Carleton University alumni and former water polo varsity athlete Waneek Horn-Miller (Kahnawake, Que., BA, 2000) was one of the six new athletes inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 23.
As a professional athlete, Horn-Miller won gold in the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Man. and became the first Mohawk woman from Canada to compete in the Olympic Games when she co-captained the first Canadian women’s water polo team during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
In addition to being inducted, Horn-Miller also received the inaugural Order of Sport Award.
According to the formal press release, “the Order of Sport Award formally recognizes sport’s role in community building and acknowledges that Canada’s shared value are sports shared values; respect, equality, fairness and openness,” and those who receive it are awarded for carrying those values back into their communities.
For the former athlete, this means advocating for human rights issues and prioritizing sport and wellness in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
During her years as a Raven, Horn-Miller was a three-time athlete of the year from 1994-1997 and won the Ontario University Athletic championship in the 1994/95 and 1995/96 seasons.
Prior to her success in the pool, she overcame her own adversity including being stabbed in the chest by a soldier’s bayonet during the 1990 Oka Crisis.
Overcoming that crucial moment in her life has had a massive impact on the type of athlete and motivational speaker she has become. Most recently, she was invited by the university in September to deliver the annual Scholars at Risk (SAR) keynote lecture focusing on reconciliation between Canada and its Indigenous population.
Thanks to both her career in the pool and advocacy work within Canadian communities, Horn-Miller is recognized by the Canadian Olympic team as “one of Canada’s most influential Native Olympic athletes and an inspiring Native role model.”
Feature image provided.
