Curling Canada approved a number of changes at their Annual Congress ©Curling Canada

Expansion of the men’s and women’s National Championships and the introduction of new under-18 tournament for boys and girls were among changes approved at Curling Canada’s Annual Congress in Cornwall in Ontario.

From the 2017-2018 season, the Tim Hortons Brier and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts - the top-level domestic competitions for men and women respectively - will feature 16 teams rather than the usual 12.

The format of the events, where the winning teams go on to represent Canada at the World Championship, has also been altered as a result of the change.

The teams will be split into two groups of eight, with the top four teams from each pool then advancing to a championship pool, where the play-off sides will then be determined.

The 16 sides will be made up of the champions of Curling Canada’s 14 Member Associations, the defending winners, who compete as "Team Canada", and the highest-ranked team on the Canadian Team Ranking System.

Curling Canada also agreed to add an Under-18 Boys and Girls Championships at the start of the 2017- 2018 campaign.

The event is set to debut in the spring of 2017 following the Canadian Junior Championships, due to take place in Esquimalt in January of the same year.

Hugh Avery left will be replaced by Peter Inch as chair of the Board of Governors for the upcoming campaign ©Curling Canada
Hugh Avery left will be replaced by Peter Inch as chair of the Board of Governors for the upcoming campaign ©Curling Canada

“The introduction of a formal Under-18 National Championship is a key element in our long-term athlete development plan,” said Gerry Peckham, director of high performance for Curling Canada.

“We already have some amazing athletes in that age group who are succeeding on the national and world stage, but we want to keep growing the competitive opportunities for our younger athletes to help them in their progression to the high-performance level.”

John Shea of Ottawa and Angela Hodgson of Charlottetown were added to the Curling Canada Board of Governors, which will be led from now until 2017 by Peter Inch.

Inch replaces Hugh Avery of Halifax as chair, while Cindy Maddock has also departed.

“I have big shoes to fill, but I’m looking forward to the 2016-17 season and continuing to work with our operational staff and our Member Associations to build our sport in Canada,” said Inch.

“We had five extremely productive days of meetings in Cornwall and I know everyone went home excited about what we accomplished and the opportunities that are ahead of us.”