Name: Skate Canada to cancel Alberta events due to sports gender law
Uploaded: 2025-12-17T00:56:50.737Z
Duration: 3 min 30 s
Description: Skate Canada has decided to stop holding national and international events in Alberta due to a provincial law restricting transgender athletes from competing in female-only sport divisions.

Skate Canada has decided to stop holding national and international events in Alberta due to a provincial law restricting transgender athletes from competing in female-only sport divisions.

Calgary

Skate Canada has announced it will not host national or international events in Alberta due to the province's Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, which bans transgender girls from participating in female amateur sports. The organization stated that the law prevents it from upholding its national standards for safe and inclusive sport.

This decision follows Alberta's recent use of the notwithstanding clause to shield the law from Charter challenges. While Alberta skaters can still participate in Skate Canada programming, the move is expected to significantly impact the province's sports community. Skate Canada will continue to monitor legislative developments and may reassess its position in the future.

Skate Canada to cancel Alberta events due to sports gender law

Hello, I'm Andrew Nichols. This is CBC News Network. We begin in Calgary this hour. Canada's top skating talent won't be taking to the ice there any time soon. Skate Canada, the governing body for Canadian figure skaters, says it will no longer hold national and international events in Alberta. The decision is in response to that province banning transgender girls from female sports. The policy was controversially pushed through using the notwithstanding clause. The CBC's Julia Wong leads our coverage this hour and joins us live in Edmonton. And Julia, tell us more about what Skate Canada is saying. Yeah, and as you mentioned right there, Skate Canada is saying that it will not be holding certain events in this province moving forward. In a statement that was sent to CBC News, the organization says it considers a variety of criteria when selecting host cities, and 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. This is a very big development and a story that has very much dominated headlines in Alberta over the last few months. Now, Skate Canada is saying this decision only applies, as I mentioned, to certain events, national events, and international level events. And the organization is also saying that this doesn't affect Alberta skaters from participating in Skate Canada programming and competitions, but obviously this will have a big impact and a big ripple effect in the world of sports, particularly in this province. And it's interesting the timing of this announcement. It comes on the heels of an event that Skate Canada held in Calgary very recently. It was the Skate Canada Challenge, and it was held in Calgary at the end of November, so this announcement really coming mere weeks after that event was held. And, Julia, remind us, what is Alberta's Fairness and Safety in Sport Act? So, that is one law in a suite of laws that the province passed in relation to transgender youth in this province, but that law in particular bans transgender athletes from participating in female amateur sports. And what that has looked like tangibly in Alberta is that parents have had to sign forms to confirm that their child is eligible to participate in a female-only team, effectively asking them to confirm that their child was born female. Now, the province has argued that this law is needed to make sports fair in this province, to make it safe in this province, and also to make it accessible, but there has been a lot of backlash, there has been a lot of controversy over the fact that this law and the two others were passed in particular. And there have been legal challenges that have been filed against the province, but more recently, just within the last few weeks, the province actually invoked the notwithstanding clause in relation to that specific sports law and the two other laws that affect transgender youth in this province to protect it from charter challenges moving forward. Now, CBC News has reached out to the Premier's office, Premier Danielle Smith, to get her thoughts and reactions to this latest development and this latest news from Skate Canada, and we haven't heard back just yet, but we will let you know when we do hear back. And I do want to end on this particular note from Skate Canada. I want to end their statement by saying that they will monitor legislative developments in this province and it will reassess hosting opportunities as the circumstances evolve. Julia, interesting story. Thank you. The CBC's Julia Wong, live in Edmonton.

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