Rick Hansen
Bicentennial Honorary Degree Recipient
Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)
Rick Hansen is best known for his 1985 to 1987 Man in Motion World Tour, a 26-month, 34-country, 40,000-kilometre wheelchair marathon that raised $26 million and was jumping-off point for more than three decades of activism for inclusion, awareness, and funding for spinal cord injury research and care.
Injured in a car accident at the age of 15 and paralyzed from the waist down, Hansen became an accomplished wheelchair athlete and the first person with a physical disability to earn a Bachelor of Physical Education from the University of British Columbia. In 1988, he founded the Rick Hansen Foundation to undertake accessibility and awareness programs and support organizations and research that improve the lives of people living with spinal cord injuries.
Rick Hansen is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond and Golden Jubilee Medals and the Order of British Columbia. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada and has been inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, the BC Sports Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Paralympic Association Hall of Fame. Hansen has been a torchbearer for at least five different elite athletic events, including the 1988 Winter Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies, and in 2017 was Ambassador to the Invictus Games.