Burris and wife can’t wait to be Canadian
Redblacks’ quarterback has spent his entire pro career playing in Canada
OTTAWA — Henry Burris is best known as a quarterback, No. 3 in Canadian Football League history in most major career passing categories, but he’s also a dad.
That’s why Nicole Burris decided her family had to follow Henry to Ottawa after he signed a free-agent contract to become the face of the Redblacks franchise even though Calgary was the only hometown sons Armand and Barron had known.
The only question was “when.” As it turned out, a moving truck left Calgary at noon on the last day of school in June 2014, and a flight carrying La Famille Burris was in the air by 4 p.m.
“When he was in Hamilton for the two years, we would just come and hang out for the summer,” Nicole says now, referring to Henry’s 2012-13 stint as Tiger-Cats quarterback. “We really enjoyed (nearby) Burlington and being there, but I think back to it and I can’t believe that we actually did that.
“I know people do that all the time, but it really is not optimal, especially when you have young kids. And I’m raising young boys, and boys need their father. We made a family to be together, we didn’t make a family to be apart, so to have this opportunity to be in a place that gives us everything that we want and gives our family an opportunity to be together and gives us an opportunity to make a home here in Canada, I don’t even have the words for it.”
The Burrises hope feelings of “home” will soon rise a notch.
Originally from Oklahoma and Maryland, Henry and Nicole have completed applications and are awaiting word on whether they can join Canadian-born Armand, 9, and Barron, 6, as citizens.
“We already feel Canadian, as it is,” says Nicole, a full-time resident of Canada since 2005. “We’ve been living here, we’ve had our kids here, we’ve had some friends that have turned into family. We consider them our Canadian parents. So, naturally, if we’ve got Canadian parents, if we’ve got Canadian kids, it’s time for us to make this our home.
“We love Canada, Canada has been really great to us. We’ve spent our entire adult life up here. We just don’t see ourselves leaving.”
Henry’s application included letters of recommendation from CFL teams the 40-year-old has played for since 1997, including the Calgary Stampeders, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Hamilton Tiger- Cats and Redblacks.
Only a few months ago, he publicly expressed frustration with a seeming lack of progress after spending three years and $7,000 on legal fees only to hear that Immigration and Citizenship Canada didn’t consider CFL players full-time employees.
Following much hullabaloo, however, a spokesman said the ministry would work with Burris to sort out his status.
“I had to get a big, brown paper bag and kidnap her and bring her to Canada, to this place where it’s minus-30, minus-40 degrees in the winter,” he says now. “Once we had kids, it was kind of an idea that crept into our minds.”
At 40, Henry is ancient by pro football standards, and his Redblacks contract expires after the 2016 season. But he intends to play it out and then determine what comes next, based partly on how he feels physically.
Nicole met Henry when they were both at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she was a scholarship lacrosse player and Henry quarterbacked the Owls football team. One thing that attracted her to him was, even though Henry wanted to be a professional athlete, he was also thinking “what if.”
Henry’s football salary, generous by CFL standards at more than $ 400,000 annually in recent years, has funded investments in Alberta, including an ownership stake in a Calgary restaurant. That leads to the question of where they might live after he hangs up his jersey.
They say they’ve loved Ottawa. It’s relatively close to relatives in the northeast United States, and being in Ontario enhances Henry’s post-football media career opportunities.
Stability, especially for Armand and Barron, is the priority.
“Our kids have been really great about adapting to the craziness of this business,” Nicole says, “and I think at this point we’re kind of in a place where we owe them a little something to tell them thank you for being and adjusting and being the great, well-adjusted kids that they are. ‘Here’s our gift to you.’”