OTTAWA — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has Canada’s national boxing regulator in her corner as she spars with Skate Canada over the province’s policy on trans athletes.
Meanwhile, the federal government has thrown its support behind the Skate Canada boycott, which it describes as a battle against discrimination in sports.
Christopher Lindsay, executive director of Boxing Canada, said his organization would not be joining the national figure skating body in boycotting Alberta over provincial rules barring male-to-female trans athletes from competing in women’s divisions.
“Boxing Canada has no plans to stop holding competitions in Alberta,” said Lindsay in an email to National Post.
Lindsay said he hoped Alberta’s approach to navigating gender identity issues in competitive sport was the correct one.
“We are hopeful that the Alberta legislation protects the ability of all Albertans to participate in sport — while ensuring that the conditions during competition meet Boxing Canada’s priorities of safety, fairness, and then broad participation,” said Lindsay.
He added that the physicality of his sport, and dangers inherent to competitive boxing, make it necessary to err on the side of competitor safety.
“(Competitive boxing) is highly regulated with age, skill, weight, and gender-based categories. In competition, a random draw is used to match boxers so those regulations exist to build trust than an opponent’s abilities are within a prescribed range,” said Lindsay.
“We believe that access to recreation and fitness must be protected for all Canadians. But the access to competition requires attention to the existing rules to ensure safety and fairness,” he added.
The statement of support comes a day after Skate Canada announced it would
stop hosting national and international skating events
in Alberta and quickly saw support from the federal government.
Adam van Koeverden, the federal secretary of state for sport, backed Skate Canada’s Alberta boycott in
.
“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,” wrote van Koeverden. “National sport organizations like Skate Canada operate independently from the government and make decisions with respect to the individual rights of athletes, based on science and evidence, specific to their sport.”
Skate Canada said in a statement that it was “unable to host events in the province while maintaining our national standards for safe and inclusive sport.”
Smith was quick to fire back, calling the Skate Canada boycott a “disgraceful” affront to “common sense and common decency.”
“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 (IOC), which is moving in the same direction as Alberta,” wrote Smith in a
Tuesday evening social media post
.
Alberta Minister of Tourism and Sport Andrew Boitchenko also
, calling it “disappointing.”
The
that it was moving toward a complete ban on transgender athletes in women’s Olympic events, after weighing evidence of the enduring physical advantages of being born male. It’s expected to
on gender eligibility in early 2026.
Women’s boxing was at the centre of a gender controversy that
rocked the 2024 Paris Olympics
, with suspicion encircling gold medalists Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, who’d both failed disputed gender eligibility tests prior to the games.
Khelif became the subject of global speculation after she
in a match that lasted just 46 seconds. The opponent said after the bout that she’d
being in a ring with Khelif.
Boxing Canada, which did not take a position on the Paris controversies, was one of twelve
national sporting organizations
National Post contacted on Wednesday. Three responded by the deadline for publication.
A spokesperson for Curling Canada said the organization had “no intent to move events out of Alberta.”
“The consequences would have a significant financial impact on Curling Alberta, as well as Alberta-based host clubs for events,” wrote the spokesperson.
A spokesperson for Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) said the issue was a moot point as Alberta doesn’t have any competition-ready tracks.
National Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com
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