member Portal and open My Account, then My Membership. If yours can’t, cancel at the front desk of any GoodLife club, or through Member Chat in My Account if you can’t get to one. Each person on a family account cancels their own membership, since the primary member can’t do it for them.

GoodLife asks for 30 days’ notice, so depending on your next payment date, you may still owe one or more payments. Some membership types can’t be cancelled or carry a cancellation fee, and within 10 days of buying you can cancel for a full refund, according to its FAQ (opens in a new tab).

Fit4Less

At Fit4Less, which GoodLife owns, you cancel at the self-service kiosk (opens in a new tab) in your home club, and the club can help by phone during staffed hours. The 30-day notice applies to every cancellation, including ones sent through a third-party cancellation service.

Watch the annual fee. It’s $49.99 plus tax, charged when you join and again around each anniversary, it isn’t refundable, and depending on when you joined, it can come out during your notice period. A one-year paid-in-full membership ends at the end of its term.

Planet Fitness

Planet Fitness Canada takes a cancellation three ways (opens in a new tab): online through the member portal, in person at your home club, or by a letter mailed to your home club. Cancel at least 7 days before your next billing date to stop that charge, and at least 7 days before your annual fee date to avoid the annual fee, listed at $49, though prices vary by club. Ending a membership that has a minimum term before the term is up costs a $58 buyout. Clubs are franchises, so some policies can vary by location.

LA Fitness

LA Fitness has clubs across southern Ontario, most of them in and around Toronto, and in Edmonton. You can cancel through your online account, at a club’s front desk, or with a written notice mailed to the address on its membership questions page (opens in a new tab), ideally by registered mail. A mailed notice postmarked at least 5 business days before your next billing date should stop further billing. If your agreement has an initial term of 3 months or more, a cancellation sent during that term takes effect when it ends, and leaving sooner costs a termination fee. The page is written for US members, so check your own agreement for anything specific to Canada.

Anytime Fitness and Crunch

These are franchises, and each club sets its own terms. Anytime Fitness (opens in a new tab) says each location’s membership agreement covers how to cancel, the cost and any termination fee, so start with yours or ask your home club. Crunch Fitness Canada (opens in a new tab) takes cancellations by phone or in person at your home club, charges an annual fee, and gives refunds only within a grace period that varies by province, or in extenuating circumstances.

YMCA

Each YMCA association sets its own rules. In Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton:

YMCA of Greater Toronto: send the form on its Manage Your Membership page (opens in a new tab) at least 15 days before your next payment date.
YMCA Calgary: cancel or pause at any time with no charge (opens in a new tab) through its contact form, with your membership barcode.
YMCA of Northern Alberta (Edmonton): go in person at least 7 days before your next payment. It doesn’t take cancellations (opens in a new tab) by phone or email.

Éconofitness, Nautilus Plus and other Quebec gyms

Every gym in Quebec has to follow the provincial rules below, whatever its own policy says. Éconofitness (opens in a new tab) lets you cancel online, from the My Membership tab in your member space. Within 37 days of signing, it refunds you minus a tenth of the total cost, and after that it charges a fixed cancellation fee (opens in a new tab) that’s the same for every membership type. Nautilus Plus’s contract follows the law: send the form attached to it or another written notice, and the contract ends the day you send it. Énergie Cardio and Fit Forme don’t post a cancellation process on their websites, so send your club a written notice.

Can you cancel a gym contract early? The rules in each province

Six provinces have rules written for gym contracts: British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Five of them give you 5 to 10 days to cancel for any reason. British Columbia and Saskatchewan also let you leave later for a move or a medical reason, and in Quebec you can leave at any time. Everywhere else, your contract decides.

Province	Change your mind	Longest contract	Leave partway through
British Columbia	10 days	2 years	Move over 30 km, disability, death
Alberta	No gym rule	No gym rule	Contract decides
Saskatchewan	7 days	2 years	Move over 30 km, incapacity, death
Manitoba	7 days	12 months	Contract decides
Ontario	10 days	1 year	Contract decides
Quebec	Free until it starts	1 year	Any time, cost limited
New Brunswick	No gym rule yet	No gym rule yet	Contract decides
Nova Scotia	5 days	1 year	Contract decides
Prince Edward Island	No gym rule	No gym rule	Contract decides
Newfoundland and Labrador	No gym rule	No gym rule	Contract decides
Yukon, NWT, Nunavut	No gym rule	No gym rule	Contract decides

British Columbia

Since August 1, 2026, British Columbia calls a gym membership a fitness or other personal services contract, and Consumer Protection BC (opens in a new tab) says the cancellation rights didn’t change. You can cancel for any reason within 10 days of getting a copy of your contract. A contract can’t run longer than 2 years including renewals, unless it lets you cancel at any time on 30 days’ written notice at no cost.

