RESIDENCY RULES – ALL CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

COMPETITORS:

  1. Must be Canadian citizens. 
    • Exception: Competitors at the Under-18 Boys and Girls, the Curling Club Championships and the Wheelchair Championship do not have to be Canadian citizens, but they do have to be residents of Canada unless granted an exception by their Member Association.
  2. Must be residents of Canada.
    • Exception: Member Associations may allow Canadian citizens who are residents of the United States and are active members in good standing of affiliated Canadian curling clubs to participate.
  3. All four (4) members and any alternates must be bona fide residents within the geographic area of the Member Association they are intending to represent
    • Exception: Tournament of Hearts and Brier playdown entrants are allowed one free agent who does not meet residency requirements per five-player team 
    • Exception: Tournament of Hearts and Brier athletes are able to compete in the province / territory in which they were born. This birthright status equates to being a bona fide resident
    • Exception: Tournament of Hearts and Brier Team Canada (prior year Champions) and Wild Card or pre-qualified teams, must only meet rule #1 and #2. Rule #3 will not apply, as long as they still meet the requirement of the three of four (if registered as four-player team) or four of five (if registered as a five-player team) rule of team members that qualified for the Championship. 
    • Exception: Tournament of Hearts and Brier Athletes who have taken a accepted leave of absence from competing for their team after qualifying for the National Championships for parenting, pregnancy or childbirth are able to find a replacement player(s) that do not meet rule #3.
  4. A player may not have competed for any other country in any WCF competition, in any discipline, the previous two curling seasons (curling is marked as September 1 to May 31). A WCF competition is defined as a direct qualification event or Championship of any World, Olympic, Paralympic or Universiade Championship.
    • Exception: Competitors at the Under-18 Boys and Girls, the Curling Club Championships and the Wheelchair Championship may have competed in the previous two years for another international Member Association, at any level, without waiting to compete in the Canadian National Championship.
    • An athlete may not attempt to compete for Canada in any playdown, at any level, if they have attempted to compete for another WCF Member Association in any discipline within the same curling season, whether they successfully won the right to represent the other WCF Member Association or not. 
  5. Canadians born in border towns such as Lloydminster (which has geographical boundaries in both Saskatchewan and Alberta) will be assigned a ‘home’ Member Association based on the province / territory indicated on their government documentation.
  6. The current Ontario and Northern Ontario border for curling will determine if a player was born in Northern Ontario or Ontario (any disputes will be resolved by Curling Canada). If the town/city of the athlete’s birth has a curling club, then they will be considered as born in the affiliation of that club.  If the town/city of birth does not have a curling club, they will be assigned to the Member Association with the closest affiliated club to their birth town/city.
  7. Full-time students in good standing attending a recognized post-secondary educational institute, may curl in one (1) of these four (4) jurisdictions:
    • For the province/territory where they are attending school; or
    • for the province/territory where they maintain their residence of record; or
    • for the province or territory where they were born; or
    • for any province or territory as a Free Agent (for Tournament of Hearts/Brier only)

Note: students will be required to provide proof of registration and academic standing.

  1. An individual may only participate in the playdown process for the Tournament of Hearts or the Brier in one (1) province or territory in any championship season.
  2. When eligible, Canadians can play for different Member Associations year to year. For example, in 2022-2023 they play in Territory ‘A’ where they were born. Then in 2023-2024, they choose to play in the province/territory where they reside.
  3.  Free Agents, athletes using the birthright option, and student-athletes are allowed to participate in any other event they are eligible for in the province or territory where they reside. For example, a player residing in province/territory ‘A’ chooses to be a free agent in province/territory ‘B’ for the Tournament of Hearts. In the same season, this player can participate in the four-person Mixed competition for province/territory ‘A’.

Curling Canada