A group of concerned citizens are upset that the historic East-West hockey game does not give equal playing time to both boys and girls at the event held every second year at Memorial Gardens.
Danika Gravelle is a young female hockey player who has appealed to the East-West Committee requesting the lineup be changed to give equal ice time to both boys and girls teams.
"The typical East-West schedule consists of the boys playing four 14-minute periods of hockey and the girls get 1 period, what I am fighting for today is an equal right to equal ice time and opportunity for women’s hockey," stated Danika Gravelle.
Jamie-Lynn Sluman-Brown is friends with Danika's Mother and she has come to her support.
"After hearing Danika speak, the committee decided to increase the periods for girls to two periods and the boys would have four which is still not equal," said Sluman-Brown in an email to BayToday.
"That is my issue. We are teaching the next generation and it is not okay to send the message that equality isn't important."
Paula-Marie Milne is on the East-West Committee. She says the East-West committee does not want to appear silent on this issue.
"We have personally responded to several support letters, have offered to meet with Danika Gravelle to answer her most recent communication to the members, and have informed all of the girl's hockey coaches that they may dress their entire team for their periods of play," said Milne.
Milne says the matter of adding more hockey to the itinerary is not as simple as adding more time.
"We are a committee that represents four boards, twelve area schools, and a very extensive catchment area," she said.
"We are very mindful of the day's timing constraints. We celebrate the joining of our boards on this day with several opportunities for students to sing, cheer, and play for their schools."
However, Sluman-Brown believes that is not good enough.
"When we teach young boys that they are more important than their female counterparts, we perpetuate violence against women in our society," she stated in an email to the East-West Committee.
"It is incredibly troublesome to me as a citizen of Nipissing District, that our public-school board, in the year 2019, is teaching our children that people are not equal. This decision is systemic sexism and must be overturned."
Milne also notes that part of the issue is that some schools - boys or girls - do not have enough players to represent their school. In the past, girls have played with the boys in representing their respective school.
While this issue is a concern, Milne stresses that East-West is not just about hockey.
"It begins with every school's representative singing the National Anthem in three languages, it continues with every school's student-driven cheer, it celebrates the hockey from every one of our twelve schools that either participate in NDA, MPS, and Franco-Ontarian tournaments or not, and it provides the opportunity for all area students to come together under one roof," she said.
"The committee is not opposed to the idea of equal play for the girls. The discussion has begun and as future committees plan these collective school board events, the noted disparity raised -and the inequity for all students- will see a full itinerary review."
Sluman-Brown is not happy with the situation but she says the communication with the East-West Committee has been positive and they have shared similar progressive views.
She says they will have to settle with this small change in 2019 and look for bigger change in 2021.
East-West takes place this Friday morning at Memorial Gardens.
