November 25, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cMom had been fighting and trying to beat back cancer over the last three years or so,\u201d Saunders said. \u201cLate this morning, while looking out on the ocean from her favourite spot in Maders Cove, with my Dad, brother and myself beside her, Mom passed away.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease think of your favourite Colleen Jones moment, cherish it. Hurry and love hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Halifax native, Jones was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2022. She filed her final report for the CBC a year later before retiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cA titan in every sense of the word \u2014 from sport to life,\u201d said CBC Sports executive director Chris Wilson.<\/p>\n
Jones won her first Canadian women\u2019s curling championship in 1982. Just 22 at the time, she became the youngest skip to win the competition.<\/p>\n
Her competitive curling career slowed in the years that followed as she focused on work and family. She joined the CBC Nova Scotia newsroom in 1986 and became Halifax\u2019s first female sports anchor. <\/p>\n
In 1989, Jones moved to CBC Newsworld to present weather, sports, and slice-of-life stories that allowed her to shine a light on different subject matter. She returned to CBC Nova Scotia in 2012. <\/p>\n
Her second Scotties Tournament of Hearts title came in 1999. Jones\u2019s team of Kim Kelly, Mary-Anne Arsenault and Nancy Delahunt followed with four straight titles from 2001-04.<\/p>\n
Jones, who also won women\u2019s world titles in 2001 and \u201904, was inducted into Canada\u2019s Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many moments that sport has given me,\u201d she told The Canadian Press at her induction. \u201cMy life is better for it. Part of it is the friendships, part of it is the discipline, part of it is that joy of winning.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of it is that hatred of failing that you went through. All of that has combined to make you who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
As engaging and colourful as an athlete comes, Jones would effortlessly fill a reporter\u2019s notebook with quotes. She was just as comfortable on the air with her breezy, whimsical style, offering depth to broadcast reports. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think bringing backyard stories to the front yard and seeing the everyday heroes and everyday people is so important because there\u2019s good people out there doing amazing things,\u201d she said in 2023 on her farewell appearance on CBC Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n
Jones remained involved in curling in her later years. <\/p>\n
She played at the Scotties in 2013, won a world women\u2019s senior title in 2017 and competed in mixed doubles and mixed team events in recent seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the most natural and awesome feeling you can have,\u201d she said before the Nova Scotia women\u2019s playdowns in 2020. \u201cIt\u2019s a thrill to still chase it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fifth of nine children, Jones recalled the roaring game being a frequent topic of discussion during her younger years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were always talking curling around our huge kitchen table that doubled as eating, homework and curling talk,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Jones and her siblings weren\u2019t allowed to go to the local curling club until age 14. Once there, she felt it was love at first throw. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have been a Saturday morning, it probably was 7 a.m., I\u2019d already been practising my slide on the kitchen floor,\u201d she recalled in an interview last September. \u201cSo I was quite confident I could do it with the electrical tape I was using on my sneaker as a slider. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was right. It was just an automatic idea that I could do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones also served as a curling commentator throughout her career and covered 11 Olympic Games for the CBC. <\/p>\n
She\u2019d bring work gear along when she played at major championships and would often shift into broadcaster mode if her team was eliminated. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was just very much in the thick of things, still playing against everybody, talking to everybody and learning from everybody,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Longtime CBC Sports colleague Scott Russell said Jones was \u201call about passion,\u201d whether it was on the ice or on the microphone. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll tell you there\u2019s no greater champion in the sport of curling than Colleen Jones,\u201d he said last September. \u201cAnd she is an absolutely iconic Canadian broadcaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones and reporter Devin Heroux co-hosted \u201cThat Curling Show\u201d on the CBC from 2021-24. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe made people believe that something wonderful was about to happen,\u201d Heroux said. \u201cAnd when you believed that, you felt like you were invincible with Colleen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones was also involved in coaching in recent years. She was on the bench at the Montana\u2019s Brier last March to guide the Nova Scotia team that included her son, Luke, at vice-skip. <\/p>\n
Jones is also survived by her husband Scott Saunders, and another son, Zach. <\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2025.<\/p>\n
Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n