Having spent over half a century in the world of sport, and people with disabilities, former Golden Bears and Pandas Athletic Director, and founding President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Dr. Robert Steadward received the highest level of the Order of Canada on Wednesday, as he was promoted to Companion to the Order of Canada.

The Companion to the Order of Canada is awarded to those Canadians who have demonstrated the highest degree of merit to Canada and humanity, on the national or international scene.

"To be deemed worthy of this distinguished recognition, is to also pay homage to the other volunteer architects of the Paralympic Movement and to the thousands of Paralympian's worldwide, along with my wife, Laura, my daughters Tommi Lynn and Bobbi Jo, and our extended family, and friends," said Steadward. "These diehard advocates have selflessly demonstrated their encouragement, love, and support during my 50 years of endeavour that has culminated in the advancement and overwhelming success of what has become one of the largest sporting movements in the world today."

Appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1999, Steadward's work with people with disabilities is astounding.

Bob came to the University of Alberta in 1964, where he competed for the Golden Bears Track and Field team as a long jumper and a sprinter. While a student in physical education, he became involved with the creation and operation of programs for athletes with disability and this interest soon became a driving force in his career. Dr. Steadward is the Founder of The Steadward Centre for Personal & Physical Achievement, a multi-disability sport, fitness, lifestyle and research facility situated on the campus of the University of Alberta where Dr. Steadward is now a Professor Emeritus.

From 1985 to 1989, Bob served as the Chair of the Department of Athletics and as President of the Alberta Universities Athletic Association.

Among his many volunteer roles, he is the Honorary President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the second largest sport organization in the world, which he served as founding President from 1989 to 2001, the latter two years of which he was also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Within the IOC, Dr. Steadward has served on the International Olympic Truce Foundation, the Coordination Commission for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Beijing 2008), and the IOC Sport and Environment Commission.



"As a Professor at the University of Alberta and Director of The Steadward Centre for People with a Disability, I became faithful to the goal of achieving universal awareness and improvement of life for people of disability," continued Steadward. "Over time, this goal expanded to the international world of sport and the aspirations of Paralympians everywhere whose dreams were obscured by the cloud of unequal recognition. So, we got to work on our aims and ambitions, and I like to think we were the instruments of change; we revolutionized the status quo; and we crushed the barriers. Amid adamantine efforts for the future, we can confidently claim that we changed the world of sport forever."

Dr. Steadward was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Edmonton Sports Hall of fame in 1996. He was also inducted onto the University of Alberta's Sports Wall of Fame in 2002, and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.