Josh Vander Vies is a lawyer focused on creating and defending Canadian not-for-profit organizations, charitable status and charitable gifts. He seeks to protect the integrity of sport and the rights of athletes. Josh is dedicated to advancing inclusion, accessibility, and support in the Canadian disability community and beyond.

A national Paralympic boccia team member for 11 years, Josh won bronze at the London 2012 Paralympics in doubles boccia. He was 6-time national champion, competed in 3 Americas' Cups, 3 World Championships, and 3 World Cups. He won bronze in singles at the 2011 Guadalajara Parapan American Games.

A past Terry Fox Humanitarian Award Scholar, he has spent the last 15 years making communities stronger. Josh helped dedicated leaders assemble and defend the BC Equipment and Assistive Technology Initiative (EATI) and served as a member of the BC Minister’s Council on Employment and Accessibility.

An electric wheelchair user born without much of his arms and legs, Josh has spent his life identifying individual and collective issues and deciding when and how to engage each.

Fluently bilingual, Josh is a founder of the Canadian Disability Foundation, a past President of AthletesCAN (Canada’s association of Olympic, Paralympic, and national team athletes) and is a past director of the Canadian Paralympic Committee. He was Ombudsperson for Team Canada at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.