A group of women’s hockey players in Kenora, Ont., are threatening to take the city to court over its ice allocation policy — arguing they’re facing gender-based discrimination.
The northwestern Ontario city’s ice allocation policy, approved by council last December, gave the recreational and competitive women’s leagues two hours of ice time a week this coming season, starting at 10 p.m.
The leagues say the 10 p.m. start time is too late for their players, who are disproportionately burdened with household chores and child-minding duties compared to their male counterparts.
“We’ve gone from 90 women who consistently showed up between both leagues to 20 — less than 20, probably — that might show up,” said Shayla Smith, a goalie in the recreational league.
Doug Judson of Judson Howie LLP is representing four players, including Smith, in their final push to get the city to make its ice allocation policy more equitable.
The firm sent a letter to the city on Monday, demanding a response within seven days. If the city does not change its policy by Sept. 30, an application will be filed in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice – on the grounds that the city is violating Ontario’s Human Rights Code and Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
We’ve gone from 90 women who consistently showed up between both leagues to 20 — less than 20, probably — that might show up.– Shayla Smith, goalie in recreational league
“We would suggest in this case that an equitable approach to allocating ice time needs to take into account the realities of that user group, of that Charter and Human Rights Code-protected user group,” said Judson.
“That they are more often than not young moms, that they have a disproportionate share of the responsibilities at home to deal with, and getting children ready for school at the end of the day and getting them up again the next morning.”
A spokesperson for the City of Kenora told CBC News in an email Monday that “there is no comment from the city at this time.”
Human rights, Charter considerations
Women in Kenora have been fighting for fair ice time for about 30 years, according to Smith. There have been a number of deputations made to city council over the years, and since the latest ice allocation policy was approved.
Some gains were made following a deputation in 2017, when the city acknowledged the women were facing discrimination and that the policy needed to be reviewed. But after a couple good seasons, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the progress they had made, she said.
“They pushed us to a point where we just said, ‘how many hours of our lives do we have to give up to argue with the city, to do deputations, to write articles to the paper?'” said Smith.
Judson said his clients recognize the challenges of only having two indoor rinks in the city and high demand for ice, “but the policy of the city does speak to equity — and so part of the issue here is that it’s not actually applying it in an equitable manner.”
The Ontario Human Rights Code applies to the city in that it “protects people from discrimination in the provision of services and facilities,” said Judson.
In this case, the women must prove that a characteristic protected by the Code – in this case, sex, family status, gender identity or expression may be at play – was a factor in that adverse impact.
“They’re experiencing an adverse impact in that their league is being hurt by the availability of facilities that the city is providing, and that seems to be very squarely connected to their gender when they square it with the number of hours that are available for men’s organizations,” Judson said.
Similarly, section 15 of the Charter, which pertains to equality rights, speaks to the disadvantages the women are facing when trying to get better ice times, he explained.
Reviewing policy for 2025 season
At Tuesday night’s city council meeting, Coun. Lindsay Koch put forward a motion for staff to review and rewrite the ice allocation policy for the 2025 season, which was approved. Part of that includes considerations for principles of equity and assessing the user priority ranking.
During the meeting, staff told councillors that the women’s leagues were offered alternative ice times, and the city is willing to meet with them to look at other options.
Smith confirmed the women were offered Saturday nights around 8 or 9 p.m. This was the slot they had several years ago, “and it completely killed our league,” she said.
“Moms have other commitments – usually kid-related stuff – on weekends.”
Since the city’s policy isn’t being reviewed until next season, there isn’t much hope the women will be able to play this year. The competitive league is likely pulling out, and while the recreational league may keep the 10 p.m. time, Smith doubts many players will make it out.
As for whether the threat of legal action may force the hand of change any sooner, Smith said it’s hard to stay hopeful.
“We’ve had ups, we’ve made gains and then those gains get taken away, right?” she said. “It’s hard to be optimistic after that long.”
“Why should we be having to have this argument; it’s two hours of ice time so that women’s hockey can exist at this town.”