Girls have a right to ice

It's been an important day for Toronto girls who play hockey.

 

Threatening the City of Toronto with a Human Rights complaint, the Toronto Leaside Girls Hockey Association scored a victory in a nation-wide and decades-long fight for equal access to ice time.

Citing costs of $1 million in ice time rented mostly from private arenas, the organization alleged there was systematic discrimination against girls who play hockey. Traditionally girls hockey leagues have found themselves coming a distant third in priority sequence for access to rinks, after boys' hockey associations and adult men's teams.

My colleague Jennifer Wilson-Speedy, yourhome.ca editor and hockey player, remembers playing at 10 o'clock at night after the local Old Timer's team was finished. Coming after boys and beer leagues? That's simply not acceptable.

And today David Miller agreed.

He said men's leagues would have to move over so the City can address the imbalance.

Good for these girls, and good for the hardworking association president, Ron Baker, who stood up for their rights.

Comments

[Mark]

Looking at the schedules for shinny hockey at our city's cash strapped rinks there's still time allotted for girls and woman's hockey. This strikes me as odd because:

a) There is no time allotted for boys/men to play

and

b) Women don't come out 10 at a time to play! Have you ever walked by a rink during the allotted woman's shinny time? Most of the time its completely empty. During the Adults 16+ the rink is full of skaters and its hardly worth showing up.

I would like someone to look into this while we're at it.