B.C. basketball team to skip games over alleged mistreatment of trans player

By The Canadian Press on January 8, 2025.

Transgender athlete Harriette Mackenzie of Vancouver Island University is shown in a 2024 handout photo. A group of collegiate basketball players in B.C. say they will not play a pair of games against another team in their division this weekend because the verbal and physical mistreatment a transgender player experienced has not been addressed. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Vancouver Island University-Mary Kessenich **MANDATORY CREDIT**

NANAIMO, B.C. – A group of collegiate basketball players in B.C. say they will not play a pair of games against another team in their division this weekend due to alleged verbal and physical mistreatment of a transgender teammate that they say has not been addressed.

All 13 players on the conference-leading Vancouver Island University Mariners squad have signed a letter saying they do not feel safe playing at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C., because forward Harriette Mackenzie described being “targeted and subjected to hateful treatment” by the college’s head coach and sustained an injury during a game against Columbia Bible College in October.

Mackenzie previously said Columbia Bible College’s head coach, Taylor Claggett, yelled at a Mariners staff member after the first game in Nanaimo, B.C., arguing that Mackenzie shouldn’t be allowed to compete against women. She also said she was physically targeted by an opposing player the following night.

Now the 21-year-old athlete and her teammates are calling on their conference, the Pacific Western Athletic Association, to suspend Claggett, move the provincial championship away from Columbia Bible College, and require the school to commit to a “zero-tolerance policy for hate and discrimination.”

The team also says in its letter that Vancouver Island University has been “silent” since the October games, and players are being asked to play Columbia Bible College on Friday and Saturday despite fears for their safety.

Vancouver Island University, Columbia Bible College and the Pacific Western Athletic Association did not respond to requests for comment on the situation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 7, 2025.