Niverville Curling Club sent packing as council finds new tenant

The Niverville Curling Club is raising transparency concerns over the town council’s decision to lease the club’s namesake arena to a different group, forcing it to play out of town.

The club, which has played at the town-owned rink since 1978, learned Niverville’s council had begun negotiations with the group from a Dec. 2 letter from Mayor Myron Dyck, viewed by The Carillon. No details were given on who would be the new leaseholder.

Niverville spokesperson Cyrus Reimer denied The Carillon’s request for an interview with Dyck or any council members, citing ongoing legal negotiations.

Dustin Krahn, the club’s president, said it’s disappointing council didn’t consult or have discussions with the club when deciding to work with a different party.

“The most disappointing part is the discussion isn’t even happening. The decisions are being made without the stakeholders, and we’re kind of left with the option to just accept it.” he said.

The 18-team club had two meetings with council in September and October, after the arena’s furnace broke nearly one year ago, making playing conditions difficult, Krahn said. He learned the town had no budget to fix the furnace, and the club used its own money to fund the repair. Krahn said the club met with council to suggest and get clarity on the long-term plan, but the town offered no plan or solution for the facility’s maintenance.

“We saw it as a bit of an issue that if council can’t undertake basic maintenance, and that there was a problem in the broader vision in general for the facility,” he said.

Due to Niverville’s growing needs, the town didn’t have the money necessary to fund the arena, the letter read.

“The hope is that this will result in the curling rink space being utilized to its fullest extent, including new improvements and offerings that will provide a greater number of opportunities to the community,” Dyck wrote.

The curling club replied to the town’s decision in a Dec. 12 letter, obtained by The Carillon, raising worries over the neglect of the facility, lack of cooperation in creating a long-term plan and deciding to lease the arena to a for-profit group.

“The town’s failure to communicate that our organization was facing a life-or-death moment during that brief meeting, while simultaneously neglecting the facility and entering negotiations with a new tenant, represents a major abuse of the trust required for a good-faith partnership,” Krahn wrote in the letter.

Mayor Dyck replied in a Jan. 14 letter, saying costs for the natural-ice rink rose due to warmer winters and revenue from curling didn’t increase. He said a group of community leaders approached council in 2025 with a proposal to occupy the facility at no cost to tax-payers and offered private investment to improve the space. The letter didn’t say who the community leaders were.

Council is considering a regional curling club, shared between St Adolphe and Niverville as an alternative, Dyck said.

Krahn said the club has already relocated to St Adolphe, but he’s worried it will lose members due to the extra distance and lack of ice time. The club will only have two nights of ice time, compared to the three it had in Niverville, he said.

Niverville resident Dan Giesbrecht has been a curling club member for roughly 10 years and skips for one of the teams. When he moved from Winnipeg, both Giesbrecht and his wife searched for a place to get involved in curling and found the club. When word came that the club wouldn’t be playing in Niverville, Giesbrecht said he was surprised.

“Usually we get an email or a text in November sometime, kind of confirming (the season) and I hadn’t heard anything yet. So I emailed people that we deal with, and then found that we probably weren’t playing out of Niverville,” he said. “It was a bit of a shock, because that’s where we played for as long as I’ve been there.”

He said the club has a long history in the community, with families growing up and helping build the rink. The club was a welcoming space for beginners to learn the sport and have fun with their neighbours, Giesbrecht said.

“To move out of the town, it kind of defeats the purpose of it being Niverville Curling Club anymore, because it’s not in Niverville,” he said.