A day after a ruling reinstated the University of New Brunswick’s women’s varsity hockey program, supporters say the decision is a big step toward female equality in the sport.
The Labour and Employment Board ruled Wednesday that the university must restore the program in time for the 2017-18 season. The complainant, Sylvia Dooley, launched the case eight years ago when the program lost its varsity status. Dooley was awarded $5,000 as part of the ruling.
READ MORE: N.B. ruling reinstates women’s hockey team, calls elimination sexist
David Peterson, founder of the UNB V-Red Prospects, said the decision will allow girls to pursue their hockey dreams.
“The girls can’t dream about going to the National Hockey League,” he said. “What they can dream about is going to university and playing varsity hockey.”
He said the reinstatement of the program was a “remarkable achievement for young female hockey players” in Canada.
The university says it is still looking into what the decision will mean for the program.
“Our legal team is reviewing it,” UNB athletics director John Richard said. “It’s going to obviously circle back to us soon so we can do the same. We respect the decision of the Labour and Employment Board with this ruling, but we’re still digesting what it all means and going through the report.”
Peterson said his program, which began with 15 players, now has nearly 200 players, all of whom are females between the ages of eight and 18.
“These are girls that are going to be going into first-year university, but we’ve been losing them all to St. Thomas or St. FX or UPEI or wherever,” he said. “Now, UNB has an opportunity to mine these talented young athletes in Atlantic Canada.
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