Alex Decoteau

Alexander Wuttunee Decoteau, (November 19, 1887 – October 30, 1917), was a Cree Canadian track and field athlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He was also the first aboriginal police officer in Canada.

Alexander was born on the Red Pheasant Indian Reserve (Saskatchewan). He attended school there and at the Battleford Industrial School. He moved to Edmonton where its police force hired him as a constable in 1909. He made sergeant in 1914. During this period he won numerous western Canadian major middle or long distance races. In 1912, he finished sixth in the 5000 metres competition. Alex was killed by a sniper in 1917, during the Second Battle of Passchendaele.

Honours

Many of Decoteau’s accomplishments are included in the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame, where he was inducted a member in 1967. Also, the Edmonton Police Museum and Archives contains many of his personal and military trophies and awards. In 1985, the Cree performed a ceremony in Edmonton "to bring his spirit home". Honours were provided by the Red Pheasant Band, the Edmonton Police Service and the Canadian army.

The City of Edmonton named both a park and a future residential area in Decoteau's honour in 2014. A park located at the northwest corner of 105 Street and 102 Avenue in Downtown Edmonton was named Alex Decoteau Park on September 24, 2014. A future residential area in southeast Edmonton was named Decoteau on October 28, 2014.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Memorial Museum page 36.
• Alex Decoteau at the Alberta Sport Hall of Fame & Museum
• Alex Decoteau: Difficult beginnings, life of achievement, biography by Cheryl Petten at the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society
• Alex Decoteau Heritage Edukit of the Heritage Community Foundation
• Alex Decoteau at Find a Grave