Athlete. Advocate. Volunteer. Role Model. Researcher. All words that describe Cindy Ouellet and her various pursuits. Sport has been a driving force throughout her life. It’s taken her on many journeys – one of which will soon come full circle with the Canada Games.

“I have always been very, very active. From a young age, I did a lot of alpine skiing and it was really my goal in life to go to the Olympic Games. When I was 12, I had cancer, so I continued to do sport, but in para sport, and it was really my physio who introduced me to athletics and then wheelchair basketball.”

She competed at the 2005 Canada Games in para athletics, but it was her second Canada Games experience in 2007 that really launched her sporting career and catapulted her towards international wheelchair basketball. 

"The Canada Games are a high level in basketball and I was one of the only girls. That's where I gained a lot of experience, a lot of maturity, and it really was my springboard to Team Canada.  I made the team right away that same year.”

The inclusive experience at the Games made a real impression on the young athlete, with able-bodied athletes and athletes with disabilities competing together for their province or territory and supporting each other off the field of play.

“It was fun to be part of a bigger community. I remember having fun in the Village with people who are now Olympians or former Olympians. Just being included. I think that often you are put a little bit to one side when you are a little younger and you are different, and when you have a disability, then to be at these Games it was like one big team. It was really fun.”

“The Canada Games have an incredible impact on all the young people who take part. In terms of inclusion, you make friends, you make friends for life. We have really memorable experiences. For me, it's been more than 20 years and I still remember the last 30 seconds of my final as if it were yesterday. Then it propels us to a higher platform to be able to represent Canada on the biggest stages.”

Now a six-time Paralympian and a world champion for Canada, Cindy will return to the Canada Games in 2027 in Quebec City. She’s a Board member with the 2027 Host Society, and it holds special significance to host the nation in the city where she grew up.

“For me it's important to take on a real leadership role on the Board of Directors because I think I can bring the ideology of an athlete. I have been to the Canada Games twice, so I remember what it was like, how it felt, what we liked, and now through my sporting experiences over the last 20 years internationally, I really think I can bring another vision.”

“I'm going to be cheering on the athletes. I'm going to go and see all the sports. I'm going to look at it with a little more maturity than before. I'm going to see everything that's going on around the Canada Games, but it's just incredible. Quebec really is a sports city.”

Paying it forward to the next generation is a part of Cindy’s game plan both on and off the basketball court.

“My greatest motivation is to give back to youth and pass on my passion for sport to them, to make them feel and understand that sport is about health and well-being. It's where you make friends, it's where you create memories. You can travel the world through sport, you get to know so many people, and then it becomes your turn to give back to a future generation. So I think it's really a wheel that turns, and it's important for me to be there for young people.”

Beyond basketball and her volunteer work, Cindy is an accomplished musician, a PhD student in neuroscience, and a fierce advocate for fostering an inclusive environment. As an ambassador for Sport’Aide, she actively speaks out against bullying and encourages young people to seek help, drawing from her own experiences.

"I was bullied a lot when I was young because of my situation with my wheelchair and my cancer and everything, and I think that really has no place in sport." 

Cindy lives by the motto ‘Carpe Diem’. It’s a message of resilience she hopes to instill in others.

"We are not what happens to us in life but we are who we choose to be. Every morning we have the chance to wake up and start a new day and really decide who we want to be.”