Canadian curling athletes will hit the world stage next year in new team uniforms unveiled Tuesday in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Curling Canada says the uniforms, designed by an artist from the northwestern Ontario city, “evoke meaningful imagery rooted in nature, Canada’s Indigenous Peoples and the iconic Maple Leaf.”
Nolan Thiessen, chief executive officer of Curling Canada, hopes the design featuring Indigenous Peoples “opens some doors” for more people to get involved in curling.
“You always want to provide those platforms so that people see themselves in your sport,” Thiessen told CBC Thunder Bay.
“There’s a lot of different ways to do that and this is just one of them, but hopefully, it does showcase that we are open and we are welcoming.”
The uniforms come in red, white and black versions. They’ll be worn only in 2026, at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympics, the World Women’s Curling Championship in Calgary, the World Men’s Curling Championship in Ogden, Utah, and the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Geneva.
Artist excited about showing off uniform designs
The prevalent theme of the uniforms is the image of a hummingbird, which Curling Canada says has a four-year life cycle, matching the Olympic and Paralympic quadrennial cycle on which Canada’s high-performance athletes plan around.
Thiessen said it’s “exciting to get to finally show this off to all of Canada and the world.”
Shelby Gagnon, a multidisciplinary 2-Spirit Anishinaabe/Cree artist originally from Aroland First Nation, collaborated with Regina-based designer Steph Schmidt on the final design. Schmidt has curled competitively and played in three editions of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts representing Saskatchewan.
Speaking about the collaboration, Gagnon said it’s been “a beautiful experience bringing together sport, culture and art, adding it’s especially meaningful to share the symbolism of the birds and the plant life of Turtle Island through the design.
“We created these beautiful works of art and people could wear them, and I think that’s really special,” Gagnon told CBC News.
“I will definitely be watching the curling this February. It’s going to be pretty surreal seeing my design on in the Olympics.”
Ex-world curling champ says uniforms ‘inspiring’
Heather Houston, the 1989 world curling champion, was also at the team uniform unveiling.
“I know the story about how they were generated, and the trust, and the art and all the things that came together to make them this beautiful, and I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to wear them internationally at the Olympics,” Houston said.
“To wear something this beautiful and this inspiring will be great for our athletes.”
Schmidt said that as a curler and designer, it has been “a dream come true” to collaborate on the design.
“This collaboration brought profound moments of wisdom and creativity. I’m so excited to offer Canadians a reimagined Maple Leaf with depth and meaning, and a creature as small as the hummingbird and its relentless spirit despite its size,” Schmidt said.
“Sometimes I think these stories wait to be rediscovered and told at just the right moment, when the world needs to hear it. It has been the honour of my career to be part of this creative team.”
Commercial versions of the uniforms will go on sale on Nov. 22, both in person at the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax and online.
