In order to comply with a new provincial law, parents and guardians of pre-teen and teenage girls in Calgary schools must now declare their child was born female in order for them to participate in school sports leagues.
Alberta’s Fairness and Safety in Sport Act came into law on Sept. 1, mandating that participation in female-only leagues, classes, or divisions be limited to student athletes whose sex recorded at birth is female.
A Calgary Board of Education (CBE) document provided to CityNews asks parents and guardians of female student athletes age 12 to 18 to confirm they understand the eligibility requirements and that their student meets those requirements.
“If a student athlete’s eligibility is challenged, the parent/guardian may be asked to provide a copy of the student athlete’s birth registration document,” the division said. “Failure to provide this document may result in the student athlete being deemed ineligible to participate.”
The division says confidential challenges can also be made to dispute an athlete’s eligibility if there are “reasonable grounds to believe that a student athlete is ineligible.”
The application will be reviewed and can be dismissed by the CBE if it’s found there are no reasonable grounds. If this happens, the person who submitted the challenge could face sanctions.
Challenges can be dismissed for several reasons, including if it is deemed to have been made in bad faith or if the division has previously resolved a challenge against the same student athlete.
If the division chooses to move the challenge forward, the parent or guardian of the student will be required to produce their birth certificate.
The athlete’s eligibility will be reviewed again, and if the challenge is upheld and the student is found to be ineligible, they will be “permanently ineligible for participation in a female-only league, class or division of a relevant sport.”
All CBE employees are responsible for knowing, understanding, and following the administrative regulation, the division says.
Employees who don’t comply could face disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.
CBE says its primary goal is to ensure full compliance with the law while supporting the well-being, inclusion, and development of all students participating in school sports.
In a statement to CityNews, the Calgary Catholic School Division (CCSD) says it has taken similar steps to the public school division when it comes to complying with the policy, explaining has developed a parental consent form for students 12 and older who wish to participate in female extra-curricular competitive athletics outside physical education programming.
“At CCSD, our priority is to ensure we are following government direction, while continuing to support our students and families,” it adds.
Like the CBE, challenges can be submitted as to an athlete’s eligibility. Under CCSD policy, however, only a parent of a student who is already participating in a female-only extracurricular.
The Province of Alberta says the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act “establishes a balanced approach to the integrity of female athletic competitions by ensuring women and girls have the opportunity to compete in biological female-only divisions, while also ensuring transgender athletes are able to meaningfully participate in the sports of their choice.”
Transgender youth advocates and support organizations have repeatedly said this policy and others implemented by the provincial government will have a negative impact on 2SLGBTQIA+ youth.
“I think what we’re seeing is the personal impact and the toll that these sorts of practices are going to have on trans and gender diverse athletes and students and the harm that comes when we deprive people of their fundamental, foundational rights,” said Amelia Newbert, managing director at Skipping Stone.
She says the organization has been fielding an increased amount of calls from people looking for support for youth navigating the processes prompted by the new provincial rules.
“I can tell you that the stories that we’re hearing already are absolutely devastating in terms of the impact that it has on these youth,” Newbert added.
New school board directives are a direct response to new provincial mandates, and so Newbert said their is little that can be done to oppose them.
She says the best thing parents and supporters of transgender children can do is create opportunities for them in a space where they can feel validated and affirmed now that that may not be possible in a school athletics environment.