Athletes’ Council

The Athletes’ Council is an elected group of current and retired Paralympic athletes (within the past eight years) that serve as the collective voice, advocating the best interests of Canada’s Paralympic athletes and the Paralympic movement within Canada. The Athletes’ Council works to provide input and recommendations from an athlete perspective to the Canadian Paralympic Committee staff, committees and Board of a Directors with respect to decision making at all levels of the organization.

Meet the Council Members

Heidi Peters

Member

In 2022, Heidi Peters and her teammates won the silver medal at the world championships Canada’s best ever international result in the sport. A year later they solidified their spot for the Paralympic Games at a qualifying tournament in Cairo.

In February 2020 she helped Team Canada secure a spot for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo by leading the team in scoring and winning gold at the World ParaVolley final Paralympic qualification tournament in Halifax. In Tokyo, at her second Games, Canada took fourth spot.

Peters has been a member of the team since 2013. She also won bronze at the 2019 and 2015 Parapan Am Games.

In Grade 12, Peters was diagnosed with bone cancer in her left leg. She missed her school year to undergo chemotherapy. Despite treatment the cancer refused to leave, ultimately leading to the amputation of her leg.

During Peters’ recovery at the Edmonton Children’s Hospital, she was introduced to sitting volleyball by national team teammate Jolan Wong who also lost her leg to cancer at a young age.
Nathan Clement

Member

Nathan Clement has re-emerged on the international Para sport stage as a standout in Para cycling, becoming a three-time world champion and Paralympic medallist in the discipline.

At the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, Clement captured silver in the men’s T1 time trial. He followed that performance with a dominant showing at the UCI World Road Championships in Zurich, where he claimed double gold in the time trial and road race.

Clement’s rapid rise in cycling began with a breakthrough 2023 season. He won the world title in the men’s T1 time trial at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, adding bronze in the road race. Later that year, he earned gold in the T1–2 time trial and bronze in the road race at the Parapan American Games.

In 2024, he continued to build momentum on the World Cup circuit, collecting four medals, two silver and two bronze, across six races.

A resident of West Vancouver, Clement made an immediate impact in Para cycling following his debut in 2022, earning double silver at both a World Cup event in Quebec City and the Para Cycling Road World Championships in Baie-Comeau.

Before transitioning to cycling, Clement competed as a Para swimmer, representing Canada at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, where he finished seventh in the 50m butterfly, setting a Canadian record, and 18th in the 50m freestyle. He won his first international medal with bronze in the 50m butterfly at the 2015 Parapan American Games.

Clement’s journey into sport began at age 15, when he took up swimming to regain mobility on his left side following a stroke caused by chicken pox at age two. After retiring from swimming in 2018, a 1,000-kilometre cycling journey through British Columbia in 2020 reignited his competitive drive and set him on a new path in Para cycling.
Collinda Joseph

Member

Collinda Joseph is a Paralympic gold and bronze medallist and a longtime member of Canada’s national wheelchair curling team.

She played a key role at the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games as lead, helping Canada make history with an undefeated round-robin performance and a gold-medal victory over China. She previously earned bronze with Team Canada at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.

Joseph has represented Canada at four of the last six world championships, including serving as lead at the 2025 world championship. After first being invited to national team training camps in 2012, she earned her spot on Team Canada in 2019 and has remained a consistent presence on the national squad.

Her journey in wheelchair curling began in Ottawa, where she discovered the sport through a “Give it a Go” event at the RA Centre. She joined a local team in 2006 and quickly developed her competitive edge, winning her first provincial championship in 2009 and later capturing an Ontario title as a skip in 2016.

Joseph’s path to sport began after a spinal cord injury sustained in a 1983 train derailment while traveling in Europe during a high school exchange. She initially competed in wheelchair basketball before finding her passion in curling.

Off the ice, Joseph is the Manager of Standards Development and Research at Accessibility Standards Canada and serves as a volunteer board member with Abilities Centre Ottawa.
Marissa Papaconstantinou

Member

Marissa Papaconstantinou is a Paralympic medallist and one of Canada’s top Para sprinters.

She delivered a career-best performance at the 2025 Para Athletics World Championships in New Delhi, winning silver in both the 100m and 200m. The result marked her strongest showing on the international stage.

Papaconstantinou competed at her third Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024, finishing fourth in the 200m and seventh in the 100m. She entered the Games in strong form after capturing bronze in both events at the 2023 World Championships, where she also set a personal best of 12.95 seconds in the 100m, her first medal at the event.

She previously reached the podium at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, winning bronze in the 100m in a then-personal best time of 13.07 seconds.

Papaconstantinou has demonstrated resilience throughout her career. In 2019, she set a Canadian record of 13.15 seconds in the 100m, ranking third in the world, before her season was disrupted by injury.

