Kids trying out for female sports teams in Edmonton Public Schools this fall will need their parents to sign a form vouching that they were assigned female at birth.
It comes as the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act sets new rules prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in amateur female sports divisions. The bill came into effect Sept. 1.
Edmonton Public Schools confirmed a form obtained by CBC News will be distributed to parents of children looking to join female teams. The form asks parents to confirm their child is eligible to join a female-only team, that they were assigned female sex at birth, and that they understand that without written confirmation students cannot participate.
These rules do not apply to physical education class or children under 12 years old.
“Sport is for everyone, which is why Alberta’s government is working to make sport safe, fair and accessible for all Albertans,” Vanessa Gomez, the press secretary for the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, said in a statement to CBC News.
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Gomez said under the new rules, every student registering for a female-only team will need in-writing confirmation they are following the requirements of the policy.
Questions about how school authorities are implementing the rules should be directed to individual organizations, she said.
If a written challenge questioning a student’s right to compete as female is made and it’s deemed to be valid, the child will have to provide a copy of their birth certificate. Eligibility complaints must also be reported to the province.
Supporters of the new ban have said the legislation will provide much-needed clarity to sport administrators across the province. But not everyone is in favour of the approach.
“It’s incredibly invalidating to your gender and how you’ve chosen to express yourself to the world,” Callum French, board member with Team Edmonton, a group that promotes 2SLGBTQ+ friendly sports and recreation in the city, said in an interview with CBC News.
“Trans women will always be men is essentially what these permission slips are subtly saying.”
French said the number of trans athletes is very small and having all girls 12 and older who want to try out for an amateur team needing a permission slip could pose a barrier to getting involved, he said.
“That’s where I worry that this is just going to prevent children from seeking out sport because they don’t want to potentially subject themselves to a test to prove that they are female or aren’t male,” he said. “That will just make people work out less, have less trust in sport and slowly break down the kind of societal bond that that sport brings between people.”
