CBC reporter, curling great Colleen Jones named to Order of Canada

Whether it's been behind a microphone or behind a curling rock, Colleen Jones has always been a trailblazer. 

For more than 40 years, Jones has paved a new way for women in sport and broadcasting with her ability to adapt, endure and pivot — it's allowed her to become a champion on and off the ice. 

The six-time national champion and two-time world champion was announced Thursday as one of 99 new appointees to the Order of Canada, one of the country's highest civilian honours.

"I was surprised. Really surprised. Didn't see it coming," Jones said from her home in Halifax where she works as a reporter  for CBC. "I'm delighted for curling in general because I think it speaks to the power of what curling can bring to other Canadians. The power of sport. I was just doing what I was doing. It's only in hindsight that you realize you carved a small path."

Another Nova Scotia athlete — NHL star Sidney Crosby — was also named to the Order on Thursday.

Jones, 63, grew up in Halifax as one of nine children. They were a curling family and throwing stones started in early life for Jones. 

In 1979, at just 19 years old, she won her first of 16 provincial titles, as well as a silver medal at that year's Canada Games. 

When she was 22, Jones became the youngest skip ever to win a Scotties Tournament of Hearts title when she, alongside her sisters Barbara and Monica and Kay Smith, emerged as champions in the 1982 event in Regina.

Winning would elude Jones for nearly two decades after that first victory, mostly because she shifted her priorities from curling to career, and eventually motherhood. 

Jones became a reporter and broadcaster with CBC in 1986 and two years later joined veterans Don Wittman and Don Duguid on CBC Sports curling