Kent Hehr calls it the day “the music stopped.”
It was October 1991, and he was a talented college athlete with plenty of friends in his hometown of Calgary. He had, by his own admission, benefited from every advantage his school-teacher parents could provide and “things just tended to work out for me.”
But then, just shy of his 22nd birthday, a bullet struck Hehr in the upper spine during a drive-by shooting, leaving him paralyzed and facing a long recovery.
“Nothing I had done in my life up to that date had prepared me for that day,” Hehr told Vassy Kapelos as the two shared a meal in downtown Ottawa.
The interview is part of a new West Block segment we’re calling Food for Thought.
“I wouldn’t have chosen to have a C5 quadriplegic, but now that I’ve been through it, I don’t think I’d choose not to have it either,” Hehr said.
“The experience has been wonderful, and has taught me more about myself, about sharing your life with people, about understanding the struggles of other people.”
In the year after the shooting, Hehr said he felt somewhat aimless but ultimately decided to go back to school, eventually earning a law degree. The now-minister credits the support of friends and family, a reliable Canadian social safety net and the quality health care he received for his long-term success.
Hehr said many of his experiences, both before and after he was shot, are relevant to his new role as minister of sport and persons with disabilities. He was shuffled out of the veterans affairs file in late August in favour of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Seamus O’Regan in a move that many on Parliament Hill characterized as a demotion.
Hehr disagrees with that assessment.
“It’s a thrill, it marries two parts of my life,” he said of the portfolio, noting that organized sport plays a huge role in many communities across Canada and that one in seven Canadians has a disability.
“The responsibilities of this ministry — playing a meaningful role in moving a healthy society forward, as well a more fair society forward — I would argue that this is a very important ministry.”
READ MORE: Kent Hehr as new sports minister could help Calgary in possible Olympic bid
Hehr acknowledged that his status as a Liberal cabinet minister means he isn’t always the most popular politician in his home province of Alberta, but added that it’s “getting easier.” The recent cancellation of the Energy East pipeline has many people in Alberta pointing fingers directly at Ottawa.
“You go there, and many times (Albertans) want to talk … sometimes they want to share their concerns,” he said. “As long as they’re talking to me.”
Watch the full interview with Kent Hehr above, and don’t miss the extended version.