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Manitoba Sisters Win Human Rights Complaint to Play Hockey on Boys Team

Posted on: Friday, 22 September 2006, 21:00 CDT

By MICHELLE MACAFEE

WINNIPEG (CP) - Hockey-playing sisters Amy and Jesse Pasternak are savouring their victory at the Manitoba Human Rights Commission that will allow them to play for their high school boys team.

They say they'll have no regrets, even if they don't make the team next week.

"Yes! It's definitely worth it," the twins exclaimed in unison Friday just hours after hearing the news.

"It's worth it for the young girls we've coached in the past, it's worth it for the girls coming up in the hockey program who want to pursue the same path we have," said Amy, a goaltender.

The Grade 12 students took their complaint to the commission this spring to protest a Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association policy forbidding girls from playing on a boys team when a school has a girls squad.

The association argued the policy was an integral part of a participation-based approach to sports that isn't based on merit.

But the girls, who had played on community boys teams for years, called their school's girls team a joke and said some students had trouble simply skating.

In her ruling, independent adjudicator Lynne Harrison said the policy could not be justified and was discriminatory.

The case has been closely watched by other school districts across the country, as well as the Canadian Centre for the Advancement of Women in Sport in Ottawa.

But rather than being precedent-setting, it simply broadens a similar human rights case in Ontario 20 years ago that paved the way for girls to play with boys at the community level, said the girls' lawyer Sarah Lugtig.

"The ruling then was there's no indication women's hockey will suffer by changing this rule, that boys would take over girls teams or would somehow be disadvantaged when it comes to hockey," said Lugtig.

"(Harrison) said that was the situation 20 years ago and it's still the situation today."

The association said it is disappointed and is considering appealing the case to the Court of Queen's Bench.

It won't immediately change its policy, but has allowed the Pasternaks to try out for boys hockey this month because the ruling was delayed.

"It doesn't seem to be consistent with the expert evidence that we presented," said executive director Morris Glimcher.

"And it's not consistent with how the public views high school sports . . . from the feedback we've gotten."

Glimcher added the wording of the commission's ruling leaves the association open to several complicated circumstances.

"The commission has said if you have the ability to make a team, you should make the team. But what about boys? If the boys have the ability to make a girls team, should they be allowed?

"If it's strictly merit-based or ability-based it opens up a whole ball of wax."

Dianna Scarth, executive director of the commission, hailed the decision as a great lesson for all young girls.

"We hope this will send a message that where they see discrimination happening in their workplaces, or in their schools, there are ways of addressing that," said Scarth.

Harrison's decision applies only to hockey.

However, she encouraged the association to look closely at how the rule affects girls involved in other sports.

Some classmates have criticized the Pasternaks and their assessment of the ability of the girls team.

But the sisters say they've also had a lot of support from friends and public endorsements from Olympic hockey player Sami-Jo Small.

"People who were our friends in the first place are still our friends," said Amy.

The girls were each awarded $3,500 in general damages as well as special individual coaching to account for the fact they were not able to play for the past few years.

Source: Canadian Press

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