BC Curling Hall of Fame 2026 Inductee Dianne Barker outside the Kamloops Curling Club/via Dianne Barker
Overseeing nearly forty years worth of provincial, national and international-level events has now earned a Kamloops-based curling umpire a ‘call to the Hall’.
Dianne Barker is one of three individuals who have been named to Curl BC’s Hall of Fame ‘Class of 2026,’ with the other inductees being former Canadian curling champion Melissa Soligo and fellow Kamloops curling product Jim Cotter.
“Oh my goodness… I was surprised, and honored,” said Barker when reached at her home by Radio NL to talk about her achievement.
“I was quite honored to be considered… and to go in with Jim (Cotter) who’s one of the great gentleman of the game,” said Barker glowingly of the Kamloops curling icon. “It was always a pleasure to umpire games where Jim was involved.”
Barker came at her rise to officiating honestly.
At one point early on in the sport, Barker would roll into a curling club brandishing a broom and slider.
She used to ply the ice amongst the rest of the curlers in Kamloops, having competed at the Provincial level a few times, but never making that next step up to a national level as a curler herself.
But Barker suggests it wasn’t any level of frustration with her on-ice career that pushed her toward officiating.
BC Curling Hall of Fame Inductee Dianne Barker keeping watch for Hog Line infractions and keeping a stop watch in hand to follow ‘time clock’ rules introduced into competitive curling at roughly the same time in the late 1980’s that she became a curling umpire/via Dianne Barker
Instead, she suggests it was her enjoyment of the sport and the people involved that eventually swept her down the path she took.
“Back in 1986, Kamloops hosted the Canadian Mixed Championships,” noted Barker. “They were looking for some help.”
“Some of us took the Level 1 course and it sort of went from there,” said Barker matter-of-factly in speaking of her transition from competitor to moderator.
And went it did.
Barker would combine her on-ice and off-ice understanding of the game, eventually becoming one of the top officials in the sport, having overseen numerous Provincial and National events here in Canada.
She became a Head Umpire on the national stage for the first time at the 1997 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Vancouver.
Her career would also take her beyond the Canadian border.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to work in three Olympics – Vancouver, Sochi [Russia] and Pyeongchang, South Korea,” recalled Barker. “I’ve done several World Women’s events… it’s been a great ride.”
Honor and tradition require arbitrators, not referees
You can be forgiven if — to this point — you didn’t even realize there were officials in curling.
Curling can list itself as one of the only team sports in the world where competitors are not only asked — but required by the rules — to call fouls on themselves.
It’s also one of the only team games in the world where its enshrined in the original set of rules developed in the Scottish Highlands that players must compete with a level of modesty, humility and sportsmanship.
That ‘code of conduct’ requires curlers to not only follow the technical demands of the rule book, but also follow the ‘spirit’ of the rules — in what has become known in Canadian curling as “fair play.”
BC Curling Hall of Fame 2026 Inductee Dianne Barker measuring stones to determine ‘shot rock,’ part of the role a curling umpire takes on when the two teams involved can’t agree on which of the stones is ‘shot rock’ — closest to the center of the painted rings, or house — which determines which are the scoring stones in an end of curling/via Dianne Barker
In other sports such as hockey, baseball and football, officials are required to be shoulder-to-shoulder with the players on the ice, diamond and field to play an active role in moving the games forward.
Because of that more intimate nature of their roles, sometimes those officials can be accused — rightly or wrongly — of stepping beyond their mandate and becoming an unwanted part of a game’s story-line and outcome.
In curling, virtually any time an umpire steps on to the pebbled ice, it is at the request of the players — and almost always with both teams agreeing to bring them into the mix.
“We do try to stay in the background and let the curlers control the game,” said Barker. “If someone is trying to take advantage of the rules, then it’s our job to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Our main goal is fair play.”
After nearly four decades of quietly observing and interjecting when called upon, Barker decided to retire from officiating competitive curling two years ago and has since undergone a hip replacement.
While her career in competitive curling may now be behind her, Barker says she hopes she’s left a legacy for those who might choose to hand in their broom for a measuring stick.
“I learned so much along the way,” mused Barker in talking about her time in curling. “I hope I’ve been able to share that with others.”
“That’s one of my greatest satisfactions – mentoring the people for the future.”
Perhaps in a nod to the humility that curling demands of those in its inner-circle, there will be no in-person Hall of Fame induction ceremony for her to attend.
Barker — along with Jim Cotter and Melissa Soligo — will be recognized for their achievements in the sport and enshrined in the BC Curling Hall of Fame through an official announcement at Curl BC’s upcoming Annual General Meeting.
