Three new members elected to Curling Canada Board of Governors

Three new members will join the Curling Canada Board of Governors after voting at Saturday’s Annual General Meeting.

The governing body for the sport of curling in Canada conducted its virtual AGM on Saturday, bringing together Canada’s 14 Member Associations along with invited guests to talk about the past season, as well as elect new members to the Board of Governors.

Jody Meli of Lethbridge, Alta., Rémy St-Pierre of Québec City, and Kerry Tarasoff of Saskatoon were elected to four-year terms. They replace outgoing Governors Michael Szajewski of Kenora, Ont., Darren Oryniak of Winnipeg, and Kathy O’Rourke of Cumberland, P.E.I., whose terms were up and chose not to run for re-election.

Meli, St-Pierre and Tarasoff join fellow Board members Ray Baker of Dauphin, Man., Roselle Gonsalves of Porters Lake, N.S., Scott Hindle of Ottawa, Jennifer Howard of Courtice, Ont., Teri Palynchuk of Nanaimo, B.C., Calvin Seaman of Calgary, and Jeremy Woo of Winnipeg.

Palynchuk was elected as Chair of the Board of Governors, replacing the outgoing Szajewski.

“I’m looking forward to what we can accomplish together as a Board and as a national organization in collaboration with our Member Associations,” said Palynchuk. “Our goal is to continue building on the positive momentum in our sport and continue to lower the barriers that prevent progress. I feel like there is so much untapped potential for our sport and I know that with all of us pulling in the same direction we can accomplish great things together.

“It was also especially gratifying that the collaboration between the Curling Canada Board of Governors and our Member Association partners produced a new election process that will position our organization and our Board very well on a go-forward basis. This couldn’t have happened without a shared vision and open communication between the Member Associations and our Board.”

The Curling Canada Athlete Advisory Council (AAC), meanwhile, will continue to have an ongoing and important consultative role with Curling Canada’s Events and High Performance departments, and will also keep its voice at the Board level as observers.

The AAC will have a representative at Board of Governors meetings and will be able to speak at meetings.

Laura Walker will serve a two-year term as Chair of the AAC, with Brett Gallant serving as Vice-Chair. Other members of the AAC are Shannon Birchard, Karlee Burgess, Chelsea Carey, Matt Dunstone, Jacques Gauthier, E.J. Harnden, Chrissy Molnar, Jocelyn Peterman Jon Thurston, and Sarah Wilkes.

The AAC comprises representatives from men’s and women’s four-player curling, mixed doubles curling and wheelchair curling, and are elected by their peers — all of whom must be members of Curling Canada’s National Team Program.

“I was grateful for the opportunity to serve a year on the Board of Governors, and learned a great deal about what goes on in the area of governance in our sport that I think it’s safe to say we as athletes didn’t truly understand or appreciate,” said Walker. “We’re also appreciative that we will have a role to play with the Board of Governors to offer our perspectives to their discussions. As an Athlete Advisory Council, we also know we can contribute our insights and opinions best in the areas that affect us most in consultation and communication with Curling Canada’s High Performance and Events operations staff, and we look forward to continuing to build positively on this relationship as we have the same shared ambitions of success on the world stage.”