Suzanne Bertrand

Hall of Fame

You could say Suzanne Bertrand swept her way to stardom. Taking up the sport of curling at the age of 12 in Saskatchewan, Suzanne moved to the Yukon to begin her teaching career. After work, she volunteered as an assistant instructor in the old Whitehorse Curling Club. 

Suzanne began the NCCP certification process in the mid-eighties, moving from Levels One through Three in less than a decade. She was also a certified Level Two course conductor and a Master Learning Facilitator for curling. At the time of her death, she was just a handful of courses shy of obtaining her Level Four. 

Suzanne took teams to the junior nationals in 1988, 1989, 1996 and 1997. Keeping the spirit going in her family, her daughter Michele and her daughter-in-law Dawn earned spots on some of these rosters, including in 1988 when their team won bronze at the juniors. That same year Sport Yukon recognized Suzanne as Coach of the Year. Reflecting courage and humility, the team was awarded Most Sportsmanlike Team in 1989.

Her accolades kept on coming. Suzanne was recognized nationally with the 3M Coach of the Year Award in 1999, and in 2004 she received the Volunteer of the Year award from the City of Whitehorse. A year later CCA recognized her tireless efforts with the Volunteer of the Year Award for Canada.

Suzanne coached several teams at the Canada Winter Games, and in 1999 she coached a men’s rink at the Brier. In 2000 and 2003, she coached her son Chad’s rink to Brier success again. During this high-profile period, Suzanne somehow found the time to coach Yukon teams at various Arctic Winter Games, with one of the teams winning gold in 1988. 

Quite literally hundreds and hundreds of curlers were coached by Suzanne. It will be a true challenge to fill her shoes.