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By Martin Cleary, Keiran Gorsky & Dan Plouffe
Sport has been the driving force behind the life of Collinda Joseph and she has approached it from two totally different perspectives.
As a young teenager, she welcomed sport into her life and considered it an important part of her overall development. She was a member of the Nepean-Ottawa Diving Club and saw her dedication and athletic talents earn her an Ontario youth diving championship medal.
But as she was exiting her teen years, the Stittsville resident saw her life shockingly change in an instant. She had no chance to respond or fight back. All she could do was accept the consequences.
During an educational trip in France with a group of Canadian high school students looking to improve their French language skills, the express train that was carrying them from Nice to Paris derailed near Avignon at 1:28 a.m. on July 26, 1983.
Four young women were killed and Joseph was one of 24 students who suffered a variety of injuries as a result of a collapsed axle in one of the rear cars. The train was carrying 700 passengers and travelling at 137 kilometres an hour.
According to a United Press International story, most of the injured were in the rear cars, which were thrown off the tracks. Vinyl-covered bunk beds were dislodged from their brackets and crashed through the roof of the train car.
Joseph suffered a spinal cord injury, which left her paralyzed from the waist down. The traumatic experience directed Joseph down a road that was filled with uncertainties.
“Her intensity and vitality changed. Same for her enthusiasm,” veteran Toronto sportswriter David Grossman wrote in a feature story for Canadian Sport Institute Ontario.
“Life had become different and quite challenging. There were periods of depression, apathy and misery. Trying to cope with the reality of what had happened required some time.”
During that time, there was support, comfort and advice. But a visit to an Ottawa rehabilitation centre for a meeting with a recreational therapist greatly helped Joseph turn the corner. And when she rounded that psychological bend, she was staring another sports opportunity right in the face.
Sport therapy became a vital part of her regrowth and redevelopment to complement various other aspects of learning to live in a wheelchair.
Joseph’s desire to live an energetic life was on the rebound and adaptive sports would be her new avenue to a productive life.
Academically, Joseph went on to receive her B.A. in political science from Carleton University in 1989 followed by a public relations diploma from Algonquin College. Athletically, she rolled her wheelchair onto the basketball court for 15 gruelling seasons until she retired, when the enjoyment had disappeared.
Retiring from wheelchair basketball but unwilling to exit the sports world, Joseph attended a Give It a Go wheelchair curling session, which was organized by her rehabilitation clinic.
Joseph took to wheelchair curling like iron filings to a magnet in 2006, which was the same year her new sport made its debut at the Torino Winter Paralympics. It seemed like the perfect sport for her as it had the right combination of team and individual aspects.
And 20 years later, after thousands of practice hours, travelling and dedication, the manager of Standards Development and Research within Accessibility Standards Canada is on the verge of winning her second Paralympic Winter Games medal.
But this time, it could be a gold medal.
Playing the lead position, Joseph continued her steady play and helped Canada conclude the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic wheelchair curling mixed team round-robin on Thursday with an unprecedented perfect 9-0 record.
It was a record-smashing day as Canada became the first team in Paralympic history to complete the wheelchair curling mixed team’s round-robin without a single loss against nine wins.
The Canadian team of Joseph, second Ina Forrest, third Jon Thurston, skip Mark Ideson and alternate Gilbert Dash maintained its impressive shot-making by defeating South Korea 6-3 and the United States of America 7-3 in only seven ends.
“It’s totally amazing,” Joseph said via the Canadian Paralympic Committee about the unbeaten mark for her team, which has stayed calm through the most critical moments of their matches.
“I think you need that (lightness),” she noted after her team’s first contest on Thursday against Korea. “There’s a lot of pressure in these games when we’re playing an opponent like that who is super strong and really tough.
“I feel like you need to get the lighter side of things just so you can get to lower your heart rate and feeling a little more relaxed.”
Joseph finished the nine-game preliminary round with a 73 per cent accuracy shooting record for her draws and take-outs. In her games against South Korea and the U.S.A, she had respective accuracy scores of 80 per cent and 72 per cent.
On Friday, Canada is scheduled to have a rematch with South Korea in its semifinal at 5:05 a.m. (EDT), while China is expected to take on Sweden in the other final-four match. The bronze-medal game for the two losing teams in the semifinals is slated for Friday night.
The gold and silver medals will be decided Saturday at 1:35 p.m. (ET).
Canada is the only country to win a wheelchair curling mixed team medal at every Paralympic Winter Games, since it was introduced two decades ago.
In her first Paralympics, Joseph was a member of Canada’s bronze-medal winning team in Beijing in 2022. It was a totally different experience for her as the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t allow spectators, the athletes ate meals and talked surrounded by plastic partitions and she only played in one match.
But this time around, Joseph has been a full contributing on-ice team member, competing in seven of the nine round-robin matches against the world’s best wheelchair curlers. A two-time world championship medallist (silver in 2020, bronze in 2025), Joseph is two more wins away from the elusive international competition gold medal.
