Peter Lawless a Champion of the Award

Peter Lawless is a respected litigator and dedicated coach with a passion for coaching and developing high-performance athletes. He has served on the Canadian Olympic & Paralympic Committees and is a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.

I am one of the lucky folks who was part of the Canadian cadet movement (in my case I was a Sea Cadet).  As part of that program, I was introduced to the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award.  As it happens my identical twin brother and I both progressed through the Award somewhat together. If memory serves me correct, he did the bronze award and when I saw him get it I realized I was missing out so I got started as well.   

The themes found within the award such as service and skills and physical fitness have resounded loudly throughout virtually everything I have ever done.   

I was a cadet officer for many years and have volunteered for many years as a coach particularly for Paralympic sports.  I have been privileged to work with some of the very best athletes that Canada has ever produced and to go on a wonderful journey that has led to gold medals in Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.  Along the way we have also broken over 25 World records in athletics. 

Beyond that, as a lawyer, I have also had the great fortune to be in a position to give back to my community by serving on various board and charitable enterprises. Most recently I completed 10 years of volunteer service with the Canadian Olympic Committee including spending the past 6 years as the Vice President. Among other volunteer activities I currently am on the board of the Canadian Paralympic Committee and of Cycling Canada and am the Chair of Surfing Canada.   

Marrying my belief in the importance of service to others with my involvement in the Canadian Armed Forces and the world of high performance sport I have been honoured to be a part of the Canadian Invictus Games team for a number of years working to help improve the lives of ill and injured service personnel through sport.  In fact one of my favorite Award related moments was in 2017 when I was asked to be the keynote speaker at the Canadian Gold Award ceremony in Toronto where Prince Harry was awarding the recipients their awards concurrent with his attendance at the 2017 Invictus Games. 

It really is no exaggeration to say that my life has been one guided by the importance of community service and one where I have used sport as a tool to help develop people and communities in ways that we are all proud of. I would like to think that I continue to live by the values instilled in me as a teenager as I progressed through the Award.

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