Born in Biggar, Saskatchewan, Schmirler learned curling at high school. Her first major successes in the sport came in 1991, when she won the provincial championships as the skip (captain) of her team.
Only two years later, in 1993, Schmirler's team also won the Canadian Championships, and were sent out to the World Championships, which they won. They repeated those performances in 1994 and 1997.
At the 1998 Winter Olympics, curling was first contested as an Olympic sport, after having been a demonstration sport for a number of times. Skipping the Canadian team, Schmirler won the Olympic gold medal, beating the surprising Danish team in the final.
The year after her Olympic triumph, Schmirler was diagnosed with cancer, of which she died in March 2000, aged 36.