“When big shots have to happen, we just focus on our process,” Forrest, a five-time Paralympian and one of six Team Canada co-captains, said in a CPC news release.
“When another team makes a shot, you just have to buckle down and make yours. We have a toughness and calmness that we can make the shots when we need to.”
There is no sweeping in wheelchair curling and the athletes must pay strict attention to weight control, ice pathways and tactical precision. The players often talk amongst themselves to stay on top of their games and the Canadian team also can regularly communicate with head coach Mick Lizmore.
Canada has won three gold medals (2006, 2010 and 2014) and a pair of bronze medals (2018 and 2022) at the Paralympic Winter Games.
“You just look up and see everybody cheering and waving the Canadian flag. You can’t feel any more Canadian than that. It definitely gives us an extra lift,” Forrest added.
Canadian Paralympic Committee Foundation Fill the Stands campaign supporting parasport
Besides the 40+ Canadian fans cheering for the wheelchair curling mixed team, there is plenty of support back home as well for the entire 50-athlete Canadian squad now and in the future.
While the Canadian team sits in 14th place in the medal standings with one gold, three silver and six bronze medals entering the final three days of competition, the Canadian Paralympic Committee Foundation has been offering a unique program to support the athletes of today and tomorrow.
By making a donation for a virtual seat purchase in the Fill the Stands campaign, the CPC is creating “a Canada where every person with a disability has the chance to experience the life-changing power of sport,” which helps to build “healthy, inclusive communities where every individual belongs, is valued and can thrive.”
For $25, the Virtual Seat donor will receive a virtual seat to #FillTheStands, share a virtual message with Team Canada, provide opportunities for the next generation and receive a charitable tax receipt.
For $250, the Premium Virtual Seat donor also will receive a message from a Paralympic athlete and help Canadians access sport.
For $2,500, the Virtual VIP Suite donor will receive a customized graphic with your name and company logo, a thank you video from a Paralympic athlete, a Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic pin set and website recognition.
As of Thursday night, 11,531 seats have been purchased and $288,290 raised in the Fill the Stands campaign.
Tournament a treat for World Para Ice Hockey chief medical officer Mia Van Bemmel of Ottawa
From the outside looking in, Olympic and Paralympic season seems to fly by with an impossible efficiency. Venues materialize, soundbites fly over the ocean and everyone is precisely where they need to be.
Of course, the arrival of athletes only marks the end of dress rehearsals. Massive multi-sport events would be impossible without a team of professionals working tirelessly behind the scenes before and after festivities end. One of the most important officials on-site is World Para Ice Hockey chief medical officer (CMO) Mia Van Bemmel.
The University of Ottawa alumna and current president of Sledge Hockey Eastern Ontario (SHEO) is at her third consecutive Paralympics, and her second in this capacity (though she was nominally a medical supervisor in Beijing 2022, Van Bemmel indicated her role was essentially the same).
Most of a CMO’s work actually happens in the days leading up to the competition. Much like she did in Beijing, Van Bemmel was given a tour of playing and medical facilities before players arrived on-site. Due to construction delays, she noted, prior inspections weren’t as thorough as they might have been. She wound up spending considerably longer inspecting the premises and making recommendations to improve accessibility than in 2022.
Van Bemmel is a registered physiotherapist, but much of her work in Italy can be classified as administrative. The Queensway Carleton Hospital leader’s day-to-day largely consists of coordinating with the International Paralympic Committee’s Medical Expert Advisory Group, the on-site medical team in Milano Cortina and each Para Hockey team’s own medical staff.
“My job is to make sure that all three of those parties are on the same page,” explained Van Bemmel, who also ensures that there are always two ambulances at the venue.
Perhaps her most hands-on activity was the mock injury session beforehand. During this exercise, a player fully decked out in equipment and secured into their sledge acts out a simulated injury.
Federation medical staff proceed to demonstrate proper extraction procedure for the benefit of on-site medical professionals who are generally unfamiliar with the specificities of para hockey. The player-actor is removed from their sledge and placed on a spinal board.
“It puts everybody at ease,” Van Bemmel described in conversation with the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Keiran Gorsky. “They know what their role is and what they need to do if ever an event like that occurred.”
Thankfully, no such incidents have occurred as of yet.
Since athletes are so well dispersed across different villages, the Paralympic village in Milano is not at full capacity. This has allowed her to stay among the athletes for the first time in her career.
Van Bemmel has enjoyed the food and coffee from the dining hall and socializing with event staff and volunteers. She has also tried out the Corona “Cero Stress Zones” – dedicated spaces where athletes can decompress in the warmth of the sun.
“It’s like a yurt that’s all windows,” she said. “Almost like a solarium in there. It’s quite nice.”
