Stilwell’s gold medal gone. Shenanigans? she wonders
When B.C.’s Liberal government was toppled this summer, not only did Vancouver Island MLA Michelle Stilwell lose her cabinet job, she also lost a priceless personal memento.
Stilwell, one of Canada’s most decorated Paralympic athletes, has been unable to locate a world championship gold medal she had stored in her office as B.C.’s minister of social development.
When her ministerial office was cleared to make way for the new NDP government in July, the box containing her medal and other personal items never arrived at her new suite in the legislature’s opposition wing.
“It’s upsetting because you always, in the back of your mind, wonder: Is there shenanigans?” said Stilwell, MLA for Parksville-Qualicum. “You can’t help but wonder.”
Legislature staff were in charge of moving the boxes once the NDP was sworn into office July 18. NDP MLA Shane Simpson took Stilwell’s office, but so far no one has reported the missing box or gold medal.
“They are priceless,” she said, adding that the medals are only gold-plated, not solid gold.
“Irreplaceable. It’s like when you lose your wedding ring and have to replace it, it’s not the one placed on your finger that day. I will always know, even if they replace it, it’s not the one they put around my neck the day I earned it.”
Stilwell won three gold medals for Canada in the 100, 200 and 800-metre wheelchair races at the International Paralympic Committee Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France, July 2013. She set the world record in the 800-metre race. The gold medals aren’t marked to indicate the race for which they were awarded, meaning Stilwell has no way to know which one has gone missing.
The gold medals were even more remarkable because Stilwell had just been elected as the MLA for Parksville-Qualicum a month earlier, and named caucus chair and parliamentary secretary for healthy living.
Stilwell is a six-time Paralympic gold medallist, nine-time world champion and also holds the wold records in the 100 and 200-metre races, making her one of the most accomplished athletes in the country.
Stilwell said she kept one gold medal in her office to show visitors, who frequently ask to see them. She has another in her constituency office, one in the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and one in the Nanaimo Sports Hall of Fame. But the disappearance has made her reconsider keeping a medal around to share with others.
“I worked very hard to achieve them and put a lot of hours into training in order to accomplish those goals, and I would prefer it is not in the hands of somebody who didn’t earn it,” she said.
“I earned it, it’s mine and I’d like it back.”