Lawson Yates helped Team Walter win the Manitoba Junior Men's Curling Provincial Championships last year in his hometown when they defeated Team Gauthier in the final.
This year, no one from the Parkland will advance to the nationals. That's because Curling Canada has announced that they've cancelled the New Holland Canadian Junior Championships that were slated to take place in Fort McMurray, Alberta, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Five other events have also been cancelled and they include the Canadian Wheelchair Championship in Moose Jaw, Sask., the inaugural Canadian Under 15 RockFest, and the U SPORTS/Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Championships, the Continental Cup in Oakville, Ontario, and the Canadian Under-18 Championships in Timmins, Ontario.
None of these cancelled events will be rescheduled for the upcoming season.
The decisions to cancel events came down primarily to the safety of participants and volunteers (most of the cancelled events are operated mainly by local volunteers), travel restrictions (a significant factor for the Continental Cup as international teams likely couldn’t have participated), and the costs of running the events with numerous restrictions due to the pandemic.
Katherine Henderson with Curling Canada had this to say on the news.
“We considered all options, but in the end, we had to make the responsible decision — for the athletes, for the volunteers, and for the organization, to ensure the safety of those involved in the championships as well as the viability of the sport in Canada,” said Henderson.
The scheduled host cities for the cancelled 2021 events have all graciously agreed to host Curling Canada championships in the future.
The 2021 Canadian Senior Championships are still on tap for the fall of 2021; dates and a host city will be announced at a later date.
The status of the remaining Curling Canada championships for the 2020-21 season — the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Tim Hortons Brier, presented by AGI, the World Men’s Curling Championship, the Home Hardware Canada Cup, and the Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship — remains unchanged and no further information is available at this time.
