Former gold medallist advises youth and government

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It's a striking moment, captured on a poster of Alwyn Morris holding up an eagle's feather after winning gold at the 1984 Olympics. That was more than a decade ago, but the memory of the Mohawk's kayaking success remains, partly because it was the pinnacle of what turned out to be a 13 year career with the national team, partly because it's one of the greatest moments in the history of Canadian Aboriginal sport.

Morris now works as a special adviser to the federal minister of Natural Resources, in a building just a few kilometres away from Ottawa's Rideau Canoe Club, which he'll visit a few times this summer.

While it was a golden moment in 1984, Morris relives it almost methodically: "I had my day in the sun."

Morris, now 37 years old, was a member of the Canadian canoe and kayak team. He broke new water by becoming one of the first North Americans invited to compete behind the Iron Curtain. Rob Sleeth, the current national team coach, was in Europe when Morris was one of a small handful of Canadians who got those invitations to compete in the Soviet Union, Bulgaria and Romania.

After a few years on separate national team crews, Hugh Fisher had lost his K-2 partner to injury. He teamed up with Morris in 1982. They found a special unity of power and consistency.

"What comes to mind the most is Alwyn's commitment to being the best in the world in a time frame when that was a difficult thing, when I don't think the playing field was very level (because of drug use)," recalls Sleeth. "He kind of trail-blazed for others in Canada. He showed it was possible to be successful and provided the potential for others to follow. I don't think we've ever had someone who was as natural a kayaker as he was."

Fisher and Morris had finished third at the 1983 world championships in the 500 metres but only sixth in the 1,000 in which they fought bigger waves in a less protected outside lane. But both felt the 1,000 was their better race.

In the Olympics, The French were next to the Canadians and considered good "wash riders," able to follow a fast boat. The Germans exploded, as if it were a 500, trying to take the others off their own game plans. With about 200 metres to go, the Canadians kept their power line and went by the Germans as if they were standing still.

On the podium, he waved the eagle feather. It represented his people, but especially his grandfather, Tom Morris ? an athlete, the man he lived with since he was a youngster and a major influence in his life.

"It wasn't something I had given a lot of thought to," Morris later admitted. Every summer since he retired, he has revisited the kayak, for quiet time away from what he calls the pressure-cooker of work.

There's another event, the 1990 Oka Crisis, that left an indelible mark on him. He was living at Kahnawake, near Montreal, where he still lives with his girlfriend. It was July and Morris had just returned as a leader of a group of young athletes at the North American Indigenous Games in Edmonton.

"We had a party planed for all the kids, but we never had the party," recalls Morris. Within a few days of getting home, headlines about guns and soldiers and Indian were hitting papers across the country.

"I've always been a believer that people are genuine and I give them the benefit of the doubt. I want to believe we all have a good heart," says Morris. "But it became apparent while doing things for the community that that changes. Sometimes I still struggle with that.

"The Oka crisis wasn't just about certain groups of people: there were many non-Indians who helped immensely and those people are to be recognized, but human nature brought out ugly things. There was an explosion of emotions and (people) became less gentle as a whole."

Tom Morris never got to see his grandson's day in the sun. He died in 1984, when Alwyn was world-ranked but had yet to win a medal at a major championship. When Morris won Olympic gold, he believes his grandfather was on the pdium with him.

"I think he was certainly there in spirit," he says. And he was there in 1985 when Morris received the Order of Canada.