Ahead of the minor hockey league season, coaches have been told to carry out conversations about gender diversity issues — including gender neutral pronouns — with players and parents, in order to provide “a safe and inclusive environment,” according to a Ontario Hockey Federation directive posted on its website on Tuesday.

The federation is an umbrella organization of several hockey associations and clubs.

Coaches are to follow a checklist supplied by Egale Canada, an organization advocating for equality for the LGBTQ community.

Phil Mckee, executive director of the Ontario Hockey Federation, told the Star the initiative was rolled out last summer. The pre-season dialogues will occur a month earlier this year, he added.

“People I’ve talked to, there’s a lack of understanding and inclusion,” he said, noting that the course has helped bring about positive change.

“Our associations are hungry for the information. They want the knowledge to engage properly,” Mckee said.

“Our message has always been about inclusiveness in the game, regardless of background, gender identity or expression,” he added.

Executive director Helen Kennedy said Egale was contracted by Hockey Canada, the national governing hockey agency, to spearhead the training, which has now been cast out at a regional level in Ontario.

The move to broach conversations pertaining to gender identity issues circles back to a transgender hockey player named Jesse Thompson, who filed a Human Rights Tribunal complaint after he had to use a change room that aligned with his gender at birth. The complaint alleged that this subjected him to being “outed” and harassed.

The challenge led Hockey Canada to revamp its policies and paved the way to more trans-inclusive rules, including giving players access to change rooms according to their gender identity and enforcing training on gender diversity issues.

The checklist, circulated by the Ontario Hockey Federation, includes inquiring about preferred gender pronouns as well as an exercise on how to arrive at determining someone’s preferred pronoun.

“Start by introducing yourself and your gender pronouns to your team. You can say, ‘I’m [name] and I go by the pronouns [insert pronouns],’” the checklist says.

In a glossary of terms section by Egale, popular pronouns include they, ze, ey, or xe.

“By including pronoun check-ins during introductions as a routine practice, regardless of whether there are trans or gender-diverse people on your team that you are aware of, you will proactively create an inclusive and affirming environment that positively acknowledges the possibility of gender diversity,” the checklist says.

The missive also outline the rights and responsibilities players have pertaining to the internal policies surrounding gender identity and expression, crafted to shield members from harassment and discrimination.

“Explain that failing to respect someone’s gender pronouns repeatedly, bullying or making inappropriate comments about the way someone identifies or expresses gender, or doing anything to make gendered washrooms or dressing rooms unsafe, inaccessible spaces, are all examples of discrimination because of gender identity and/or expression,” it says.

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To do away with potential barriers faced by, say, a transgender hockey player, certain accommodations may by required, such as more privacy when changing, the checklist says.

Sharing private information about gender identity could amount to discrimination, the checklist says, so it is recommended all players are aware of what can and can’t be divulged about someone.