Alberta UCP youth dance cancelled after backlash for 14-25 age range

A United Conservative Party (UCP) youth dance hosted by the Lacombe-Ponoka constituency has been cancelled after it received backlash online due to the age gap of the intended attendees.

A Facebook post from the UCP Lacombe-Ponoka Constituency Association showed the original poster with a red banner across it saying “Event cancelled.”

The “Youth Spring Dance and Social,” was set for June 8 in the village of Clive, and was open to participants aged 14 to 25.

The association first shared a post about the dance on its Facebook page. That post only allows comments from those who follow the page, with much of the negative reaction – many sharing feelings of discomfort – coming from users sharing the post to their personal pages.

The post gained more reaction online when an RCMP sergeant in the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) shared a screenshot of the Facebook page to his personal X account. Sgt. Kerry Shima was viewed nearly 300,000 times in less than 24 hours. The post has since been deleted.

“This right here is a problem,” Shima’s post read. “1) 25-year-olds are NOT youths, 2) Who planned this wanting to see 14-year-olds and 25-year-olds dancing together?”

“3) The ICE Unit is overworked with cases & the last thing my teams need is a sanctioned dance encouraging adults to cavort with teens.”

Several commenters felt the youth dance should be cancelled, and that the UCP should not be associating with such an event.

Others say the village’s population – there are just over 700 people living in Clive – makes the age range acceptable.

According to the Department of Justice, a youth is anyone between the stages of childhood and adulthood, with Canada officially recognizing an adult as someone who is 18 years old.

“The term ‘youth’ is used when referring to youth criminal justice legislation, such as the Juvenile Delinquents Act, the Young Offenders Act and the Youth Criminal Justice Act,” the definition reads.

“In these cases, ‘youth’ is defined as those younger than 18 at the time that they allegedly committed a criminal offence. Since 2003, any references to the youth criminal justice system define youth as those aged 12 to 17.”

CityNews contacted the mayor of Clive and the UCP Lacombe-Ponoka Constituency but did not immediately receive a response.

RCMP Cpl. Matthew Howell tells CityNews no offences have been made and no concerns have been brought directly to the RCMP at this time.

However, he adds the RCMP will reach out to the event organizers to discuss the ongoing public concerns.