(The Stittsville community came out on April 4th to celebrate Collinda Joseph and her Wheelchair Curling team’s recent Gold medal win at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics Games. Collinda proudly displays her gold medal alongside her husband, Euan, and her two daughters, Sara and Hanna at the Stittsville community celebration. Photos: Stittsville Central)
April 4th, 2026 was proclaimed as Collinda Joseph Day by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe; a day of honour to celebrate Collinda as a significant recognition for her achievements of capturing a Gold medal at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics Games in wheelchair curling. Councillor Glen Gower issued the official proclamation in the absence of the Mayor.
In addition to the proclamation, Councillor Gower also announced that he is looking for an opportunity to name a street in Collinda’s honour. It’s become a tradition to recognize Stittsville athletes who have significant success on the world stage with commemorations, including wrestler Erica Wiebe (2016), and figure skaters Jack Fan and Katie Xu (2018).
The community celebrated this special day with Collinda and her family at a reception held at the CARDELREC Recreation Complex – Goulbourn. Collinda 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.
Congratulatory certificates were presented by Carleton MPP, George Darouze, on behalf of Premier Ford and himself to show their gratitude and recognize the achievements of Collinda and the wheelchair curling team.
The skill, resolve and teamwork shown by Collinda and her team members – Mark Ideson, Jon Thurston, Ina Forrest and Gil Dash – at the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, saw the team undefeated in every game played; ensuring their success towards winning the Gold medal.
It was on Saturday, March 14, that the Canadian Paralympic Wheelchair Curling team, nicknamed the ‘cardiac Canadians’ for consistently keeping Canadians on the edge of their seats, faced China in the gold medal match and emerged victorious. Team Canada was buoyed by their early victories. Collinda shared, “We knew that we could beat some of the best in the world. It was just a matter of lining up the right shots!” The shots definitely lined up well!
Residents came out to congratulate Collinda, see her Gold medal firsthand, grab an autograph and to hear about her experience of competing at the Paralympics. Collinda said, “We are so happy with how we played. It’s an honour to attend the Paralympics, but to show up and do as well as we did is an incredible reward for all the work the team has put into preparing for these games.” “At times, the crowd was cheering so loud, we couldn’t hear each other from end to end!”
Stittsville residents congratulate you, Collinda, and look forward to cheering you on at the 2030 Paralympic Winter Games from March 1–10 in the French Alps of France.
Collinda’s early career highlights include her first provincial championship win in 2009 and her first Ontario title as a skip in 2016. She also works as the Manager of Standards Development and Research with Accessibility Standards Canada and is a volunteer board member with Abilities Centre Ottawa.
It was during a high school French exchange to France in 1983 that Collinda sustained a spinal cord injury in a train derailment. When she was able, she initially played wheelchair basketball and is a fan of the Toronto Raptors. Since the 1992-93 inaugural season, her family have been season ticket holders for the Ottawa Senators.
Well done lady!