Fred Pierre – Moving to Alberta? A Guide for Trans and Non-Binary Folks who Love Sports

By Fred Pierre

I have lived in a few places in Canada over the last decade, including four cities and three provinces. Before moving, I always researched spaces where I could access familiarity, a ground with references in an unknown environment. Playing team sports, especially basketball, has been one of those spaces for me.  

There is nothing like the sound of a basketball thud on a court, the silence of a swish or the squeaking of lay-ups to bring me home. It is a home that helped with a sudden move to Canada from Haiti in my early teens, and that even influenced my decision to move to Whitehorse instead of Yellowknife back in 2019 (Whitehorse has a vibrant and organized basketball community with a Lights Out tournament that brings teams from Alaska, Yukon and British Columbia together). For example, on the court, something magical happens when pick-and-rolls or fast breaks succeed, a synchronicity from a common goal that transcends the material. It is almost spiritual. However difficult those moves might be, playing basketball can be a place of salvation for me. I can always exist on a court. 

In light of the Government of Alberta’s Bill 29 Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, I was tasked in my internship with Egale Canada to research all the sports associations in the province and their policies on trans athletes’ inclusion. Nowadays, if you are a gender diverse person contemplating a move to Alberta, it might feel overwhelming to research which sports are welcoming. Here is a guide for you based on my findings. I have gathered associations in groups depending on how trans-inclusive they are, with a touch of basketball flair just because.  

Pioneers who have done the work and deserve three points

In the first category, I grouped the associations that are the most inclusive, i.e. that have or adhere to specific policies on trans-athletes that allow participation in the category of the athlete’s choice without requiring surgery, hormonal therapy, or medical information. Some of these associations like the Alberta Curling Federation position themselves as leaders of substantive equality and have very inclusive Trans and Non-Binary policies. Other organizations such as the Alberta Field Hockey Associations and Alberta Water Polo Association, follow the recommendations of Creating Inclusive Environments for Trans Participants in Canadian Sport, a research and best-practice guide created by the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sports for Sports organizations. The guide has 4 main recommendations that are essentially pro-choice:  

1) that individuals participating in developmental and recreational sport should be able to participate in the gender with which they identify and not be subject to requirements for disclosure of personal information beyond those required of cisgender athletes;  

2) Hormone therapy should not be required for an individual to participate in high-performance sport and in the gender category that is consistent with their gender identity, unless the sport organization can prove that hormone therapy is a reasonable and bonafide requirement;  

3) Individuals should not be required to disclose their trans identity or history to the sport organization in order to participate in high-performance sport unless there is a justified reason requiring them to do so;  

4) Surgical intervention should not be required for an individual to participate in high-performance sport, in the gender category that is consistent with their gender identity. 

Those organizations have taken a step early to establish their stance on a debate that is divisive nowadays. For you future trans or non-binary Albertan, the organizations regulating the following sports have done tremendous work: 

Let’s cheer for these pioneers, nothing but net. 

*The Alberta Climbing Association does not have its own trans and non-binary inclusion policy, but follows the national organization’s one which is inclusive.  

The attempts that miss

In this category are the organizations that seem to want to create trans-inclusive space, but are shy in their policies, put in place counterproductive policies or create other barriers to participation. The Alberta Basketball Association recognizes the importance of inclusion for Trans athletes, but, to my disappointment, fails to add meat to that statement with no actions or specific policy on how to do so. The Alberta College Athletics Conference and the Alberta Kodokan Black Belt Association have trans inclusive policies in the use of the facilities, but require a medical note or information for a Trans athlete to participate in the category of their gender identity. Here exists the intention that fails to truly capture trans inclusion, like an air ball fails to hit anything.  

The “no skills” individual players 

In this category, we have the associations who put in place trans-exclusive policies where a trans person can only compete in the category that matches their sex assigned at birth. Golf takes center stage in a debate other than ‘’is golf a sport?’’ and Athletics (especially Track and Field) are continually obsessed with people’s bodies. This is a “Boo, get off the field” for the Alberta Golf Association and the Athletics Alberta (Track and Field, Cross Country, Road Running) Association regulating these sports. 

The curious cases

It is hard to make an opinion on organizations that have no policies on trans-inclusion: is it because they are exclusive? Or completely ignorant of trans realities? Or lack capacity to create such policies? Still, the sports themselves in this category are as curious as travel rules in basketball nowadays. Rope skipping, padel, netball and horseshoe pitch could be interesting to explore. I don’t know what you will find, nor do I know the rules. Proceed with caution. 

I hope this guide is helpful to you. It is a gift in the hopes that it helps you navigate a move to a province that is currently hostile to gender diverse people, and that the guide may help you find a sports community who has done the work to set up policies that not only acknowledges your existence, but also protects and embraces you for all that you are. 

Stay a blessing.