The only thing Van Bemmel doesn’t have with her is her two dogs, Pippa and Cammie, whom her sister is taking care of for these three weeks. In one of the stranger on-site activations, Coca-Cola has a recreational area where you can get your picture taken and engraved onto a can.
Van Bemmel opted, instead, to immortalize her beloved pointers.
Ottawa Paralympians in action on March 13:
Day 7 Preview: Assistant captain Tyrone Henry seeking to replicate gold medal won by Team Canada & captain Todd Nicholson 20 years ago in Italy
On Friday, Team Canada assistant captain Tyrone Henry will have the chance to secure his place on the Paralympic podium for a third consecutive time when he and the Canadian para ice hockey team take on China in the semifinals.
The 32-year-old defender won silver medals in his first two Paralympics in 2018 and 2022. The last Games in Beijing – featuring lots of time in isolation as COVID lingered, and a 5-0 beatdown at the hands of the four-time reigning Paralympic-champion Team USA – are very much in the rearview mirror.
“The feeling is a lot different,” Henry highlighted in a pre-Games interview with the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Dan Plouffe. “Everybody’s driving for that same goal. We want to make sure that this Games is something special for everybody.”
Henry, who made a 1,000 km round trip to collect his second consecutive Ottawa Sports Awards male athlete of the year honour in early February, is one of three Sledge Hockey of Eastern Ontario products competing for Team Canada alongside Anton Jacobs-Webb and Rob Armstrong.
“Being able to be to represent this city, this country, on the international stage, and having the support of people in Ottawa, it means a lot to me,” Henry underlined. “This is where I got started, in para ice hockey, this is where my foundations are for my whole career, so I appreciate everything the city and the community has given me.”
Henry serves on the SHEO board of directors and is the volunteer coordinator for its intermediate division. The South Carleton High School grad will often also help run para ice hockey events with Abilities Ottawa alongside Canadian Paralympic legend Todd Nicholson, who captained Canada to para ice hockey gold in 2006 – also in Italy, at the Torino Games.
Nicholson and Henry both lost use of their legs in car crashes in their late teens. A happier commonality would be if Henry and Team Canada could also triumph on Italian ice.
“It’d be nice if we could call Italy a place where Canada is known to have success in para ice hockey, but we can’t count our chickens,” Nicholson told Plouffe by phone on Wednesday, adding that he’d love to see a high-drama para ice hockey championship game like the men’s and women’s Olympic hockey finals.
“Obviously I’m hoping for Canada to be successful, but a different medal would be another point of success too,” added the five-time Paralympian from Dunrobin.
Watching the Games from home while very slowly recovery from shoulder surgery, Nicholson feels that Team Canada has handled its opponents fairly well to date. The Canadians downed Slovakia 8-0, Japan 14-0 and Czechia 4-1 in the preliminary round, but he’s concerned that the players have been a little too offensive-minded and that they’ll need to guard against getting caught by teams like China and USA that can break out quickly.
“I think when we get to the semifinals, if they don’t change their style of play, it’s gonna hurt them,” cautioned Nicholson, who was Canada’s opening ceremonies flag bearer in Torino. “Canada’s definitely got the depth and they’ve got the strength and the ability to be able to roll out three full forward lines and a couple sets of defence, and they’ve got the goaltending.
“But so does China, and so does the U.S.”
Twenty years earlier, Team Canada were also underdogs heading into the Torino Paralympics, but Nicholson said team play was the key to Canada’s only para ice hockey gold in eight Paralympics to date – boosted by seven Ottawa-based players.
Henry feels team cohesion is most definitely a strength of the current group as well.
“We’re feeling very confident,” he indicated. “We have a very strong group of guys, led by some great staff and great coaches, so I think this year is very positive and very optimistic.”
Para alpine skiing, curling medal round on tap for frenzied Friday
It’ll be an exciting day for Ottawa Paralympic fans with seven of eight local Paralympians in action.
On top of the para ice hockey trio shooting for their place on the podium, Collinda Joseph will be doing the same with her Canadian wheelchair curling team as they take on South Korea in the morning semifinals.
Canada won Thursday’s preliminary round game over Korea 6-3 and will be after a similar result to advance to Saturday’s gold medal contest. The loser will be back on the ice for the bronze medal match later Friday.
The two-run para alpine men’s giant slalom event will feature three skiers from the capital region.
Alexis Guimond and Brian Rowland will again be in a battle with spring skiing conditions as well as their respective standing and sitting fields, as they seek to avoid another did-not-finish result following DNFs in the downhill and super-G.
Ottawa para alpine ski guide Sierra Smith and Kalle Eriksson (men’s visual impairment) have finished second, third and fourth in their downhill, super-G and alpine combined events and will havenc a chance to return to the podium for a third time in their Paralympic debut.
Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 52 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” column for the Citizen/Sun.
When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Martin can be reached by e-mail at martincleary51@gmail.com and on Twitter @martincleary.
