Skate Canada says it will no longer host major events in Alberta following a review of the province’s legislation on the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sport.
“Following a careful assessment of Alberta’s Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, Skate Canada has determined that we are unable to host events in the province while maintaining our national standards for safe and inclusive sport,” the organization said in a statement emailed to CBC News.
A spokesperson for the organization said the decision only applies to national and international-level events. Alberta skaters are not barred from participating in Skate Canada programs and competitions, they said.
“We will continue to monitor legislative developments in the province and will reassess hosting opportunities as circumstances evolve.”
No upcoming national or international events are scheduled to be held in Alberta.
It’s a positive action that a major organization has done, and it takes a lot of guts to do that in today’s political climate.– Sara Kym, Skipping Stone
In a post on X on Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith responded to the decision, calling it “disgraceful.”
“We expect they will apologize and adjust their policies once they realize they are not only compromising the fairness and safety of their athletes, but are also offside with the international community, including the International Olympic Committee, which is moving in the same direction as Alberta.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is currently in the process of reviewing its definition of female sports.
Andrew Boitchenko, the province’s minister of tourism and sport, echoed a similar sentiment in an emailed statement to CBC News.
“No athlete should have an unfair advantage, and no athlete should have to put themselves at risk of harm to participate in the sports they love,” he wrote.
“By choosing to forgo events in Alberta’s world-class venues, Skate Canada is denying their female athletes opportunities to compete on a safe and level playing field.”
But federal Secretary of State (Sport) Adam van Koeverden told CBC News in a statement that: “Our government believes in a sport system that provides opportunities for all Canadians to participate and excel without discrimination, including the transgender community, which is disproportionately vulnerable, excluded and marginalized.”
He added that Skate Canada operates independently of the federal government and makes its decisions based on “science and evidence, specific to their sport.”
Kaitlyn Weaver, a two-time Canadian Olympic ice dancer who identifies as queer, said she’s proud and supportive of Skate Canada’s decision.
“Figure skating should be for everyone, and that is Skate Canada’s deepest belief. That’s my deepest belief as someone who is Canadian and as someone who loves the sport so much.”
When the news of Alberta’s transgender policies came in, it felt like a “step back,” Weaver said.
But Skate Canada’s decision shows the organization is consistent in their values, she said. In 2022, the organization changed its definition of “team” to refer to “two skaters” as opposed to a man and a woman.
A controversial bill
Alberta’s Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, also known as Bill 29, came into effect Sept. 1. It permits only athletes assigned female at birth to compete in women’s sports.
It’s part of a trio of bills Smith’s United Conservative Party government introduced last year, which officials say protect the well-being of children and youth, and increase parent access to information and decision-making power over children.
Last week, the government invoked the notwithstanding clause to protect the bills from legal challenges.
Proponents, including Smith, say Bill 29 is about fairness on the playing field, so girls are not battling opponents with biological advantages, specifically those who were assigned male at birth and may have higher testosterone levels.
Doctors say more research is needed to determine whether trans athletes truly have a competitive physical advantage.
Opponents of the bill say it’s more about stigmatizing and punishing those in the transgender community, and using them as a political football to advance the UCP’s agenda while appealing to a conservative voter base.
The Alberta government said this summer that out-of-province transgender athletes are exempt from the ban, as it does not have the authority to regulate athletes from different jurisdictions bound by other provincial or international guidelines.
Athletes and sports organizations in the province — such as the Alberta branch of Skate Canada — remain subject to the provincial law.
Decision creates friction
Skate Canada is within their purview to refuse to host major events in the province, said Milena Parent, a professor specializing in sport governance and strategy in the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa.
She said the organization has its own policies that align with national safe sport guidelines, and this decision reflects its commitment to following them.
“This is where the friction is: between those safe sport policies that Skate Canada has and must follow from a national perspective versus what an individual province like Alberta would set as their rules or laws within their jurisdiction for their own sport organization,” Parent said.
Skate Canada’s 2023 policy on transgender participation in domestic events is that athletes who “identify as trans can participate in the gender category in which they identify.”
Parent said this policy is broad, but the organization also follows the guidelines set by the International Skating Union for international competitions. Its guidelines contain rules regarding testosterone limits for transgender women, and is in line with what other organizations — like the IOC — have set.
“The federation at the national level has to still follow what the international federation and the International Olympic Committee will set, if it’s an Olympic sport,” Parent said. “It’s a tightrope that Skate Canada has to walk in terms of what it will allow.”
Parent added that at this point it does not look like other sports organizations will follow suit, but if federations such as Hockey Canada or Curling Canada make similar moves, others may take notice.
U Sports, the national governing body for university athletics, told CBC News in an email that Skate Canada’s decision does not change its policy on holding events in Alberta.
“U Sports continues to permit hosting national championships and events in Alberta; however, we continue to monitor developments that could affect our ability to apply national eligibility regulations at our events,” the statement said.
Sara Kym, a community care co-ordinator with Skipping Stone, an organization supporting and advocating for trans people in Alberta, said she hopes other organizations will consider following Skate Canada’s approach, as it is a welcome “act of solidarity.”
“It’s a positive action that a major organization has done, and it takes a lot of guts to do that in today’s political climate,” Kym said.
Despite the show of support, Kym said it is disappointing that the government’s legislation pushed Skate Canada to make the decision. She added that Bill 29 has far reaching effects for athletes beyond just figure skating.
“This isn’t just competitive, high-end, Olympic-level sports,” she said. “This affects many, many people across Alberta, and not just trans people but the cis people that have been playing with trans people for years.”
