In Lumby, British Columbia, soccer mom Jane Emlyn is pursuing a complaint with the province’s Human Rights Tribunal saying “female minor hockey players’ rights are violated when they’re forced to use separate changing rooms.”
According to Al Berg, a member of the B.C. association’s coaching committee, the policy was introduced in January 2001 by Hockey Canada, after a Human Rights Commission mediation session in Ontario. It states players over the age of 11 of different gender are not allowed to change in the same room at the same time. The policy came as a result of increased female participation on integrated teams.
Ms. Emlyn, whose 14-year-old daughter Jewel plays on the Lumby Stars with two other girls, says a more gender-equitable policy would be to separate the sexes only for actual showering; at other times the boys would stay in boxer shorts and the girls in equivalent top-and-bottom skivvies. “A similar policy was introduced in New Brunswick last October, after the Human Rights Commission ruled a 14-year-old female player had her rights violated when she was forced to change separately.” According to Ms. Emlyn, “most of the youngsters on the team say they’re fine with mixed changing rooms”. (Lori-Anne Charlton, Vancouver Province/Canada.com, Jul. 11).
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