Waneek Horn-Miller

Biography

Waneek Horn-Miller graduated from Carleton University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts. Her water polo prowess led to recognition as Carleton’s Women’s Athlete of the Year for three years from 1994 through 1997.

She played on the Carleton team that won the OUA championship in 1994-1995 and 1995-1996. After graduation, she went on to win a gold medal at the Winnipeg Pan Am Games in 1999 and co-captained the Canadian team during the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.

Horn-Miller has overcome discrimination and violence to emerge as one of North America’s most inspiring Aboriginal speakers.

A Mohawk from the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory near Montreal, she was behind the lines during the Oka crisis in 1990 when she was stabbed by a Canadian soldier’s bayonet. It was a near-death experience that marked a turning point in her life.

Horn-Miller, who retired as an athlete in 2008, is the host of her own health and wellness show on the ATPN network and tours the country as a motivational speaker. She works to mend the dysfunctional relationship between native and non-native communities through social and political change.

She is also an ambassador for Manitobah Mukluks, the world-famous Canadian Aboriginal footwear brand that has been worn by well-known models and actors.

The Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity recently named her one of Canada’s most influential women in sport.

Horn-Miller was the assistant chef de mission for Team Canada at the 2015 Pan Am Games.

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