You can also cancel at any time if one of these happens (section 25 (opens in a new tab) of the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act):

You move so you’re more than 30 km farther from the gym, and it has no comparable location within 30 km of your new home.
A doctor or nurse practitioner confirms in writing that a physical, medical or mental condition makes it unreasonable or unsafe for you to keep going.
The member dies.
The gym closes, stops offering what you signed up for, or moves more than 30 km farther away.

The gym has 15 days to refund you. When you cancel because your own situation changed, it can keep up to 30% of your refund. When you cancel because the gym closed, stopped offering what you signed up for or moved, it can’t keep any of it. Consumer Protection BC has a cancellation form for each case.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan’s consumer protection regulations (opens in a new tab) call a gym contract a personal development services contract. You can cancel for any reason within 7 days, counting only days the gym is open, after the later of two dates: the day you get your copy and the day everything you signed up for is available. A contract can’t run longer than 2 years, and the gym can’t take more than 12 months of fees in advance (sections 3-22 and 3-26).

The ways out later are close to British Columbia’s. You can cancel at any time if you move more than 30 km farther away and the gym has no comparable location within 30 km, or if a doctor confirms in writing that a condition makes taking part unreasonable or unsafe. You can also cancel if the gym closes, substantially changes what it offers or moves more than 10 km. If the member has died or can’t act, a representative can cancel for them.

The gym has 15 days to refund you, and when you cancel because your own situation changed, you get back 70% of the unused share. A contract missing required information can be cancelled within a year. The province’s consumer regulator (opens in a new tab) gives the main rules in plain language.

Manitoba

Manitoba’s Consumer Protection Act (opens in a new tab) covers prepaid services for health, fitness and exercise when you pay in advance. You can cancel within 7 days after the later of signing and the day the services are available, by registered mail or by handing a written notice to the gym, and Sundays and holidays don’t count.

A contract can’t run longer than 12 months, the fee has to be payable in more than one roughly equal instalment, and a contract can’t include a clause that renews it. Non-profit and co-op gyms, and golf, curling and racquet clubs, aren’t covered. The Act doesn’t give you a right to leave for a move or an illness, so after the first 7 days your contract decides. The province’s Consumer Protection Office (opens in a new tab) explains the rules.

Ontario

Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act (opens in a new tab) treats a gym membership as a personal development services agreement. You can cancel one for any reason within 10 days of the later of two dates: the day you get the written copy, and the day everything you signed up for is available (section 35). You can use the gym during those 10 days, and the province’s page on joining a gym (opens in a new tab) suggests doing exactly that to see whether it suits you.

The rest of the rules:

One year at most. A contract can’t run longer than a year from the day all its services are available, and a renewal past that counts as a new contract (section 31). A month-to-month membership you can end on a month’s notice can keep rolling without the notice below.
A renewal needs notice. For a renewal to be valid, the gym has to send you a written notice 30 to 90 days before the contract ends. If you tell the gym before the renewal date that you don’t want to renew, the contract ends. If it renews without the notice, you can cancel and ask for a refund of what you paid after the original contract ended.
A contract missing information can be cancelled for a year. It has to list, among other things, the services, the total you’ll pay, the payment schedule and the start and end dates. If yours doesn’t, or you never got a copy, you can cancel within a year of signing (section 35).
Fees have limits. One initiation fee at most, no more than twice the annual membership fee, and the gym has to offer monthly payments, which can’t add more than 25% to the price (sections 33 and 34).

When you cancel under the Act, the gym has 15 days to refund you (O. Reg. 17/05 (opens in a new tab), section 79). The rules don’t cover a non-profit or co-op gym, a club owned by its members, a facility funded or run by a city, a charity or the province, or a golf club, and they apply only when the membership is paid in advance and costs more than $50 (section 29, and section 27 of O. Reg. 17/05).

Past the 10 days, Ontario gives you no general right to walk away. Your contract’s own cancellation terms decide the notice and any fee.

Quebec

Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act (opens in a new tab) has its own section for gyms, which it calls physical fitness studios (sections 197 to 205). A contract can’t last more than a year, and the gym can’t take any money before it starts providing the service. It also can’t collect the price in fewer than two roughly equal instalments.

What it costs to cancel depends on when you do it, as the Office de la protection du consommateur (opens in a new tab) (OPC) explains:

When you cancel	What the gym can charge
Before it starts providing the service	Nothing
Within the first tenth of the contract	At most a tenth of the total price
Any time after that	The services you received, plus any loss it can prove

The first tenth is counted from the day the gym starts providing the service, so it’s about five weeks of a one-year contract. The OPC’s example is a 10-month, $400 contract: cancel in the first four weeks and the gym can charge you $40.

After that, the Civil Code (opens in a new tab) still lets you end the contract on your own (article 2125). You pay for what you received, and the gym has to refund anything you paid ahead for services you won’t get (article 2129). In the OPC’s example of a one-year, $420 contract ended after four months, the gym can claim $140, and more only if it can prove the cancellation cost it something. If the amount seems too high, you can take it to court.

