A B.C. Human Rights Tribunal hearing will go ahead to hear a discrimination complaint filed by a local girlsB次元官网网址� softball association over the conditions of sports fields.

The tribunal recently ruled against the City of Victoria, which tried to quash a complaint filed in 2020 by the Beacon Hill Baseball and Softball Association.

B次元官网网址�(The association) asked the City to approve and support work to change the baseball field at Pemberton Park into a softball field, and to upgrade the facilities,B次元官网网址� reads the complaint. B次元官网网址淎fter phase one of those upgrades was completed, the process stalled at phase two. At this phase, the AssociationB次元官网网址檚 priority was to install a B次元官网网址榮kinned infieldB次元官网网址� and a batting cage. The City did not initially approve this work. For the 2019 and 2020 seasons, softball players played at Pemberton Park without a skinned infield and batting cage.B次元官网网址�

Michael Sharpe, a parent of an association player, filed the complaint.

B次元官网网址淢r. Sharpe alleges that the CityB次元官网网址檚 conduct in response to the AssociationB次元官网网址檚 requests related to Pemberton Park deprives the Players of opportunities to play softball at a competitive level and develop in a sport where Canadian women excel internationally,B次元官网网址� says the tribunal ruling. B次元官网网址淗e says the conduct stands in contrast with the CityB次元官网网址檚 approvals for upgrades and facilities used for baseball, a sport for which 96 per cent of the AssociationB次元官网网址檚 players are boys. He alleges that the disparities, and the impacts on the Players, are discrimination based on sex, in violation of s. 8 of the Human Rights Code.B次元官网网址�

The city, however, disagrees.

B次元官网网址淭he City denies discriminating,B次元官网网址� reads the ruling. B次元官网网址淚t says that it is the Association, and not the City, that has chosen to focus its softball program at Pemberton Park. It says there are other softball fields in the City that the Association could apply to use, and/or that the Association could run its softball program at the same park as its baseball program, as it had done before 2016. It says that its decisions about Pemberton Park were made according to its usual processes, accounting for all the diverse needs of the community. It asks the Tribunal to dismiss the complaint without a hearing.B次元官网网址�

The tribunal decision found there was good reason to continue the complaint.

B次元官网网址淭o the extent the City may be arguing that any potential discrimination has been remedied by its approval of a temporary batting cage in 2019 and the skinned infield in 2021, I am not persuaded this is a basis to dismiss the complaint. The question of whether the City is responsible for sex-related impacts on the Players for the period of the complaint is outstanding and has not been resolved. It furthers the purposes of the Code for the Tribunal to resolve that issue on its merits.B次元官网网址�

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