As Chairman of this curling tour to Scotland it is my privilege and pleasure to introduce the Canadian Strathcona Cup Tour Team 2009, provide a little background on the history of the tour and to invite you to join us in celebrating this historic curling event along with the incredible accomplishments of the tour namesake Lord Strathcona.
This friendly curling competition between Canada and Scotland started with the first visit of a Scottish team to Canada in 1902-03. A Canadian team paid its first visit to Scotland in 1909.

And so began what has become one of the oldest international curling competitions in the world. Played initially on a somewhat irregular basis it now alternates between Canada and Scotland on a five year swing.

Many of Canada’s early pioneers were of Scottish descent and in the mid-1800s, they, lonesome for their homeland, extended an invitation to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in Scotland to send a curling team to Canada. An intense debate raged on for almost 50 years until a decision was reached to undertake the tour. Major among the proponents were former Governor Generals of Canada, Lords, Earls and Marquesses such as Elgin, Monck, Lisgar, Dufferin, Lansdowne, Stanley, Lorne, Aberdeen and Minto and many other respected leaders of the time.

One who became particularly involved with the notion was Lord Strathcona (1820-1914). A Scot and one of the best known philanthropists in Canada in the early 20th Century, he was a commissioner of the Hudson’s Bay Company, he helped squash the Riel Rebellion and perhaps was most famous for financing and overseeing the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Indeed he was the Donald Smith who drove the “last spike” in the railway in 1885. Twice a Member of Parliament and twice President of the Bank of Montreal he became High Commissioner in London for Canada and was part of the welcoming party for the Scots during their first curling visit to Canada. Excitement ran high and ultimately Lord Strathcona commissioned the crafting of the illustrious Strathcona Cup, which he presented to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in 1909 to commemorate his Presidency of the Royal Club and the first visit of a Canadian curling team to Scotland that year. In fact he chaired the Reception Banquet in honour of the visiting Canadian Curling Team held on January 20th, 1909 in the Music Hall in Edinburgh. The magnificent Strathcona Cup has been the centerpiece of this competition ever since.

The Scots tour to Canada in 2003 marked the centenary of that famous, first visit and this tour in 2009 will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canada’s first venture to Scotland in 1909. The 40 members of the 2009 team are the result of an extensive selection process carried out in cooperation with the Canadian Curling Association, Provincial/Territorial Curling Associations and the Selection Committee consisting of members of the Canadian Strathcona Cup Tour to Scotland in 1998 and the Canadian Host Committee for the Scots Centenary Tour to Canada in 2003. I am pleased to say that for the first time the Canadian team has representation from all provinces. They will arrive in Glasgow on January 7, 2009, attend an opening banquet on January 8 and then curl against former tourists and the Scots Host Committee on Jan 9 and 10. The team then splits in two with 20 members going north and 20 going south. In all they will curl in over 20 cities before getting back together in Edinburgh for some reminiscing and a farewell banquet on January 30.

You are cordially invited to meet the team members on this website and follow their progress as they curl throughout Scotland from January 7-31, 2009.

For further information on Lord Strathcona’s many accomplishments simply Google “Lord Strathcona”.

Also, there is a wonderful 787 page account of the Scots' first curling tour to Canada in 1902- 03 in a book written by Tour Captain, Reverend John Kerr and published in 1904 by Geo. A Morton, 42 George Street, Edinburgh and The Toronto News Co.,LTD.

For a complete online history of curling: History of Curling

History of Canadian curling: CCA History

 

- Denny Charlebois