The federal government says Russian hockey players will not be permitted to compete at next month’s world junior championship in Alberta, even if they already hold valid Canadian visas.
A statement provided Wednesday by Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden says Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will take measures to individually assess and prevent Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from entering Canada to compete.
There are Russians with valid visas playing in the Canadian Hockey League, the umbrella organization for the country’s three top major junior hockey leagues.
Russians and Belarusians were banned from the CHL’s import draft from 2022-24 before being allowed back in. According to the CHL, Russia led this year’s draft with 32 of the 114 players selected.
Wednesday’s statement appears to close the door on Russia’s return to the world juniors following last month’s Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling that the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) must reinstate the country in international hockey.
Norway’s hockey federation said Sunday the IIHF had informed it that Russia would be added to the tournament at Norway’s expense.
Norway qualified for the tournament and has said it still hopes to compete.
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The IIHF has not formally announced any changes to the tournament field. Its website continues to list Norway among the 10 participating teams.
Hockey federations from several nations, including Finland, Sweden, Czechia and Norway, have said their teams will refuse to compete against Russian players.
Russia and Belarus have been banned from international hockey competition since Russia invaded Ukraine with Belarusian assistance in 2022.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week that Russian and Belarusian athletes could not compete in Canada while representing their countries as long as the war continues.
The government’s earlier position allowed individual athletes to compete as neutrals, leaving open the question of whether a Russian team could participate under a neutral designation.
Van Koeverden clarified Monday that the neutral designation applied to individual athletes, not teams.
The government said its position would not change as long as Russia continues its war in Ukraine with Belarus’s complicity.
The world junior championship begins Dec. 26 in Edmonton and Red Deer.
