Success despite challenges
Edmonton’s Granite Curling Club shares its igneous rock namesake with over 20 active and shuttered clubs across Canada and the United States.
Notably, the Granite Club in Toronto was founded in 1875 and has grown since its early beginnings as a curling venue to a private multi-sport facility.
Saskatoon lost its Granite Club in December of 2022 and Winnipeg’s Granite, aka the “Mother Club” was established in 1880 and claims to be the oldest curling club in Western Canada.
At 105 years, Edmonton’s Granite is one of the oldest curling operations in Alberta. Despite its age and, like most clubs, photographic showcase of a conga line of stodgy past presidents (who resemble John Diefenbaker), it also lays claim as host of the first Canadian Pride Curling Championship in 2006.
The event returned to its inaugural site for the third time this month, with Calgary’s Michael Roy and his team—third Peter Woolfrey, second Brady Gillies and lead Kreggan Scharnatta—taking the trophy.
It marked the first-ever win for a team from Alberta.
Granite member Dean Carlson originally donated the trophy by accident. “Only because I was sent to go pick it up and nobody told me it wasn’t paid for,” he said. “And if I wanted to have it, I had to pay for it or you didn’t get the trophy. So I did.
“It wasn’t my idea to put the plaque on there with my name because that’s not what I wanted. I just wanted us to have something.”
Dean helped form Edmonton’s pride curling league in 1997. The Granite, the oldest original curling building in town, was the only one to accept the new league.
“Because we weren’t trying to hide who we were going to be, coming into these curling clubs,” said Carlson. “We wanted them to know that we are a gay league and what to expect, and this was the only club that would allow us.
“There were conversations with other clubs that took place and they absolutely refused.”
It was Dean and fellow member Lance Anderson-Croft who got the first championship launched back in 2006. They welcomed teams from Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal—the only Canadian cities with gay leagues at the time.
“We couldn’t even apply for any grants because there wasn’t anything readily available up until probably the mid-2000s,” said Carlson. “Everything we had to do was a fundraiser, by our community and our members.”
Each participating club across Canada determines their representative, and the event has grown to feature two pools of eight teams for a total of 16. The 2025 edition included two qualifying teams from five cities: Toronto, Calgary, Saskatoon, Halifax and Edmonton, along with single-entry squads from Winnipeg, Vancouver, Regina, Ottawa, Montreal and St. John’s.
Dean is hopeful to add more in the future.
“With PEI joining, I know there’s another city in B.C. that wants to join … we may have to increase that number, and I would like to see it get to 24,” he stated.
“If we can get New Brunswick and possibly even one team from the Territories, that would be wonderful, but we’ve had to set out some criteria.
“Any city wanting to join has to be able to host a bonspiel. We prefer that they've been around for three years just to make sure that they're going to be able to handle something like this. We work with everybody new coming in to share all of our expertise with them.”
The games are fun, but also competitive.
“We’ve got people who have competed in national events. People who have competed in Briers and provincials. These are some world class curlers that it’s amazing to see. But it’s still friendly though. There’s no fisticuffs out there.
“We are a community. Everybody recognizes that and everybody is here to have a good time and support one another. There is officiating though. We do have to have an official umpire.
“But we’ve never really had a problem where we’ve had to bring them in to do any type of resolution. You know, because this is a gentlemanly sport. Because it is based on your owning up to the fact that you burnt your own rock.”
Unlike the recent men’s world championship, this type of sportsmanship was on display in a Friday game with one of the Saskatoon teams, when the final end was replayed after a burnt stone. “As the last shot it would have won them the game. They said ‘we burnt this rock’ and they replayed the end. And they replayed because that’s the only fair way to do it.
“It was absolutely incredible that they just did it. They didn’t have to come to us to say, what should we do? What is the protocol? They know what they had to do, make it happen and let’s keep going.”
A past runner-up in the event, Dean’s competitive days might be behind him.
“I’m still involved but yeah, the fun part of it remains because we’re not a competitive team. And I prefer it that way, because it’s a lot of stress.
“And to be perfectly honest, I’m not as young as I used to be to be doing this all the time either. And my joints are telling me I need to slow down a bit.”
Funding is a challenge each year, with teams travelling at their own expense. Curling Canada and each host province association has provided funding in the past but backed out this year due to financial constraints.
“Every league has gotten $5,000 from them to host nationals. And their provincial curling body has given them all $5,000. So that was a $10,000 hit for us this year, which is a large sum of money when you're only bringing in up to $30,000.”
“It’s because they’re (Curling Canada) running a million-dollar deficit again. So I certainly understand. There’s just nothing they can do about it.
“Curling Alberta really didn’t give me an answer. They just said no.”
We discussed the recent fee increase announced by Canada’s curling bodies.
“What saddens me about that is all of us, normal people are paying the curling fees and we’re getting nothing in return and that’s turning into a problem for us,” said Carlson. “It’s making us look at why we need to pay them if we’re not going to benefit. And I’ve asked Curling Alberta what the fees are actually going toward, and I’ve just been ghosted.”
Sponsors like Original 16 and grant funding from the City of Edmonton helped make the championship happen this year.
It’s a collective effort, with one of Dean’s team members also donating $2,000—and prizes were donated by many supporters for a silent auction to raise funds.
The Alberta government did not provide any support. Premier Danielle Smith and the UCP recently passed legislation which limits the rights of transgender children, and we lamented what has been happening in our province—and south of the border.
“This is what I don’t understand in terms of the direction that we’re going, because it’s not the right direction,” said Carlson.
“Everybody should be allowed to be who they are and whoever they want to be. And if you don’t believe in it, then that’t your situation and not mine. I shouldn’t have to change to fit into your typical stereotypical person if I’m not.”
Two-time defending champion Bill Francis was unable to defend his title. As we spoke on the Saturday afternoon, the team from the Royal Canadian Curling Club in Toronto were sitting at 4-2. Their last shot draw results were, per his teammates, “shit” and they needed help if they were going to make the playoffs (they did not).
The Riverdale and Rotator leagues operate out of the club commonly referred to as “Royals” which has provided curling for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community for over 40 years.
Team Francis are one of 56 teams in their league and with the help of Becky Purvis, Royals has added the Learn to Curl League for Queer Women and Trans Folks, which regularly attracts 100 curlers.
The Canadian Pride Championship is for ages 18 and over, and notably male, but the Granite encourages all ages and genders to curl. They host a Learn to Curl session every year and encourage members to bring their kids.
Dean is proud of his club.
“People felt that they finally had somewhere safe to be,” he said. “Without trying to hide who they were. We’ve had trans people here. We’ve also had cross-dressers who came to join us, because they felt comfortable enough to be here with the rest of us. And there wasn’t any bigotry or discrimination going on of any kind, because the Granite would not allow any of that to happen.
“We’re willing to welcome anybody. We have allies who are straight professional people who’ve been curling with us for years.
“We’re very thankful and grateful that we get to call this place home.”
The national Pride Championship has its 20th anniversary next year.
It would be good to see more partnerships come forth in support of such a special season.