Former Eston resident receives appointment by Governor-General
By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com
Dr. Robert Steadward of Edmonton was the sole person appointed this year as a Companion of Canada’s Order of Canada. Though Robert, a disability sports advocate, was honoured with the New Year’s appointment to the Order of Canada, people from Eston may recognize him as someone who grew up in Eston, Saskatchewan.
Robert attended elementary school in Eston and high school until Grade 10, when he finished high school at Luther College in Regina, where he graduated in 1964. He had three sisters and his father was the Post Master in Eston, and his mother was a secretary at the RM of Snipe Lake.
He was athletic throughout his life, participating in baseball, hockey, basketball and track and field, and was on the football team at Luther College, winning athletic awards for his success in multiple sports. He was also on the University of Alberta track team while attending university. All of these activities marked the beginning of Robert’s future endeavours.
The Governor-General said the order recognizes “people whose service shapes our society, whose innovations ignite our imaginations and whose compassion unites our communities.”
“When you receive that kind of connection to the Governor-General, you wonder what I ever did to be considered to receive such an honour in this country,” Robert humbly said. However, he obviously has been very deserving of this honour.
Robert is instrumental in creating the modern Paralympic Games and served from 1989 to 2001 as the International Paralympic Committee’s founding president. Robert was honoured for his lifelong dedication to propelling the Paralympic movement forward globally, Governor-General Payette explained. He endeavoured to provide equal opportunities for athletes with disabilities, to compete on the world stage along with their Olympian counterparts.
Robert loves to boast about these young athletes’ unbelievable achievements and their ability to change the world. He acknowledged all the volunteers of the Paralympic Movement, along with his wife and family. They have selflessly offered their support during his 50 years of efforts, all of which have resulted in one of the largest sporting movements in the world.
This Professor at the University of Alberta and Director of The Steadward Centre for People with a Disability began a journey that removed barriers and forever changed the world of sport. Robert was both a visionary and a pioneer in this movement.
“When I came to university, I had an opportunity to meet two or three people who were using wheelchairs,” Robert said. They asked Robert if he would help them start up a wheelchair basketball team, and that’s how Robert’s journey began.
Having been a track athlete himself, Robert’s work started in 1967 when he coached several wheelchair sports in Edmonton and helped organize Canada’s first wheelchair sport national championships in 1968. “I started coaching very early on, and they became my family for the rest of my life,” Robert said. “I saw their struggles and decided to do further study in dealing with disability.”
Robert’s journey encompassed fifty years and consolidated international disability sports organizations in over 200 countries. But Robert had other interests which he was concerned about.
“I was also concerned with third world countries and the challenges they faced dealing with living conditions and how people with disabilities were treated in those countries,” Robert said. He strived to provide better opportunities so they could lead better lives.
This former resident of Eston still goes back to his home town two or three times a year to visit friends. “That’s an important part of my life,” he says. “My character, personality and values were all established because of my upbringing. That was my foundation.”
“Successful people are always those people who are supported by a team. You can’t leave a legacy by doing it all alone,” Robert concluded.
