VANCOUVER—A push to grow girls hockey on Vancouver Island is being criticized by some parents, but one advocate says the controversial move is the only way to save the sport from attrition.The Vancouver Island Amateur Hockey Association has put forward a resolution that would require all girls to play on a female-only team. Any girls who want to play on a coed team as well would be allowed to do so and would pay a single registration fee for both teams, said Jim Humphrey, the association’s president.For years, the group has turned away dozens of girls who want to play on female-only teams, but can’t because there isn’t one available, he said.“The only way the girl’s system is going to grow and to improve is having females help to grow the female game,” Humphrey said.“Female hockey is going to die on Vancouver Island if we don’t do something.”But the move has been met with resistance from some parents. A thread on the association’s Facebook page features several comments from people who say their daughters would rather quit hockey than play on an all-girls team.Heather Wong isn’t part of the Facebook thread, but her daughter played on both all-female and coed teams in Nanaimo.Wong said she doesn’t think the association’s proposal is a good idea because it alienates girls who play coed hockey.“They’re telling them they have to play girls-only. Well, if they wanted to play girls-only, they’d be playing girls-only,” she said.Canadian human rights tribunals have ruled that girls should be allowed to play on boys teams. The Manitoba Human Rights Commission ordered the Manitoba High School Athletics Association to pay two sisters $3,500 each in 2006 after it found they were discriminated against when they weren’t allowed to try out for their school’s male hockey team.“Telling a girl in this day and age that you can’t ...
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