B.C. college basketball championships moved after alleged abuse of trans player

Trans-student-athlete Harriette Mackenzie of Vancouver Island University is shown in a recent handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Vancouver Island University-Mary Kessenich **MANDATORY CREDIT**

The B.C. women’s college basketball championship is being relocated from a school whose coach and players allegedly mistreated a transgender opponent.

A spokesman for the Pacific Western Athletic Association said Tuesday 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, B.C., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move comes after Vancouver Island University forward Harriette Mackenzie spoke in October about 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.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2025.

The Canadian Press