Image: The Canadian Press / Vancouver Island University forward Harriette Mackenzie.
College basketball championships

College basketball championships won’t be played in Abbotsford due to dispute over trans player

Feb 11, 2025 | 3:59 PM

ABBOTSFORD — The B.C. women’s college basketball championships won’t be played in Abbotsford after a coach and her players allegedly mistreated a transgender opponent from Vancouver Island University.

A spokesman for the Pacific Western Athletic Association said Tuesday (Feb. 11) that Columbia Bible College will no longer host the championships from Feb. 27 to March 1 as scheduled, with a new venue yet to be determined.

Columbia Bible College, an evangelical Mennonite Bible college in Abbotsford, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Canadian Press.

The relocation comes after Vancouver Island University forward Harriette Mackenzie alleged verbal and physical mistreatment she endured when her team hosted Columbia Bible College for a pair of games in Nanaimo, B.C.

Mackenzie, who is transgender, says Columbia Bible College’s coach, Taylor Claggett, yelled at a VIU staff member about how Mackenzie shouldn’t be allowed to play against women and encouraged her players to physically target Mackenzie in a game.

The Pacific Western Athletic Association said in a statement that an investigation into “an incident involving two of our member institutions” had concluded, and a decision had been “communicated to the relevant parties.”

The statement added, “the matter is now closed.”