Five athletes have been elected to the Canadian Paralympic Athletes’ Council, the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) announced on June 29, 2026. Voting was conducted over the past four weeks by athletes who competed in any of the last four Paralympic Games (2024, 2022, 2020, and 2018). At the June announcement, Gold Medallist Collinda Joseph of Stittsville was elected as a member of Canadian Paralympic Athletes’ Council.
The elected athletes are:
- Nathan Clement (Para cycling)
- Mélanie Labelle (wheelchair rugby)
- Marissa Papaconstantinou (Para athletics)
- Brianna Hennessy (Para canoe)
- Collinda Joseph (wheelchair curling)
The elected athletes join current council members Heidi Peters (sitting volleyball) and Christina Picton (Para nordic skiing) who are halfway through their four-year terms.
Collinda Joseph has been a member of Canada’s wheelchair curling team at four of the last six world championships including as lead at the 2025 worlds. She was also part of the squad that took bronze at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games and gold at the 2026 Games.
She was a key part of Canada’s wheelchair curling team’s run at the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games playing lead. The squad made history becoming the only team to go undefeated in round-robin play and capturing a gold medal with a win over China.
She first got involved in wheelchair curling when her rehab centre held a ‘Give it a Go’ event at the RA Centre in Ottawa. She immediately enjoyed the sport but there wasn’t a team she could play on until a spot opened on a team in Ottawa the following winter in 2006. She jumped on the opportunity and hasn’t looked back since then.
Collinda has been invited to national team training camps since 2012 and her first selection to Team Canada was in 2019. She has been part of the team ever since and has now been named to her first Paralympic team.
Her early career highlights include her first provincial championship win in 2009 and her first Ontario title as a skip in 2016.
Collinda also works as the Manager of Standards Development and Research with Accessibility Standards Canada and is a volunteer board member with Abilities Centre Ottawa.
In 1983, Collinda was taking a French language night school course for a high school credit and part of that course was the opportunity to travel to France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland in the summer. Near the end of the trip the group was travelling by train from Nice to Paris and the train derailed and she sustained a spinal cord injury in the accident.
The council will soon elect a new chair and vice-chair, who will sit on the CPC Board of Directors as athlete representatives.
The Canadian Paralympic Athletes’ Council is an elected group of current and retired Paralympic athletes who advocate for the best interests of Canada’s Paralympians and the Paralympic Movement in Canada.
For more information on the Athletes’ Council, please visit Paralympic.ca/athletes/athletes-council.