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The resignation of the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s president amid a controversy over trans athletes is a good step, says a London athlete facing a suspension for her comments on the issue.
Published Nov 16, 2023 • 3 minute read
April Hutchinson won the North American powerlifting gold medal in Panama City, Panama, in 2022. Photograph taken on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
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The resignation of the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s president amid a controversy over trans athletes is a good step, says a London athlete facing a suspension for her comments on the issue.
But “this does not change my suspension nor does it stop trans-identifying males from competing against women. Any president or board member that does not protect women and fairness in sports should rightfully so resign,” Londoner April Hutchinson told The London Free Press in an email Thursday. “I am staying positive and will keep fighting for fairness.”
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Hutchinson shared a tweet indicating Shane Martin, president of the CPU, had resigned effective five days ago.
“This position has become something I no longer recognized and I am not the one to lead this organization,” the resignation message from a CPU social media account said.
The resignation message referred to the difficulty the small organization had in developing its inclusion policy.
“The road was rocky to get here, but this is a step forward, and now it is time for someone else to lead,” the message said.
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Martin was listed earlier as president of the CPU, but there was no president’s name on the organization’s website Thursday. Officials with the union didn’t respond to London Free Press questions, nor did Martin.
Hutchinson says she faces a two-year ban from the union, the sport’s national sanctioning body, after criticizing a record-breaking athlete competing against her.
According to the Internation Consortium on Female Sports, the powerlifting union notified Hutchinson on Nov. 6 that its discipline panel was recommending the two-year ban. It’s not clear when the ban would start.
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At a summer meet in Manitoba, trans powerlifter Anne Andres shattered a national record for women between ages 40 and 50 who don’t use supportive equipment like a squat suit.
She broke the record for women’s deadlift.
Andres has said on social media they transitioned 20 years ago and began in the sport seven years ago.
Controversy about the win has been brewing for months, and Hutchinson appeared on U.K. broadcaster Piers Morgan’s show last month.
“Powerlifting is a pure strength sport,” she said on the show. “(Biological) males have a 60 to 70 per cent advantage over females. It’s disheartening. I am . . . being punished for speaking the truth.”
The issue has become another flashpoint in battles over gender identity.
“I am being hopeful that the policy will change and protect women and fairness,” Hutchinson told The Free Press Thursday.
“At the end of the day, I want everyone to be able to compete but it has to be on a fair playing field. This is why we recommend a separate category.”
Hutchinson is known in London for using powerlifting to overcome alcoholism, a journey she described in a London Free Press story last year.
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She’s being represented by London lawyer Lisa Bildy. A letter on social media from Bildy addressed to the B.C.-based Canadian Powerlifting Union noted Hutchinson this year began posting on social media her concerns about “unrestricted participation of male-born athletes in the women’s category of competitive powerlifting.”
The lawyer’s letter accused the CPU of doing nothing “to meaningfully address the inherent unfairness of permitting any athlete who has gone through male development and puberty, and who simply identifies as a woman, to compete in women’s categories.”
The letter adds Hutchinson “bears no ill will toward transgender people generally.”
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