Curling Canada has released an equity, diversity and inclusion package called “Curling is a Place for Everyone” to support curling facilities in creating inclusive spaces.

The kit will encourage curling centres to examine any potential barriers to equity, diversity and inclusion that may be in place, consciously or unconsciously, and offers suggestions on how to remove those barriers.

• A guide on why diversity is important – WHY DIVERSITY IS IMPORTANT
• A document that goes through what “unconscious bias” is and how it could impact your centre – UNCONSCIOUS BIAS
• As well as a document that gives you tips and practical things to do to improve your centre’s equity, diversity and inclusion practices – TARGETED APPROACH TO IMPROVEMENT
• You can find more information on the Curling Canada site.

Put together with support from the World Curling Federation Development Assistance Programme, the kit gives the Canadian curling community a chance to extend our love of curling to newcomers through participation, volunteering, and becoming fans. An individual’s journey into curling begins with community facilities.

“While this is a significant step in the process, it’s still just a step as we work, and listen, with the ambition of making curling a sport of choice for Canadians from all cultural backgrounds,” said Henderson.

While progress has been made in the areas of diversity and inclusion in curling in recent years, there is much work to be done, according to Chief Executive Officer Katherine Henderson.

“Over the past 12 months, all sports organizations have been learning some hard truths about where we stand on the topic of diversity, and how much we still need to do,” said Henderson.

“It’s been in equal parts unsettling and encouraging; we’ve listened to so many voices about the issues that need to be addressed, and it wasn’t easy to hear those voices. We were challenged, and justifiably so. And yet what also gave us energy was that people want curling to be a leader in this area, and they want us to succeed because they see so many benefits in our sport, both from a participation standpoint as well as a community-building standpoint. We’re excited about the opportunities that are in front of us, and we’ll be working extremely hard to take those steps with all who join us.”