Moving Forward

In April 1980, with her high school graduation just around the corner, Colette Bourgonje was a small-town girl with big dreams. Her family’s home in Porcupine Plain, Saskatchewan was already filled with her medals, trophies, and records of success in track and field, basketball, volleyball, and badminton. She had attracted attention from university coaches and was on the road to becoming a world-class athlete. Then a car accident changed her life – forever. Before long, Colette had come to terms with her new reality as a paraplegic and had set her sights on new dreams. In 1984, she became the first disabled student to graduate from the College of Physical Education at the University of Saskatchewan and the first female in a wheelchair to graduate in Physical Education from a Canadian university. At age 30, she competed in France at her first Paralympic Games. During the next two decades, she travelled the world and became one of Canada’s most successful disabled athletes – a 10-time Paralympian, mentor, teacher, and role model in sport and in life.