Ian Gregson (born September 2, 1962) is an actor, musician, activist and author in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. He was born in St Helens,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. As a young boy his promising athletic career in track and field seemed to end on May 18, 1978. During his lunch hour at Ashton-in-Makerfield Grammar School (now The

Byrchall High School Byrchall High School is a secondary school and specialist mathematics and English school with academy status, in Ashton-in-Makerfield within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester. Admissions It has a mixed intake of both boys ...

), Gregson was involved in a railway accident that resulted in the loss of his right leg above the knee. Undaunted by this physical setback, he continued his involvement in track and field by taking up shot put and weight training. In September 1981, he emigrated to Canada with his family.

Paralympian

Gregson first gained national media attention in the fall of 1982 after completing the first ever

Terry Fox Run The Terry Fox Run is an annual non-competitive charity event held around the world to raise money for cancer research in commemoration of Canadian cancer activist Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope. The event was founded in 1981 by Isadore Shar ...

Port Coquitlam Port Coquitlam ( ) is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of 21 municipalities comprising Metro Vancouver. Located east of Vancouver, it is on the north bank of the confluence of the Fraser River and the Pitt River. Coquitlam borders ...

. Shortly thereafter, he began to focus on competing in disability sport events and in 1983 became Canada's top amputee athlete. In 1984 and 1988 he represented Canada at the

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

, and in 1986, after receiving a fourth place at the World Championships in Sweden, he became the first athlete with a disability in Canada to receive a post secondary athletic scholarship. In 1987 Gregson received the Chevron Canada Award for Post Secondary Sports. After retirement he became Chair of the BC Disability Games, overseeing several successful events during his tenure. In 1998 he published his first book, ''Irresistible Force: A History of Disability Sport in Canada'', via

Raincoast Books Raincoast Books is a Canadian book distribution and wholesale company. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Raincoast was founded by Mark Stanton and Allan MacDougall in 1979 as a consignment wholesaler that shared overhead, warehouse space and ...

in Vancouver.

SFU

Whilst competing for Canada, Gregson returned to post-secondary education at VCC Langara and then later he received his BA in communications from

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

. He was the first person in his family to receive a degree. He was also the first athlete with a disability in Canada to receive an athletic scholarship. In 2000 he returned to SFU to work for the Office of Research Services.

Disability issues

Throughout the 1990s Gregson wrote for numerous magazines ranging from regular columns in Canada's leading disability and mainstream magazines. This included a controversial article on disability and sex in Larry Flynt's Hustler. As a result, he gained a reputation as a writer who was not afraid to tackle uncomfortable issues. In 1998 Gregson's "Irresistible Force" was published through Polestar Press - essentially a history of disability sport in Canada. The book is now out of print.

Politics

Introduced to politics via

Svend Robinson Svend Robinson (born March 4, 1952) is a Canadian politician. He was a member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2004, representing suburban Vancouver-area constituencies in the city of Burnaby for the New Democratic Party (NDP). He was the first ...

, Gregson worked on federal NDP campaigns in the early 1990s In 2001 ran for MLA in the British Columbia election in the constituency of Vancouver-Hastings as

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

candidate, and received 14.9% of the popular vote He ran again for 2005 in Vancouver-Hastings and received 9% of the popular vote. He was Financial Agent for the Vancouver East Green Party from 2004 to 2007, President of Vancouver Hastings Green Party Constituency from 2004 to 2008, and ran in the

2008 Vancouver municipal election The 2008 Vancouver municipal election was held on November 15, 2008, filling seats on the Vancouver School Board, the Park Board, the Vancouver City Council, and the position of Mayor of Vancouver. It was held at the same time as municipal elec ...

for the

Work Less Party The Work Less Party (WLP) was a Canadian federal political party that became eligible for registration with Elections Canada on October 1, 2007. The federal Work Less Party was voluntarily de-registered on July 31, 2010, after applying for and be ...

, finishing 23rd of 32 candidates with more than 10,000 votes. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

he ran for

De-growth Degrowth is an academic and social movement critical of the concept of growth in gross domestic product as a measure of human and economic development. The idea of degrowth is based on ideas and research from economic anthropology, ecological ...

Vancouver and received 7,872 votes, finishing 28th of 41 candidates.

Music

After taking up guitar whilst in hospital after his accident in 1978, Gregson finally took the instrument seriously in 2000 and eventually joined East Vancouver's The Carnival Band. In September 2006 he started Mr M and The All Nighters, a

Northern Soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

tribute band, influenced by the music popularised in his native

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

and the

Wigan Casino The Wigan Casino is the colloquial name for the nightclub the Casino Club, that operated in Wigan between Friday, August 27 1965 (with Shirley Bassey topping the bill) and 1981, associated with the Northern Soul movement in the UK. The club's end ...

. In 2011 he started Ai Vertigo, an original rock oriented band based in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. In 2013 he started a new band the Van City Soul Quartet featuring some of the best singers in the city. Gregson also was associated with the legendary Cory Weeds' Cellar Jazz in

Kitsilano Kitsilano ( ) is a neighbourhood in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Named after Squamish chief August Jack Khatsahlano, Kitsilano is located along the southern shore of English Bay, Vancouver, English Bay between Fairview, Vancou ...

as sound technician and room booker.

Acting

In 2009 Gregson returned to work in the Vancouver film industry as a background actor. His roles have included an amputee stunt double for local actor Chad Willet in ''When Calls the Heart'' for Hallmark, and Gregson played an amputee ghost in Season 4 Episode 1''Seance'' of ''R.L. Stein's The Haunting Hour''.

References

External links

Ian Gregson's Actor's Profile Page

Ian Gregson's Facebook Page

Ian's Band "Ian's Music Page"

Ian's Blog on living without a car in Vancouver

Article on amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius for The Tyee
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregson, Ian Canadian amputees Canadian artists with disabilities Canadian writers with disabilities Green Party of British Columbia candidates in British Columbia provincial elections Canadian disability rights activists English amputees Canadian environmentalists Degrowth advocates English emigrants to Canada Green Party of British Columbia politicians People from St Helens, Merseyside 1962 births Living people Canadian rock musicians Canadian politicians with disabilities Canadian activists with disabilities Musicians with disabilities British activists with disabilities British actors with disabilities British writers with disabilities