Plans for three pre-Christmas provincial curling championships are no longer in the works.

The cancellations are the result of the ongoing uncertainty related to the Covid-19 pandemic. That uncertainty has forced Curling Canada to alter its plans for the pre-Christmas portion of the 2020-21 curling season. The national body announced today they are cancelling the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, scheduled for Nov. 7-15 in Canmore, Alta., and the Everest Canadian Curling Club Championships, scheduled for Nov. 22-28 in Ottawa.

As a result, Curl BC has made the decision to cancel the two provincial events leading up to these nationals.

The two events being cancelled are:

• The 2020 AMJ Campbell BC Mixed Curling Championship originally scheduled for Abbotsford in April 2020 and then tentatively rescheduled for the fall.
• The 2020 BC Club Challenge, presented by Original 16, originally scheduled for Royal City in New Westminster in March 2020 and then tentatively rescheduled for the fall.

Curl BC was also looking at staging 2020 U18 provincial championships from Nov. 20-22 in the Okanagan. The 2020 U18 event had originally been planned for Parksville in March but it was called off because of Covid-19.

A new U18 event plan was being hatched because Curling Canada had extended an invite to the 2020 provincial winners (or a second BC team) to their 2021 U18 event still scheduled for Feb. 7-13 at the McIntyre Curling Club in Timmons, Ont.

Instead of holding its 2020 U18 championships in the fall, Curl BC is opting instead to send the 2021 BC U18 winner and runners-up to that event.

Curl BC CEO Scott Braley said: “The decision to cancel these events was not an easy one for Curling Canada or for Curl BC. However, the safety of our volunteers, our curlers and our fans is the top priority. We look forward to when we can all get together to watch, play and celebrate our sport in the near future.”

Curling Canada has also announced that the 2020 Home Hardware Canada Cup, scheduled  Nov. 24-29 in Fredericton, N.B., will be postponed indefinitely.

“We all know the reality of our situation, and it goes beyond sports,” said Katherine Henderson, CEO of Curling Canada. “Our primary goal and responsibility, always, is to keep athletes and volunteers safe and it was determined that without any kind of clarity about what the situation will look like in the late fall when these events were scheduled, we couldn’t responsibly go further in the planning process.”

Because the Home Hardware Canada Cup may play a role in determining teams for the 2021 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings, presented by AGI — the event that will decide Canada’s four-player teams for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing — Curling Canada will attempt to reschedule the event for some time in the new year.

Both Curl BC and Curling Canada will continue to assess the status of the post-Christmas events in the 2020-21 season, and no further updates are available at this time.

Pictured is Team Taylor, one of the teams who competed in the U18 playdowns in the 2019-20 season.