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Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal has granted a hearing to five women who contend Cycling Canada’s decision to not enter a women’s track pursuit team in the world championships was discriminatory.
Cycling Canada announced Wednesday its 10-member team for the Oct. 14-16 championships in Shanghai.
Canada’s contingent includes a men’s pursuit team in the first qualification event for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, but not a women’s team.
Fiona Majendie, Skyler Goudswaard, Jenna Nestman, Lily Plante and Justine Thomas took their case for pursuit team inclusion to Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal on Aug. 18 after their appeal was denied by the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada.
Their request for an interim order requiring Cycling Canada to enter a women’s team into Shanghai by the Sept. 21 entry deadline was denied. The Tribunal deemed there wasn’t enough time for an expedited hearing and decision in a 34-day window.
But the Tribunal granted Wednesday a hearing of up to three days in December to hear oral submissions from the five women and Cycling Canada.
The Tribunal had directed the women and Cycling Canada to try mediation, but that was unsuccessful.
The Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada denied the women’s appeal in a decision released Aug. 10.
Cycling Canada denied sexual discrimination in its response to the Human Rights Tribunal and said the women’s complaint should be dismissed “as an abuse of process” under the Human Rights Code because the SDRCC had already dealt with the issue.
“The SDRCC found that the decision was not discriminatory, nor was it unfairly based on any prescribed personal characteristics,” Cycling Canada’s chief executive officer Mathieu Boucher said in a previous statement.
‘Women in Canadian sport deserve better’
Cycling Canada asked the Human Rights Tribunal to separate the hearing into two parts and determine whether the women’s complaint was an abuse of process before proceeding to the question of discrimination, but that was denied.
“Again, to its credit, the Human Rights Tribunal continues to keep the wheels turning,” said Emir Crowne, who is representing the athletes, in a statement Wednesday.
“Despite Cycling Canada’s attempt to have the issues heard separately, the case is now ‘on track’, so to speak, for a combined hearing this December. These athletes are ready to have their case heard. Women in Canadian sport deserve better than this.”
Cycling Canada didn’t shut down the women’s team pursuit program but shifted to a development model. It said the decision to enter only a men’s pursuit team in Shanghai’s world championships was based on both performance analysis, which showed the men were closer to closing the gap on a top six world ranking than the women, and budget limitations.
Boucher said in May the door was open to pursuing Olympic qualification for the women for 2028 if “we see amazing talent and we can demonstrate that with proper training, we can be competitive, we’re going to find the money to qualify the team for L.A. and to be competitive.”
But Boucher and team coach Phil Abbott wrote in correspondence to athletes earlier that month that Los Angeles was unlikely for the women’s pursuit team and that developing a team for 2032 was the objective.
A Cycling Canada spokesperson said in an email that a women’s pursuit team will compete in a Next Gen event in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, in January, in the Pan American Championships in February and in a World Cup in Milton, Ont., in April.
Secretary of Sport Adam van Koeverden announced Sept. 25 up to $6.8 million in new funding for Cycling Canada in 2026-27, including an additional investment of $846,000 for this year.
That money stems from the federal government’s spring economic update in April that committed $660 million more over five yearsand $110 million after that to national sport organizations to invest in their athletes and grow participation in their sports.
Women’s track cycling team pursuit has been a strong event for Canada historically, with an Olympic bronze medal in 2012, another bronze four years later in 2016 and fourth in 2021.
Stakes ‘incredibly high’ for Canada at worlds
Worlds in China will mark the return of 2021 gold medallist Kelsey Mitchell of Sherwood Park, Alta., to competition after she participated in bobsleigh at the Milano-Cortina Winter Games earlier this year.
She’ll be joined by Laurianne Genest in the sprint and keirin events, alongside a strong Canadian men’s squad hunting for medals in team sprint, sprint and keirin.
“As the first qualifying event on the road to LA 2028, the stakes are incredibly high for our entire team,” Franck Durivaux, national team coach and track sprint lead said in a Cycling Canada news release. “For the men, both in team tprint and the individual events, this is an opportunity to establish themselves in the emerging world hierarchy.
“We are especially excited to see Kelsey Mitchell return to world championship competition.”
On the endurance side, Canada will have a group focused on making a run towards the 2028 LA Games.
Matthias Guillemette returns to the squad after spending the spring and summer on the road with Tudor Pro Cycling. He’ll bring experience to the team from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Canadian roster
Sprinters
Lauriane Genest, Lévis, Que. (sprint, keirin)Kelsey Mitchell, Sherwood Park, Alta. (sprint, keirin) James Hedgcock, Ancaster, Ont. (team sprint, time trial)Cole Demptster, Milton, Ont. (team sprint)Tyler Rorke – Baden, Ont. (team sprint)
Endurance athletes
Matthias Guillemette, Trois-Rivières, Que. (team pursuit) Chris Ernst, Kitchener, Ont. (team pursuit, individual pursuit) Campbell Parish, Vancouver (time trial, team pursuit) Jonathan Hinse, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que. (team pursuit) Carson Mattern, Ancaster, Ont. (individual pursuit)