Honouring Paul Bowes: the 2026 Patriot Award

Each year, True Patriot Love Foundation presents its Patriot Award to an individual or organization that has shown a strong commitment to supporting members of Canadian Armed Forces, Veterans and their families.

For the first time, the Foundation is presenting the award posthumously, honouring Paul Bowes, who served as wheelchair basketball coach for Team Canada at the Invictus Games and the Warrior Games.

Coach Bowes, or Bowesy as he was widely known, began what would become a four-decade, global coaching journey in 1987 as a volunteer for his stepson Jason’s wheelchair basketball team. 

He joined Wheelchair Basketball Canada as an assistant coach for the senior men’s national team and went on to become a renowned and well-loved coach for Team Canada at the Paralympic Games. Over the course of his career, he helped prepare ten Paralympic teams and attended five Paralympic Games, beginning with Atlanta in 1996.

Soldier On, a Canadian Armed Forces program for ill and injured servicepeople and Veterans, approached him to coach Team Canada at the Invictus Games in 2017.  

This invitation opened a new chapter.  

Coach Bowes went on to serve as Head Coach for Team Canada in the Invictus Games five times, and in three Warrior Games. He had an immeasurable impact on the military community, helping wounded, injured and sick service members and Veterans rediscover their potential and rebuild their confidence through sport.  

“The athletes that are here [at Invictus training camp] have such a passion for life and we are trying to show them the potential that they have. There’s a lot of people who feel they don’t deserve to be here and they’re afraid, they’re apprehensive, they’re anxious. By Day 2 you can see them coming out of their shells. And that’s the most important thing: the learning, the small steps and changing what winning is all about. The gold medal is not that record time. The gold medal is being able to get on a plane, get on a bus, get in a pool, talk to people. There are no problems; there are only solutions to get you to the starting line.”
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– Paul Bowes speaking to Soldier On in 2023 (above). Watch the full interview here.

In 2025, he was inducted into the Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame and the Wheelchair Basketball Canada Hall of Fame.  

That same year, he also received the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation for his “selflessness, genuine character and dedication to the betterment of others.”

True Patriot Love was honoured to nominate and to present Bowes with the King Charles III Coronation Medal at the Team Canada dinner during the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 training camp for his contributions to the sport of wheelchair basketball, his support of the military community, and his humanitarian efforts.

Bowes dedicated his life to developing generations of wheelchair basketball players. That he did this as a volunteer during a decades-long career at Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation and, later, even when fighting cancer, is truly extraordinary. Paul Bowes died on March 2, 2026.

True Patriot Love spoke to Warrant Officer (retired) Denis Cloutier, head coach for Team Canada at the upcoming 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham, UK. Coach Cloutier worked alongside Paul Bowes and became a close friend. He shared his memories and thoughts about Coach Bowes’ impact.

What did you learn from working with Coach Bowes?

Bowesy loved to talk, but he was a very, very good listener, too. Communication was so big for him. He said that you can avoid so many problems by just having good communication and positive communication, too. He was very good at sensing if somebody had an issue, if somebody was nervous, or if somebody was not ready. [His approach was,] Well, I have to take care of that person. I try to take that from him: to listen to people and notice if there's a change in their behaviour or if I can see somebody's not happy, go talk to him and just spend equal time with everybody.

It’s amazing that Team Canada coaches are all volunteers.

Yes, everything we did was as volunteers. They pay for our flights to go to training camp and hotels but everything else is volunteered. As an ex-military member, it's a way for me to give back to a great organization where I really enjoyed my career. And for Bowesy, I can sense it was like serving for him and helping people that serve. He loved Canada so much that for him, it was to give back to the Canadian Forces.

What do you remember most about Coach Bowes?

He was a very motivated person and such a professional in everything: the discipline he had, and the way he conducted his training and his practices. One of the things that he did so well was to bring people together, and that's one thing that I always admired about him: he was a pure leader. As soon as he went into a room, you could see smiles on people's faces.

The 2026 Patriot Award was presented to Coach Paul Bowes’ family at True Patriot Love Foundation’s National Tribute Dinner in November 2026.‍