Two-time Canada Games volunteer loves to meet future sports stars

By Gomathi Sridevi

March 6, 2023

Michael Morrison works in the communications industry in P.E.I. He has been involved in volunteering for Canada Winter Games this year. (Gomathi Sridevi Radhakrishnan photo)

In 1980, Michael Morrison felt his life was changing for the better.

"I was asked if I would like my name put forward for consideration as Easter Seals Timmy."

The charity had previously taken people much younger than him. He was 16 at that time.

However, that year they wanted someone older. Morrison ended up being the first Timmy to go on a Tim Hortons Easter Seals campaign bus tour visiting 13 schools in three days. Morrison spoke with students about various challenges he faced and gave them ideas of how the money they raised could be used.

"Sometimes it could be a special microphone for the teacher for someone who has difficulty in hearing, or it could be a purchase of a wheelchair," he told them.

It was an awareness campaign and money started to flow.

"These ambassadors are not looking for a handout from people in society. All they want is a hand up. Assistance to make their challenges easier."

He’s always had that approach. After he moved to Charlottetown from Montreal he worked with the CBC Island Morning and Mainstreet programs.

He’s still working in the communications industry. But he made time to volunteer at the Canada Games 2023, having previous volunteering experience in Canada Games 1991, which he thought would be useful.

At those Games he worked with the Charlottetown amateur radio club, set up a ham radio station at the Robertson Library at UPEI and used it to promote ham radio.

"We were able to pass the messages to athletes if they had any greetings. Because there was no internet,” he said. “So, if team members want to send greetings home to let their parents know that they are competing we take that message and communicate with the radio."

At the 2023 Canada Games, Morrison volunteered at the media centre.

"It's very rewarding because I enjoy meeting people and doing some of the things people in P.E.I are known for, that is welcoming people to the Island in whatever seasons."

He got a chance to welcome the athletes, exchange smiles and said it was a great experience. They were all winners for being there and will be some of Canada's future sports stars, he said.

"I particularly enjoy talking to wheelchair basketball players because I could relate to some of the personal challenges they had outside the sports. Life challenges."

Morrison likes hockey too, because it's fast-paced and, coming from Montreal, he is an avid Montreal Canadiens fan. But he has no plans to move back to Montreal in the future.

"Nothing against Montreal or people, but I could never do that. People here care for each other and everybody knows everybody."

He has found many opportunities in P.E.I. which he doesn’t think he would have had in Montreal, such as interviewing former Lieutenant-governor Frederick Walter Hyndman, working in Social Development and Housing, at the CBC radio station and graduating from UPEI.

"People want to be recognized as a person and for their abilities and what they can do and have many different ways of overcoming personal challenges they face."

He always seizes an opportunity whenever he sees one. He sailed a Martin-16 boat when the Charlottetown Yacht Club sponsored him at an event at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Club outside of Halifax. He also got a chance to meet paralympic sailor Paul Tingley.

"To plant the seed in order for a dream to come true, the seed first has to be planted in the mind of an individual," said Morrison.

One should keep thinking about that since they know better than anyone how they are going to achieve their dreams, he said.

"Don't let anyone ever tell you that you cannot do something. When somebody suggests to me, 'Oh Michael I don't think you can do this.’ It just makes me try harder."