Chantal Petitclerc CC CQ MSM (born 15 December 1969) is a Canadian wheelchair racer and a Senator from Quebec.

At the age of 13, Petitclerc lost the use of both legs in an accident when at a friend's farm, a heavy barn door fell on her, fracturing her spine at the L1-T12 vertebra.

[3] When she was eighteen, Pierre Pomerleau, a trainer at Université Laval in Quebec City, introduced her to wheelchair sports.

[citation needed] While Petitclerc was developing her skills as a wheelchair athlete, she pursued her studies, first in social sciences at the CEGEP de Sainte-Foy and then in history at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where she registered in order to be able to train with Peter Eriksson, who remains her coach to this day.

When she returned from Athens in 2004, Petitclerc told reporters the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing would be her last big international meeting but that she will continue training and road racing for a while.

[12] Petitclerc is married to electro-acoustic music composer James Duhamel and gave birth to son Elliot in December 2013.

[1] On 18 March 2016, Petitclerc was named to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Her speech moved many of her colleagues, when she quoted: "When you have a disability, the worst part is feeling as if you have no control over your own life, over your own body.

[17] In 2009, she was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada "for her achievements as a Paralympic champion known internationally as an inspiration, and for her commitment to developing sports for athletes with a disability".