RMC Partner Profile – Sonia Paradis, Donati Maisonneuve
If Sonia Paradis seemed distracted on February 14th, it wasn’t because she was waiting for flowers or chocolates. That was the day she learned her daughter, Frédérique Turgeon, had been named to Canada’s Paralympics Alpine Team. In March, Sonia will be traveling to South Korean to cheer on her daughter as she represents Canada at the PyongChang games.
When did Frédérique first start skiing?
We are a family of skiers. When Frédérique was born with one leg 50% shorter than the other, what first came to my mind was “my daughter will never ski and our weekends on the snow are definitely over”. That was before I knew that Frédérique was a fighter and very athletic.
When she was still a baby, she was with us while her older sister Raphaëlle was taking some ski lessons. So we put Frédérique in a dorsal backpack and she skied with us (that was allowed at that time…).
When she was three years old, she took her first ski lessons with a private monitor. She was skiing with her prosthesis. She did very well and first thing we knew, she joined the other kids in group lessons.
Sonia, Raphaëlle & Frédérique
At 9, her sister Raphaëlle joined the ski racing club. Frédérique wanted to do the same thing, so we asked if she could tryout. It took two seasons before the ski racing club accepted her.
At the age of 11, after having been noticed by Alpine Canada, she was invited to participate to the para Canada Games. She was 4th in slalom. Four years later, at the next para Canada Games, she won the gold. She was invited to join the development team by Alpine Canada after that.
What has her training entailed?
At first, Frédérique was doing races for the fun of it. It was good for her confidence to be able to follow kids her own age but mostly, she was just having fun. For the parents, it was hours and hours of volunteering, but lots of fun as well. We loved it. Actually, Raphaëlle has also followed that path and she is now a coach.
The training has been much more serious over the last three years. The season starts in September, she travels the world and we do not see her much. She is also studying remotely, which is always a challenge. She misses her family and friends, as well as going to school like other kids her age.
How did you find out she’d made the Olympic team?
She was invited by Alpine Canada to join the team for the World Cup finals last year in PyeongChang. It was a good sign that she was on the right path to get there. That being said, she had to qualify for the standards, which she did with a fourth place in slalom in Zagreb, last January. We learned on Facetime, last February 14th, that she was going back to PyongChang for the games. We all cried and could barely speak.
What life lessons do you think you have passed on to Frédérique?
I am very strong and competitive and this is what I have passed on. I never let Frédérique win even when we were playing at a game like “Sorry” and never let her go faster than me while we skied…of course, that time is over. Fred in a lot better than me, even though she only started skiing on one leg four years ago.
Also, before she started to go to school, I taught her to enter a room with a big smile on her face, knowing that with a smile, all the kids would not really care about her difference. She often mentions that she still has that in mind when meeting knew people.
What life lessons has she passed on to you and others?
OMG, so many lessons. She impresses everyone with the way she is dealing with her handicap. She is happy, never complains about it, it is amazing and we tell her often that she is a lot better than we would have been in such a situation.
Of course, what is most important in our family is being healthy. When she was born, I would have given all my belongings, my job, EVERYTHING in exchange of a baby with no handicap. Today, I can honestly say that I would have 10 kids like Frédérique and I would not be sad one second!
What events will she be competing in?
All the Alpine events – Downhill, Super G, Giant slalom, Slalom and Super combined (slalom and super G).
Sonia Paradis is a partner in the insurance defence group at Donati Maisonneuve in Montreal.