Edmonton Public Schools will send letter to confirm sex of girl athletes to comply with new provincial rules

Edmonton Public Schools says it will be sending home confirmation forms for students who want to compete in female sports.

Edmonton public schools will be sending home forms for guardians to confirm that the birth certificate of any girl who wants to participate in a competitive sport reads female – thereby confirming their eligibility under new provincial rules that seek to limit the participation of transgender athletes.

• Sign up for breaking news alerts from CTV News Edmonton, right at your fingertips

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton on Thursday, the school board said the form fulfills its obligation under Alberta’s Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, which comes into effect Monday, the day before classes begin.

The act’s regulation requires any female-only league, class or division to consist only of participants who were assigned the female sex at birth. It also makes the sex designation an eligibility requirement for athletes 12 years old and older. Each school, post-secondary institution and provincially recognized sports organization is required to develop its own process for confirming athlete eligibility.

On the form Edmonton Public Schools will send home, “Parents of student athletes under 18 will have to confirm that they understand and meet the provincial eligibility requirement,” the school board told CTV News Edmonton.

It did not comment on the matter further.

The provincial government said it would not be commenting on the processes implemented by individual entities.

When the legislation was tabled, alongside two other bills that limit gender-affirming care and create new rules in school around sex education and pronoun or name changes, Premier Danielle Smith and her government defended it as protective of Alberta’s youth and sports.

Medical and research professionals say the legislation will harm transgender and gender-diverse people.

• ‘Doctors aren’t always right’: Alberta goes ahead with controversial transgender policies in 3 new bills
• ‘Sports is a human right’: Advocates say Alberta’s fairness in sports bill unfair
• ‘I feel empty’: Transgender skier worries Alberta bill would ban her from competing