Resident evil?
Olympian Homan speaks out against bullying after incident at Ontario Scotties that sources say centres around other curlers’ disdain for Curling Canada’s updated residency rules
World champion and Olympic curler Rachel Homan spoke out against bullying on Tuesday as the result of an incident that occurred at the Ontario women’s championship last week.
Homan made a statement on Twitter, asking for an apology from parties involved in the incident, which she did not describe in detail.
Homan, who represents the Ottawa Curling Club, won the provincial championship in Elmira on Saturday, beating Julie Tippin of Owen Sound in the final to take the province for the fifth time.
Sources say that some other curlers in the event, who don’t like Curling Canada residency rules that allow Homan to compete in Ontario, banded together and voted in protest for Homan to win a sportsmanship award — which she indeed did win.
Upon realizing the hurtful nature of the vote, Homan spoke out.
“A day after Bell Let’s Talk Day an incident occurred during the Ontario Scotties that was disappointing,” Homan said in her statement. “It was hurtful and disrespectful to all of those involved. On a positive note, many have come forward to apologize and take responsibility for their participation.
“It takes a lot of courage to do so. We appreciate that we all make mistakes and there is a lot of room for forgiveness. To those still attempting to hide and take no responsibility, it is a shame. We are simply seeking an apology.”
There has been bad blood in the Ontario women’s curling community this season, with some people voicing displeasure over the fact that two members of Homan’s team live in Alberta.
Homan and her husband Shawn Germain recently made Edmonton their permanent home, while second Joanne Courtney also lives in the Alberta capital.
Under Curling Canada residency rules, at least threequarters of the players on a team must reside in the province for which they compete. However, Homan has also enrolled at the University of Alberta, which allows her to take advantage of new Curling Canada residency exemptions for students.
“The real issue here is that a group of players from Ontario have been not happy with the application of the rules set forth for residency,” said Gerry Geurts, operations manager for the World Curling Tour.
“They filed or wanted to file a complaint. The real issue is Homan being legal, going back to September, October when a lot of this stuff came out. The whole thing is not specifically about Rachel as much as it is a protest about her being allowed to play.
“This is not Rachel’s fault at all. She’s out there trying to compete and keep one of the best teams in the game together.”
Homan’s team, which also includes third Emma Miskew and lead Lisa Weagle, has been the best team in the country by a long shot this season. A year after finishing off the podium at the Olympics in South Korea, the Homan team has won three straight Grand Slam events, a World Cup title and has finished in the top four of four other events.
The team also won the 2017 world championship but still had to play in Ontario provincials this year because it was unable to defend its national title in 2018 due to its commitment to the Olympics.
That brought the residency issue to the forefront again and made for high tensions at the provincial championship.
“To personally tear someone down for reasons we may never know, is not a part of curling,” Homan said in her statement. “There’s no place for bullying in or out of our sport.”
A review of the incident is underway within the Ontario Curling Association.
“All I can say is that we have received a harassment complaint against an individual — not a participant in the event,” executive director Stephen Chenier told the Canadian Press. “We’ve initiated a review. We have a harassment policy and so we’re in that due process right now. Until both parties have had an opportunity for their day in court, for lack of a better term, I really can’t comment further than that.”
The incident could lead to another review of residency rules by Curling Canada as well.
Many high-level curlers are unhappy with the rules because it makes it difficult to put together the best possible teams to attempt to qualify for the Olympics, while regionalbased teams don’t appreciate having to play against highlevel out-of-province players in order to get to the national championship.
“At the end of the day, something needs to happen here with the application of the rules,” Geurts said. “Something more clear to make sure that we don’t run into problems where this kind of bad blood, pitting player against player, happens.”