The Canadian Sports Hall of Fame has announced its class of 2024 and among the nine new members are two athletes with ties to Vancouver Island.
Alex Nelson, a member of the Musgamaqw-Dzawada’enuxw First Nation and graduate of the University of Victoria, will be inducted as a builder and will play a central role in improving opportunities for Indigenous athletes.
The Order of Sportestablished by Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, highlights Nelson’s resilience and compassion as a coach, mentor and administrator.
While at UVic, he joined forces with like-minded students to improve opportunities for Indigenous athletes and co-founded the Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Association of British Columbia in 1989.
Football is his passion and helped him survive his seven years at Alert Bay boarding school and later overcome other obstacles in life.
“Sport was my salvation,” Nelson said.
He was inducted into the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
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Long-distance runner Angela Chalmers is also inducted as an athlete, with the national organization highlighting her commitment to integrity and clean competition in sport.
As a young girl, she moved to Vancouver Island, where she and her brothers and sisters were able to develop an extraordinary competitive spirit in the coastal rainforests, making her one of the best middle-distance runners in the world.
As a member of the Birdtail Sioux First Nation, she was given the name “Dusmanwe” or “Walk Fast Woman” by the Sioux.
This gift took her to the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, where she won a bronze medal in the 3000 metres. She also had the honour of being the Canadian flag bearer at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, winning gold in the 3000 metres at Centennial Stadium.
The nine inductees into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame for 2024 were selected from 237 nominations.
Nelson and Chalmers will receive the Order of Sport at the induction ceremony at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QB, on October 23, 2024.
Since 1955, over 740 people and three horses have been inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
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