Question Period Note: Transgender athletes

Challenges faced by transgendered and transitioned sport participants and ensuring their inclusion are part of the Government of Canada commitment towards a safe and welcoming environment.

• The Government of Canada is committed to the full inclusion and participation of all Canadians in sport.
• The Government of Canada supports efforts to better understand the challenges faced by transgendered and transitioned athletes and their inclusion in sport in a safe and welcoming environment.
• To that end, in 2018, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport published policy guidelines and best practices on this topic for use by the Canadian sport community.

• Much of sport is organized by sex or gender; however, not every athlete fits into or identifies with the binary of male and female. There has been significant work on this complex topic by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) for the benefit of the sport community.
• In 2012, the CCES released a report entitled, “Sport in Transition: Making Sport in Canada More Responsible for Gender Inclusivity.” The report concludes that, because variations in sex development exist, individuals should have the right to compete without question in the gender they feel they are or have always identified with, and emphasizes that this right to gender self-identification carries both the privilege of inclusion and the responsibility for fair play.
• In 2016, the CCES released a policy guidance document designed to help sport organizations develop their own trans inclusion policies. “Creating Inclusive Environments for Trans Participants in Canadian Sport - Guidance for Sport Organizations” provides policy guidance and best practices for sport at recreational and developmental and high-performance levels.
• Also, in 2016, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has released new guidelines for transgender athletes, no longer requiring “reassignment surgery” as a condition to compete. With the new guidelines, there will be no conditions placed upon those who transition from female to male gender, making them free to compete "without restriction".
• According to IOC Transgender guidelines, Trans-athletes looking to compete in female events "must demonstrate that their total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to their first competition."
• To further assist sport organizations with the development and implementation of a trans inclusion policy, the CCES published a practice and policy template in 2018 titled “Creating Inclusive Environments for Trans Participants in Canadian Sport – Policy and Practice Template for Sport Organizations.” The template document is designed to help sport organizations create their own policy and practice for all trans inclusion, for all involved including athletes, staff and volunteers.

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