To cancel, send the cancellation form attached to your contract or any other written notice. The OPC suggests registered mail. The contract ends the day you send it, and the gym has 10 days to refund what it owes you.

Quebec’s law also caps a penalty at $50 or 10% of the unused services, whichever is less, but that cap covers other services sold over a period of time, such as lessons or a dating service (section 195). A gym contract follows the tenth rule above.

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia’s Consumer Protection Act (opens in a new tab) covers fitness, sports and dance services you pay for in advance (sections 25A to 25J). You can cancel by written notice within 5 days after the later of signing and the day the services are available, and you get back everything you paid. A notice sent by registered mail counts from the day you mail it.

A contract can’t run longer than a year. The gym can charge only one initiation fee, of no more than twice the membership fee, and it has to offer equal monthly payments that add no more than 25% to the price. A renewal clause only applies if the gym reminds you, 30 to 90 days before the contract ends, that you can refuse the renewal in writing. A refund is due within 20 days. Non-profit, co-op and member-owned clubs aren’t covered, and neither are facilities funded or run by a charity, a city or the province.

Alberta, New Brunswick and the rest of Canada

Alberta, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and the three territories have no rule written for gym contracts, so your contract’s cancellation terms decide. New Brunswick’s new Consumer Protection Act, passed in 2024, has rules for gym contracts, but the province’s Financial and Consumer Services Commission (FCNB) says (opens in a new tab) it takes effect on a date the government will set once the rules under it are final.

A contract signed away from the gym, such as at your door, can also fall under a province’s direct-sales rules, which in most provinces give you 10 days to cancel.

Can you cancel over the phone or online?

Online, if your chain offers it: GoodLife (for some memberships), Planet Fitness, LA Fitness and Éconofitness all do. By phone, only where the chain takes it, and even then, follow up in writing. When you use a right under Ontario’s law, such as the 10-day cancellation, the notice can be spoken or written. A written one is what you can prove, though, and Quebec’s law asks for a written notice.

To make the cancellation stick:

Read the cancellation clause in your contract. It sets the notice period, the method the gym accepts and any fee.
Send a written notice by the method your contract names, and in a way you can prove: email, registered mail, or a letter handed in at the front desk with a signed receipt. In Quebec, the form attached to your contract works.
Ask for written confirmation that includes the date of your last payment.
Check your next two statements. If money comes out after the last payment you owe, go back to the gym, then to your bank.

A notice can be short:

I’m cancelling my membership at [club and address], member number [number], as of today, [date]. Please stop all payments from my account after any final amount I owe, and confirm the cancellation in writing, with any amount you say I still owe. [Your name, phone and email]

Can you cancel a gym membership through your bank?

Your bank can stop the payments, but it can’t cancel the membership. Stopping a pre-authorized debit doesn’t cancel your contract or what you owe under it, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (opens in a new tab) says. So cancel with the gym first, in writing, and keep a copy.

If the gym keeps withdrawing money after you’ve cancelled, contact it first. If that doesn’t fix it, you usually have 90 days from the date of each withdrawal to ask your bank to put the money back. A debit taken after you cancelled the contract is one you have the right to get back, and the bank will ask you to sign a declaration saying why.

If the gym charges your credit card after you cancelled, you can dispute the charge with your card issuer. How a credit card chargeback works in Canada covers the deadlines.

Don’t stop the payments without cancelling. The gym treats them as missed payments and can add whatever fees your contract allows. Crunch’s FAQ, for one, says an unpaid balance eventually goes to collections.

What if you still owe the gym money?

Cancelling doesn’t erase what your contract says you owe, such as a last payment during the notice period or an early-termination fee. If you stop paying, the gym can send the account to a collection agency, and what debt collectors can do in Canada explains the limits on calls, lawsuits and your credit file.

Before you pay, check the amount against your province’s rules. Quebec limits what the gym can charge. British Columbia and Saskatchewan let you leave for a move or a medical reason with a set refund. In Ontario, a contract that was missing required information, or a renewal made without the notice, can be cancelled, and you can ask for your money back. Ask the gym to put the amount it says you owe in writing, and if you disagree, say so in writing too.

Save the old gym payment, with a weekly draw on top

A membership you’ve stopped using is one of the easiest bills to turn into savings. When the last payment goes through, you could set up a transfer for the same amount on the same day, so your budget doesn’t change and the money starts adding up.

Lodavo is a free app that makes that saving more rewarding. Every $25 in your savings or chequing account earns a free ticket in a weekly cash draw. Someone wins at least $100 every week, and the top prize is $10,000. Your money stays in your own account at your own bank.

Ready to save what used to go to the gym? Get Lodavo free on the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) or Google Play Store (opens in a new tab) and start earning tickets for the weekly draw.

This article is general information, not legal advice. What you owe when you cancel depends on your contract and your province, so check your own agreement and your province’s consumer protection office.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.