Vancouver community leader, advocate & politician
By Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun
Sam Sullivan delivered one of the city’s proudest moments when he accepted the Olympic flag on behalf of Vancouver and the 2010 Games in Turin, performing a series of assiduously practised loops in his wheelchair to ensure the flag would unfurl.
The former mayor battled the cold that day in 2006 and was on the verge of going into a debilitating muscle spasm.
But it wasn’t Sullivan’s electric pirouettes and athleticism that made an impression; it was his message of inclusion.
Sullivan, of course, stood on the shoulders of giants such as Rick Hansen and Terry Fox. But Fox and Hansen were terrific, charismatic athletes with well-marketed causes. They made themselves heroes with ability and determination and became Canadian icons, each with a highly polished public image.
The Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, the Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of State (Sport), and the Honourable Steven Fletcher, Minister of State (Democratic Reform), today announced that Sam Sullivan will be Canada’s Paralympic Ambassador and also announced additional funding for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.
“On behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, I am pleased to announce Sam Sullivan as Canada’s Paralympic Ambassador. I know he will be a great inspiration to our athletes,” said Minister Moore. “I am also pleased to announce that our Government is providing an additional $12 million in funding to deliver and broadcast the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.”