Justine Blainey

The first legal issue here is that The Ontario Hockey Association has expressed gender discrimination towards Justine Blainey. The fact that she is a female has caused the OHA to deny her acceptance on the team, despite her talent and skills. Now the question arises, does the OHA have the right to create a policy that prohibits females? It is understood that the OHA is a private organization and that they are capable of creating their own policies and regulations. However, to what extent are they "free"; up to the point that they can create a policy which prohibits girls? The question is does any institution have that right to deny an individual or a group of people the right to participate in a sporting event or membership in a team? This issue here shows how the OHA's policy is going against Blainey's equality rights, which is s.15 under the Charter. The preceding example was only one perspective of the case; the other issue is: does Blainey have the right to go against the club's policy? As stated before, the OHA is a private organization, which in turn has the jurisdiction to create its own policies and regulations. Based on this element, if the OHA were to allow girls to play on the boys' team it would have to implement certain precautions and restrictions. In addition, the OHA would have to provide a special change room for Justine, since she would not be able to change in the boys' room. This would of course require extra funding, and where would this funding come from if it is a private organization? The preceding information is an example of the various legal issues that will arise from this case.