School district will ban man accused of verbally assaulting girl, 9, at Kelowna track meet

The process has begun to ban a man accused of verbally assaulting a young girl at a Kelowna track meet from any school property or school event.

Central Okanagan Public Schools (SD23) superintendent Kevin Kaardal told NowMedia that the person has been positively identified and work is underway for the delivery of a Section 177 letter to the man.

“This letter will prevent the person from being on school property or at our events,” explained Kaardal. “It is set out in the School Act.”

The incident happened at the Track and Field Districts at the Apple Bowl on Thursday, June 8, and has been brought into the public eye by the nine-year-old girl’s mothers.

Kari Starr says her daughter was taking her turn in the shot put event when the accused started badgering her, “yelling to get that boy off the field.”

She says there were many attempts to get the man to stop, but he continued with his “disgusting attack” and demanded the girl’s mothers provide a birth certificate to prove she was born a female.

“My daughter is a girl, was born female, and uses she/her pronouns. She has a pixie cut,” explained the girl’s other mother, Heidi Starr. “(He proceeded to say that if my daughter was not a boy, then she was definitely trans and should be disqualified from competing.”

The man and his wife allegedly directed some of their anger towards Heidi as well, accusing her of being a genital mutilator, groomer and pedophile.

“This has destroyed our beautiful daughter's confidence and she was inconsolably crying during this whole event and continued once it was over and we were leaving,” Kari said.

“Not to mention, she was unable to concentrate on her track and field finals and the shot put throw she had qualified for.”

Kari says this kind of hatred has significantly damaged their daughter and “could very well stay with her for life.”

According to Heidi, SD23 staff have been incredible and their response started in the moment when they moved the shot put event to try and defuse the situation.

“Student safety is our number one priority. Staff responded and intervened at the event - eventually moving the event across the field,” Kaardal told NowMedia.

Kaardal notes that the accused is not associated with SD23 and reached out to the affected student’s principal to apologize.

“SD23 supports the human rights of our students, staff and community. This behaviour is unacceptable. Adults need to govern their behaviour appropriately,” Kaardal added.

“Our school community is supporting the family and student as required. We are checking in regularly.”

Heidi and Kari Starr have filed a report with the RCMP regarding the troubling incident. NowMedia reached out to the accused, but did not receive a response by the time of publishing.

The Kelowna RCMP issued a response after publication:

The Kelowna Regional RCMP Detachment has received a number of messages from concerned citizens about an incident that took place at a regional elementary track and field day last week. We too share everyone’s grave concerns with discriminatory behaviour. In response to this incident, we can confirm that the Kelowna RCMP have received a report and created an investigative file, but, due to the Privacy Act, we cannot share further details regarding the incident or the investigation at this time.

However, we want to encourage you to continue to be a strong voice and to show your ally ship, support, public positions and commitment to diversity and inclusion. It is important to our community to speak out against discriminatory behaviours, and research shows that social support is an important protective factor for those experiencing marginalization, racism, or discrimination.

If our community takes action together, this will assist us in the ultimate goal of a diverse, inclusive and safe community for all. Your willingness to take an active role demonstrates your care and responsibility. We understand that this incident, and the ongoing discussion on social media can be difficult. There are a number of services and programs available at Kelowna Community Resources https://kcr.ca/ should you need help. Thank you.