What We Do

The primary area of administration and the most financially consuming of Curling Canada’s responsibilities are championships.  On an annual basis, Curling Canada sanctions and conducts nine national curling championship events. Approximately 15,000 competitive curlers from all provinces and territories enter play at the curling club level with the hopes of becoming one of the Canadian champions crowned annually.

2009 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings
2009 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings, Edmonton, Alberta – Dec. 6-14, 2009 (Photo: Curling Canada/Michael Burns Photography)

The Canadian curling championships are:

  • Montana’s Brier (Canadian Men’s Curling Championship)
  • Scotties Tournament of Hearts (Canadian Women’s Curling Championship)
  • New Holland Canadian Junior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships
  • Everest Canadian Senior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships
  • Canadian Mixed Curling Championship
  • Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship
  • Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship
  • USPORT University Curling Championships
  • CCAA College Curling Championships
  • Everest Canadian Curling Club Championship

In addition to the Canadian curling championships, Curling Canada is also responsible for the following events:

  • PointsBet Invitational
  • Canada Cup of Curling
  • Continental Cup
  • Canadian Curling Trials and Pre-trials
  • Canad Inns Mixed Doubles Curling Trials
  • World Championships (held in Canada)

Curling Canada also provides a broad array of programs and services to its Member Associations (MAs).  The philosophy of Curling Canada is to develop resources and services nationally and deliver them provincially/territorially.  This means that Curling Canada incurs the cost of resource development (based upon MA and area-specific expert input) and rely largely, on MAs to provide the delivery of these resources to their member clubs and curlers in those clubs.  Some of these resources include:

  • Technical resources targeted at the development of curling at the club level. Curling Canada provides written resource manuals, consultation and human support in the areas of curling instruction, ice making (from the club level through to the installation of ice at the Provincial/Territorial level of play), coach development (National Coaching Certification Program) and officiating (Levels 1 – 3) for training of officials at the “supervised levels of play” leading up to provincial/territorial and national championship levels.
  • High performance resources are provided for use by MAs in the same areas of programming as in the technical mandate of Curling Canada.  These resources, however, are targeted at the elite level athlete, coach, ice technician or official who has been identified as a national level participant or someone who has potential to participate at the level in the sport of curling.  These resources are primarily delivered at the national level of the sport but may be packaged with other resources at the Regional Development Centre level of the delivery system. Curling Canada is also responsible for selecting and training teams for the Olympics, national team programs and the development of Level 4 & 5 coaches.

Partnership opportunities are continually being developed by Curling Canada with other national, regional and provincial program/service providers or funding agencies.  These partnerships are sought to increase the affordability of quality programming and provision of services.  A current example of this type of initiative is the opportunity provided to Member Associations across the country to partner with Curling Canada, the federal government and provincial human resources agencies in the establishment of Regional Development Centers.  These centers increase the ability and effectiveness of the sport to deliver programs and services across the sport’s full spectrum of operation ranging from the community-level end users (athletes, volunteers, club executive/boards) to the high performance end users (athletes, coaches and ice technicians who participate at the national, international and Olympic levels of the sport of curling).

Another active division of Curling Canada is development.  It primarily involves a series of programs aimed at retaining curlers and developing programs and materials to recruit new ones.  It is through the development programs that direct contact is maintained with approximately 1,050 affiliated curling clubs, 14 provincial/territorial associations, 12 affiliate member and regional development centers and over 1 million Canadians who play the sport each year.

Business operations are one more area of support provided by Curling Canada to its Member Associations.  This support takes a few different forms but is generally provided in the following ways:

  1. The Business of Curling is a written resource and work shop which guides curling clubs through a process intended to increase operational efficiency at the community level of our sport.
  2. Curling Canada leads by example in the area of property management and marketing.  While the MAs are the owners of their respective properties, they are encouraged to maximize the value and revenue potential of their respective properties by way of information exchange and education sessions.
  3. Curling Canada provides a number of financial services and support to its member associations through:
    • Curling Canada provides annual financial support to its Member Associations and Regional Development Centers.
    • The Excellence Program, which is financed through a percentage of net ticket sales revenue from Canadian event-managed properties, is managed and distributed by Curling Canada to support provincial/territorial teams at the Brier, Tournament of Hearts, and Canadian Curling Trials to assist with training and indirect expenses associated with their participation in the event.

Curling Canada