World juniors ban for Russia is morally correct thing to do

“Canada’s position is unequivocal: as long as Russia continues its war of aggression against Ukraine, there can be no return to business as usual. Canada will continue ‌to stand with Ukraine.”

— Canada’s Secretary of State for Sport, Adam van Koeverden

As of this week, Canada officially slammed the door on Russia’s return to the World Junior Hockey Championship.

That decision — a direct response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine — immediately triggered demands from Moscow to strip Alberta of next month’s tournament and has left the International Ice Hockey Federation scrambling to salvage the event.

There are two kinds of politics when it comes to elite-level sports. There are the inherent, internal politics of the sports themselves, and there are geopolitics, where individual nations use sport as a way to obscure human rights abuses.

The IIHF, which oversees hockey competitions between nations, appears to be failing at both kinds of politics, putting itself and its hockey tournaments in grave jeopardy.

The situation started on Oct. 30 when the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland ruled that Russia should be permitted to compete in all IIHF hockey championships. Since 2022, when it invaded Ukraine, Russia had been banned from IIHF events such as the annual world championships and world junior championships.

In its ruling, the CAS overturned the IIHF’s exclusion of Russia on the basis that the federation had failed to provide sufficient evidence to justify its security and safety concerns for maintaining the ban.

Immediately following the court decision, a number of hockey nations announced they would not share the ice with the Russians. This protest was led by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association and quickly joined by federations in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Latvia and Czechia.

Days later, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada would deny entry to the Russian national team for the World Juniors event, which is scheduled to begin at the end of December in Edmonton and Red Deer.

Ottawa made that decision official on Wednesday when Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden told media that immigration officials will block Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from competing in Canada — even if they already hold valid visas or seek to play under a neutral banner.

The Canadian government’s decision has drawn strong criticism and immediate retaliation from Moscow.

Over the weekend, the IIHF attempted to comply with the court order by issuing a revised tournament schedule that included Russia at Norway’s expense. But on Tuesday, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation escalated the standoff, sending a letter to the IIHF demanding that Russia be allowed to play or that the entire tournament be moved out of Canada.

Meanwhile, former IIHF president René Fasel warned Russian media the championship could be cancelled altogether.

The protesting nations — and Canada’s refusal to blink in the face of Russian threats — have put the IIHF in an incredibly difficult position. With major European sponsors also warning they will pull funding if Russia returns, the federation faces huge financial losses.

In 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine, international sports organizations moved quickly to ban Russian teams and athletes. In addition to the IIHF, organizations such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), World Athletics, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association and the Union of European Football Associations agreed to exclude Russian teams and athletes.

Some governing bodies specifically cited the invasion of Ukraine as the reason for the Russian ban, but others — including the IIHF — tried to ban Russia without engaging in the politics surrounding the Ukraine invasion.

The IIHF instead cited “safety and security risks” in its decision. And, unsurprisingly, when Russia appealed the IIHF ban, the court could find no clear reason to uphold it.

Though the IIHF said it disagreed with the CAS decision, it has seemingly abandoned sanctions against Russia. And it’s not the only one.

In July, the IOC provisionally lifted its ban so that Russia could compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, arguing it no longer wished to punish individual athletes for the actions of their government.

At the same time, Russia has successfully been able to argue it has been treated unfairly because sport governing bodies have not punished all countries guilty of human rights abuses.

Banning an entire country from sporting events — and punishing athletes for actions and decisions they had no part in — is an enormous challenge. But at a time when elite sports are used to distract attention from human rights abuses, it is reasonable to expect governing bodies to make challenging decisions.

Canada’s decision to stand firm against Russian threats and refuse entry to Russian players for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship is the morally correct thing to do.

Other hockey nations — and governing bodies — should follow its lead.

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