{"id":399364,"date":"2026-01-10T00:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/399364\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T00:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:06:07","slug":"canadian-figure-skaters-support-skate-canadas-alberta-ban-hope-for-future-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/399364\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian figure skaters support Skate Canada\u2019s Alberta ban, hope for future return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Ice dance pair Lily Hensen and Nathan Lickers perform during the closing gala at the Canadian figure-skating championships in Calgary in 2024.Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Canadian figure skaters supported the national governing body\u2019s decision to ice events in Alberta, while holding out hope that major competitions could one day return to the province.<\/p>\n

The national sport governing body announced last month it will no longer host international and national events in Alberta because of the provincial Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, a law that bars transgender Albertans aged 12 and older from competing in female-only sports.<\/p>\n

Calgary-born ice dancer Paul Ayer, who now trains out of Terrebonne, Que., said he stands with Skate Canada and is focusing on his programs with partner Alicia Fabbri at this weekend\u2019s Canadian figure skating championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re Skate Canada athletes, so we stand with Skate Canada with what they decide,\u201d said Ayer.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old acknowledged that competing at the 2024 nationals in his hometown was one of the \u201chighlights of my career,\u201d and he feels confident other Alberta skaters will eventually get the same opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only home city, but my home rink, and my high school was there,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was one of the most special moments of my life, and I\u2019m really grateful to have had that opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt that in the future [competitions] will come back there regardless of what happens with decisions and things that are above my pay grade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called the decision \u201cdisgraceful\u201d and demanded an apology and a reversal. She accused Skate Canada of refusing to hold events in Alberta \u201cbecause we choose to protect women and girls in sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

No upcoming national or international events were scheduled in Alberta. The announcement came just weeks after Calgary hosted the 2025-26 Skate Canada Challenge in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so fun to get to skate there at Challenge last month,\u201d said Kaiya Ruiter, a Calgary skater who won the women\u2019s singles national title on home ice two years ago. \u201cHonestly, I hope it comes to a point where we\u2019ll get to skate there again, and they have great hosting venues and great people, so I\u2019m sure in the future things will get worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skate Canada said it can\u2019t hold events in Alberta and maintain its standards for safe and inclusive sport.<\/p>\n

Decorated ice dancer Piper Gilles, a two-time world silver medallist with partner Paul Poirier, declined to comment on the decision but said \u201cwe just want everybody to feel like they belong somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization\u2019s transgender inclusion policy states it\u2019s \u201cfully committed to providing a safe, welcoming, and respectful environment for all, regardless of any actual or perceived differences based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, language, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or disability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other national sports organizations, including Hockey Canada, Speed Skating Canada, Boxing Canada and Table Tennis Canada, said last month that none of their events in Alberta have been cancelled despite the law.<\/p>\n

Wrestling Canada Lutte, the body for Olympic-style wrestling, said it was still determining if it would change its event hosting policies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Ice dance pair Lily Hensen and Nathan Lickers perform during the closing gala…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-399364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}