2025 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship begins Monday in Boucherville

Fresh off his World Wheelchair Curling Championship debut, Douglas Dean of Thunder Bay, Ont., will be looking to lead Team Northern Ontario to its first gold medal at the 2025 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship in Boucherville, Que., next week.

Dean now holds a world bronze medal, won in Stevenston, Scotland at the 2025 World Wheelchair Curling Championship in March, where he played alongside Gilbert Dash of Team Saskatchewan #1. Dash, who skipped Team Canada to the podium, and teammate Marie Wright, are the only players to hold five national titles and have left Dean with back-to-back Canadian wheelchair silver medals after defeats in the 2023 and 2024 finals.

Team Northern Ontario, hailing from Thunder Bay’s Fort William Curling Club, is rounded out by third Gino Senego, second Rick Bell, lead Lola Graham, alternate Aimee Epp, and coach Doug Gelmich.

Ten of the twelve competing teams will take to the ice at the Club de curling de Boucherville beginning Monday, April 28, at 4 p.m., (all times ET).

Each team will play a five-game pool play segment beginning Monday afternoon. At the conclusion of pool play, the top three teams from each pool advance to a championship round, where they’ll cross over and face opposite pool qualifiers. At the conclusion of the championship round, the second and third overall finishers will battle in the semifinal Saturday at 11 a.m., while the top championship round finisher receives a bye to the gold-medal final later that day at 3 p.m.

Also in the field will be four-time Paralympic medallist Ina Forrest of Team British Columbia, who teamed up with Mark Ideson at the World Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Stevenston, where they finished the round robin with a perfect 6-0 record.

Other 2024-2025 National Wheelchair Curling Program athletes in competition in Boucherville are Terry Fowler, third for Team Alberta; Sarah Benevides, third for Team New Brunswick; and two-time Paralympic medallist Dennis Thiessen, who will be skipping for Team Newfoundland and Labrador.

Local representation will also be plentiful, with host Team Québec #1’s Team Carl Marquis and Team Québec #2’s Luc Hamel, looking to claim Québec’s second national crown in front of their home crowd, with skip Benoit Lessard having captured the title for La Belle Province in 2013 in Ottawa.

The field is divided into two pools as follows:

For live scores, team lineups, and schedule information, click here.

Tickets to the 2025 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship are free of charge. For directions to the venue, click here.