Letter from Rick Hansen reflecting on first full year of the Alberta SCI Initiative

Dear Friends,


The Man In Motion World Tour was first inspired by the dream that things could and would be different for people with disabilities. The Alberta Spinal Cord Injury Solutions Alliance (“Alliance”) supports this dream, and since 2007 has worked to make a difference for the approximately 4000 Albertans who live with a spinal cord injury.

How the Alberta SCI Initiative Began

The Alberta SCI Initiative is rooted in a number of pan-Canadian initiatives dating from 2003:

• In 2003, the Government of Canada through Western Economic Diversification invested $15 million over a seven year period in the Rick Hansen SCI Leadership Fund.  This fund was dedicated to articulation of a vision; to bringing together people with SCI, researchers and service providers; all aligned to identify and implement breakthrough solutions that focus on accelerating quality of life of people with SCI

• Two new national initiatives were created and supported by this Leadership Fund: the National SCI Solutions Alliance and the SCI Translational Research Network - later combining to become the SCI Solutions Network
• Through the leadership of the Rick Hansen Foundation, $107 million in new funding has been generated for related strategy-driven initiatives from the Canadian public, government, granting agencies and individual donors.

In 2007, 'Going Forward Together' linked the RHF and Alberta SCI Stakeholders through a 20th Anniversary Legacy Initiative, together generating the Alberta Proposal resulting in the Alberta Contribution of $12 million.  Similar government investments were made in each territory and most of Canada's provinces.

Together, this pan-Canadian 'solutions movement' is committed to collaborative efforts to minimize disability and maximize quality of life for people with SCI.