All “Walks” of Life Celebrate Rememberance Day

OTTAWA- Paralympic gold medallist and local Sochi hopeful Marc Dorion (Bourget, Ont.) laid a wreath to honor Canada’s war veterans on behalf of Canadian Paralympic athletes at the national Remembrance Day ceremony this morning in Ottawa.

Dorion joined The Hon. Julian Fantino, canoe/kayak Olympian Michael Tayler Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, Yasir Naqvi, MPP, Ottawa-Centre and hundreds of Canadians who participated in the national Remembrance Day ceremony on Nov. 11, 2013 in Ottawa.  Dorion and Taylor placed poppies on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa as part of the celebration to go along with the wreath laying.

“As a Paralympian training for the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia, it was an honour to be a part of the Remembrance Day ceremony,” said Dorion, a member of Canada’s National Sledge Hockey Team. “Having a grandfather who was a member of the Canadian Air Force, Remembrance Day holds a special place in my heart and I am proud to have had the chance to lay the wreath at the foot of the monument in Ottawa today.”

The Paralympic Games have military roots. It was Dr. Ludwig Guttman who first recognized the rehabilitative power of sport for injured soldiers. What started with one sport, archery, grew into the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948. The Paralympics have since grown to become one of the world’s largest sporting events.

SOURCE Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC)