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The dressing room of the Steele Subaru U18 Major Hockey Club in Dartmouth, N.S. on Oct. 5, 2021.DARREN CALABRESE/The Globe and Mail

Hockey Canada’s new dressing-room policy for the 2023-24 minor-hockey season, including a “minimum attire rule,” has left some local hockey organizers with lots of questions about how to implement it.

While many minor-hockey associations fully support making their dressing rooms safer and more welcoming to all players, they say this new policy can be complicated to enforce, especially at rinks with a lack of private changing spaces.

The new program requires all players under 18 to wear a base layer in a team dressing environment when surrounded by at least one other person, mandating that players arrive at the rink wearing base clothing, or find a private space – such as a bathroom stall – to change. It also asks players who use open-concept shower spaces in the dressing room to wear minimum attire, including swimwear.

The policy aims to provide safe dressing rooms for athletes who want privacy and modesty for any reason, including religion, chronic conditions, body image, or gender.

“I would never criticize the sentiment in terms of what’s trying to be achieved and making it a safe and inclusive environment, but there’s a real disconnect between policy makers and minor-hockey associations,” said Craig Robinson, president of the Halifax Hawks Minor Hockey Association, which has some 650 registered players. “I get where we’re trying to go with safety, security, and education, but you can’t just throw these mandates across the fence and then tell us that we have to do them, when they’re not fully thought through and clearly written.”

The new dressing-room approach applies to all minor-hockey teams sanctioned by Hockey Canada and its members, and it’s the responsibility of coaches and team staff to ensure the policy is being followed. Two trained and screened adults must supervise the dressing room, a rule that’s long been in place.

Robinson said the Hawks put this new policy into place right away after they received it from Hockey Nova Scotia on Sept. 15, but have had a wide range of questions from players, parents and coaches. Some asked for a clearer definition of minimum attire. How should a player proceed in the dressing room if they don’t typically wear a T-shirt under their equipment, or shorts under their jock or jill? Teams pointed out that bathrooms inside some of their change rooms are often locked or not maintained. It also complicates efforts to get all players ready and present when the coach comes to address the team.

For some teams, this won’t be a big change to usual rink habits. Others have some problem-solving to do.

“In talking to our members, we’re saying let’s get into the spirit of this,” Robinson added. “Let’s get into the intention. We want everyone to feel included. So how can we focus on that, more than the reasons not to do it?”

The You Can Play Project, which advocates for LGBTQ participation in sports, expressed its support of the new policy on Friday, saying it commends the efforts to break down barriers and unite players from all backgrounds at Canadian rinks.

“This decision is another important step forward for making hockey accessible to everyone, and to help keep more kids in sport. It could also be a catalyst for protecting youth in other sports,” read the statement. “Teams are stronger when everyone belongs. Kids are stronger when they know others support them.”

Robinson said teams showed up to the rink during the pandemic in full gear, so the modifications here should be easier in comparison. But still, there are logistical challenges.

The Globe and Mail contacted more than a dozen minor-hockey organizations this week as well as provincial branches across the country. Some responded that neither Hockey Canada, nor their provincial governing bodies, had communicated the new policy and that they first heard about it when CBC published a news story about it earlier this week. The report prompted a viral conversation, some applauding the inclusivity, others calling the measures overbearing.

Hockey Canada told The Globe and Mail that it distributed the policy to its provincial and territorial governing bodies in August, along with an implementation guide and FAQ document, which were to be forwarded to their local associations. An updated version went out on Sept. 14 with updated language on the showering policy.

Fran Rider, president of Ontario Women’s Hockey Association, says the OWHA had a virtual call with members this week to discuss the policy. She said people largely supported the policy, but had questions, so the OWHA is compiling those and hopes Hockey Canada will provide clarifications.

Rider said the dressing rooms at many arenas don’t have a private space for a player to change the base-layer clothing or a swimsuit. Many dressing rooms have no bathroom at all. Some have just a toilet or urinal, with no privacy door. In some arenas, changing in private might necessitate players walking to other parts of the arena, such as lobby restrooms. Plus arenas have tight schedules.

“Ice time is precious and expensive, and there’s a very quick turnaround time in the use of dressing rooms,” said Rider, who oversees an organization with more than 40,000 registered female players across Ontario, some as young as three years old. “But the guiding principle for us in the dressing room at all times is safety and the player experience being a positive one. The dressing room experience is huge.”

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