The Strathcona Cup History

The competition is held every 5 years and alternates between Canada and Scotland. 

Some interesting stats:

• Canada first played Scotland in 1902, so this is the 120th year this competition has been held (with a couple of breaks for the world wars)
• There are 60 Scots coming (15 teams)
• They will be split into 3 groups of 5 teams. One will play in the Maritimes, one will tour western Canada, and the third will tour Ontario and Montreal.
• There will be games held in every province, from Victoria BC to St John's Nfld.
• 85 different curling facilities across Canada are involved.
• Buses, flights, hotels, and organizing committees at each facility have all been organized.
• 350 games will be played.
• 1400 Canadian curlers will get to play against the Scots.

The overall winner between Canada and Scotland is determined by the total score for each country across all 350 games played.

The final banquet is at the Ottawa Hunt Club on Feb 2, and all 3 groups of Scots will be there.

The name of the competition is a very interesting story in itself.

• There actually Is a Strathcona Cup trophy that was originally donated by Lord Strathcona. He was a Scottish-born Canadian businessman who became one of the British Empire's foremost builders and philanthropists.
• Lord Strathcona's real name was Donald Smith, later Sir Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.
• He became commissioner, governor and principal shareholder of the Hudson's Bay Company.
• Smith negotiated at Fort Garry with Louis Riel. Smith's offer included land recognition for the Métis, and led to Riel calling a Council of 40 representatives, drawn half-and-half from the Metis and the HBC settlers.
• In 1870, Smith was elected to the provincial legislature for the riding of Winnipeg and St. John. Politicians were allowed to serve in both the provincial and federal parliaments in this period of Manitoba history, and Smith was elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the newly formed riding of Selkirk in early 1871.
• In 1872 Smith was appointed to the first group of members of the Temporary North-West Council, the first governing assembly of the North-West Territories.
• In 1875 he was among the incorporators of the Manitoba Western Railway. He was also a partner in the Red River Transportation Company
• With his first cousin, George Stephen (later Lord Mount Stephen), he co-founded the Canadian Pacific Railway. He's the guy that drove in the last spike for the trans-Canada railway in 1885.
• In 1887 he became President of the Bank of Montreal
• He was involved in (or founded) over 80 trust structures, including the Royal Trust and Montreal Trust.
• Smith was also re-elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1887
• He was Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1896 to 1914.
• He was chairman of Burmah Oil and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
• He purchased the land and then gave $1 million to the City of Montreal to construct and maintain the Royal Victoria Hospital.
• Lord Strathcona also made a major donation to McGill University in Montreal, where he helped establish a school for women in 1884 (Royal Victoria College). He was named Chancellor of McGill in 1888, and he held the post until his death.
• In 1910, Lord Strathcona deposited in trust the sum of $500,000, bearing an annual interest of 4%, to develop citizenship and patriotism, for example the Royal Canadian Army Cadets movement. He is remembered today by the Cadets with the Lord Strathcona Medal.
• When he retired back to Scotland and learned about a curling competition between Canada and Scotland in the early 1900s he commissioned a trophy in his name - the Strathcona Cup.

o   It is a very large, solid silver cup with images of Canada engraved on it  (see photo below of the victorious 2018 Canadian team with the Cup)

o   It is kept under lock and key in a jewelers in Edinburgh and due to its value is only brought out when the competition is held in Scotland.

• He was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame in 1973.

Recognition for Lord Strathcona

• Strathcona Avenue, located in Westmount (a suburb on the island of Montreal) is named in his honour.
• Strathcona is commemorated in Manitoba by the Rural Municipality of Strathcona and by three streets in Winnipeg: Donald Street and Smith Street in the downtown core, and Strathcona Street in the city's West End.
• The Town of Transcona, Manitoba, incorporated in 1912 as a community to support the new railway shops of the Grand Trunk Pacific and National Transcontinental railways, takes half its name from Lord Strathcona, and the other half from the word transcontinental 
• In Alberta, he is commemorated by the Calgary neighbourhood of Strathcona Park, by the Edmonton neighbourhood of Strathcona, and by the municipality of Strathcona County.
• In British Columbia, the Vancouver neighbourhood of Strathcona takes its name from Lord Strathcona School built in 1891, and Mount Sir Donald in Glacier National Park is named after him.
• The Town of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories is named after Donald Smith.
• There is a stained glass window memorializing him in Westminster Abbey.  

Strathcona Park, which was erected by the city of Ottawa in 1907, is dedicated to him.