She made her Paralympic debut at just 16 years old at Rio 2016 and had already turned heads a year earlier with strong performances at the 2015 World Championships.

Born without her right foot, Papaconstantinou has been involved in sport from a young age. She began Para athletics at age 11 with the Phoenix Track Club in Scarborough and soon after was fitted with her first running blade, launching a career that continues to build on the world stage.
Christina Picton

Member

Multi-sport athlete Christina Picton made her Paralympic debut at the Beijing 2022 Games, where she competed in four events and reached the top eight in each, including a sixth-place finish in the cross-country sprint. She secured her spot for Beijing after posting three top-five finishes at the 2021-22 season-opening World Cup in Canmore.

Picton’s journey into Para nordic skiing began after years of playing and developing Para ice hockey in Canada. In 2018, she first discovered cross-country skiing through a participant in the “Learn to Sledge” program she facilitates in Port Colborne, Ontario. Her first time on snow was in December 2018, and just weeks later, she competed in her first race.

In 2019, Picton earned provincial team status after accumulating enough race points throughout the season. This led to her attending a prospects training camp in Canmore, where she began pursuing skiing at a higher level. In January 2020, only one year after her first race, Picton travelled to her first international competition in Utah, where she placed third in both the sprint event and middle-distance race. Shortly after, she attended her first World Cup event as a prospect with the national team.

Before skiing, Picton was a trailblazer in Para hockey, playing the sport for 17 years. In 2019, she was one of four women invited to the men’s national Para hockey development camp, where she competed against the United States. From there, she received an invitation to try out for Hockey Canada’s senior men’s national Para ice hockey team, becoming the first female athlete to do so. She was also the captain of Canada’s national women’s Para ice hockey team, helping to grow the sport for future generations.

In 2025, Picton was elected to the Canadian Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Council, where she will advocate for Para athletes across Canada and help shape the future of the Paralympic Movement. She has been involved in Para sport since she was 11 years old and continues to contribute both on and off the field of play.

Picton was born with a congenital deficiency that affected both her legs, leading to her right leg amputation at age 16. She started a graphic design company, Amped Design & Creative, after moving to Canmore in 2021. As a graphic designer, she has contributed to the Para sport community by designing logos for multiple Para sport organizations.
Brianna Hennessy

Member

Brianna Hennessy is a Paralympic silver medallist and one of Canada’s leading Para canoe athletes, while also competing at a high level in wheelchair rugby.

She won silver in the women’s VL2 200m at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, where she also served as Canada’s co-flag bearer at the Closing Ceremony. She followed that performance with another silver medal at the 2025 World Championships.

Hennessy has been a consistent presence on the podium at major international events. She earned three consecutive world championship silvers in the VL2 200m from 2022 to 2024, along with additional medals in the KL1 class, securing multiple quota spots for Canada.

She made her Paralympic debut at Tokyo 2020, finishing fifth in the VL2 and eighth in the KL1, less than two years after taking up the sport. She qualified for the Games with a fourth-place finish at a 2021 World Cup in Hungary.

In addition to Para canoe, Hennessy is an accomplished wheelchair rugby player. She has competed at the provincial level and was the lone Canadian woman to compete in the elite level U.S. Quad Rugby Association for the Tampa Bay Generals.

Hennessy’s journey into Para sport began after a life-changing accident in 2014 left her with a spinal cord injury. Introduced to wheelchair rugby during rehabilitation, she later transitioned into Para canoe after encouragement from a teammate. Training out of the Ottawa River Canoe Club, she quickly rose through the ranks to become a Paralympic medallist.

Off the water, Hennessy works as a senior underwriting analyst and holds a degree in kinesiology and exercise science.
Mélanie Labelle

Member

Mélanie Labelle is a national team wheelchair rugby athlete and advocate, recognized for her leadership in advancing opportunities for women in Para sport.

In 2026, she was named the inaugural recipient of the Prix Parasports Québec at the Gala Femmes d’influence en sport, honouring her impact both on and off the court. That same year, she served as an athlete ambassador at the Défi Sportif AlterGo, Canada’s largest multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities, where she competed at the first Canadian women’s wheelchair rugby championship.

Labelle discovered wheelchair rugby during rehabilitation in 2016 and quickly rose through the ranks. By 2019, she had earned a place on the national team, one of the few women ever selected, and helped Canada capture silver at the Parapan American Games.

Beyond competition, Labelle has played a key role in growing the women’s game as volunteer lead of Canada’s national women’s wheelchair rugby program, while also advocating for greater inclusion and visibility for Paralympic athletes.

Before her injury, Labelle was a competitive acrobatic swing dancer. A training accident left her with limited use of her limbs, ultimately leading her to Para sport, where she has since become a leader and trailblazer.

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