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Stabbed by soldier at 1990 Oka Crisis, Mohawk activist went on to achieve Olympic dreams and champion reconciliation as a practice
The next speaker in the Indigenous Speaker Series has reached the pinnacle of athletic success, despite a near-death experience as a young activist.
Through stories from her life’s journey, Mohawk activist and Olympic athlete Waneek Horn-Miller will speak to reconciliation as a practice, not a destination. While her own practice of reconciliation began through her mother’s activism, it really emerged after being severely wounded at the Oka Crisis.
On May 12 at 7 p.m. join us for the It’s Time to Talk: Indigenous Speaker Series, and hear how that experience – and her involvement in sport, the Olympics, and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls – shaped Horn-Miller and her approach to reconciliation today.
“I come from people who have gone through horrific things in history,” she says. “War, death, famine, genocide. How many times did my ancestors want to give up, lay down, and die? But they didn’t. They fought to continue. You have to keep going forward.”
Register to listen, learn, ask questions
It’s Time to Talk is a free, interactive series that seeks to highlight voices of Indigenous artists, writers, activists, and leaders to provide powerful examples of strength and the positive impacts that one individual can have.
The Speaker Series is an opportunity to learn, understand and engage on important issues like homelessness, addiction, intergenerational trauma, and reconciliation. The virtual event will include a question-and-answer session.
To register, please visit our Eventbrite Event Page.
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About Waneek Horn-Miller
Throughout her life, Waneek Horn-Miller has endured pain and sacrifice. But her commitment and her strength has also made her one of Canada’s most inspiring figures.
- Oka Crisis
Horn-Miller’s public life began in 1990 at the age of 14. During the Oka Crisis, she protested the planned development of condos and a golf course on traditional Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) lands and burial grounds near Montreal. After nearly 80 days of stand-off with the RCMP and the Canadian Armed Forces, she was stabbed in the chest by a soldier with a bayonet. The image of her wounded, holding her young sister, was shared across national media—and further galvanized Canadians to better understand, and care about, Indigenous issues.
- Athletic Achievements
She was the first woman to be named Carleton University’s Athlete of the Year, which she won four years in a row. After winning MVP of the Canadian Senior Women’s Water Polo National Championships, she became the first Mohawk woman from this country to ever compete in the Olympic games, co-captaining Team Canada in Sydney in 2000. That same year, she appeared on the cover of TIME magazine. This became another iconic image—one of dignity, poise, and power, as opposed to pain and fear—as well as a milestone for Indigenous athletes. She went on to win bronze at the 2001 FINA World Championships and became a torchbearer for the Winter Olympics in Turin. She has been named one of Canada’s most influential women in sport by the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity. In October 2019, she was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, making her the first water polo player honored.
She has gone on to help others achieve in sports and lead healthy, balanced lifestyles. She was Assistant Chef de Mission for Team Canada at the 2015 Pan Am Games. She is also the host of Working It Out Together—a 13-part documentary and healthy-eating initiative with the Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network. Her work here was recognized with a 2015 DAREarts Cultural Award.
- National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Previously, she served as Director of Community Engagement for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. By connecting the commission to victims’ families, as well as the public, she provided a recognizable and trusted face to this important initiative: one that seeks justice, raises awareness of violence against Indigenous women, and furthers the dual tasks of healing and reconciliation.
She has also seen successful in the world of business, serving as an ambassador for Manitobah Mukluks, the world-famous footwear brand.
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