Cara Currie Hall
Multisport Builder- Inducted 2023
Cara Currie Hall is one of Canada’s Premier Sport Builders who dedicated her life to advocating for the recognition and inclusion of indigenous peoples and women in sport provincially, nationally, and internationally.
Her leadership legacy includes being the founding President of the Indigenous Sport Council of Alberta, the Vice Chair of the Aboriginal Sport Circle, board member of the Alberta Sport, Recreation Parks and Wildlife Foundation, the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport and Physical Activity, and both Vice President and President of WIN Sport International.
Advocating turned into leadership when Currie Hall helped lead negotiations to secure funding for indigenous sports organizations and the North American indigenous Games in perpetuity. She continues negotiating with legislators for the ongoing funding of sport, the integrity of sport, and ensuring our kids are given fair and equal opportunity. When she was called about this award, she shared that while on the ASRPWF Board she made the motion to allocate one million dollars to the Alberta Sport Hall of Fame.
She supported Special Olympics Athletes to be included as medal sports of the North American Indigenous Games. Currie Hall was an international guest of the Kennedy Schriver Special Olympics International Winter and Summer Games where she is featured in a documentary they produced on indigenous peoples in sport. Cara was recruited by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games in 1996 for the Centennial Olympic Games to be a director in the Olympic Youth Camp which had 500 youth from 196 countries participating.
She is the founder of the National Aboriginal Coaching School, hosted the first World WIN Sport Congress, and was instrumental in the successful execution of the 2017 WIN Games that were hosted in the Treaty Six Territory. The World Indigenous Nations Games were the first of its kind to bring indigenous peoples from around the world to compete in thousands of years old traditional indigenous games and contemporary sports.
Cara has been the indigenous voice at many assemblies in the nation and around the world including the United Nations, International Olympic Committee Women in Sport Conference in Paris, France, at the Women Sport International Conference in Nambia, Africa, at the Pre Olympic Scientific Conference in Melbourne, Australia.
She says her faith is the foundation upon which she led from. Knowing that you are born for a purpose drives you from a broader perspective. We recognized that our time had arrived and now was the time to take advantage of the opportunity to lead and build. As indigenous peoples we know we are making decisions today for seven generations so we must be clear in our mission and vision. I think that the work we started 30 years ago will continue for many generations and I welcome the new younger leaders who will carry the torch forward.
Cara is a member of the Maskwacis Cree, is married to Ken Hall and with their daughter Faith reside in Bismarck, North Dakota.
“This award belongs to all the people I represent and I humbly accept it.
