RIP Stephen Lewis: Another Canadian Legend - Ontario NDP

 The Ontario NDP Mourns the Loss of Stephen Lewis: email today 

We have lost Stephen Lewis, and the world feels smaller  without him.   Stephen Lewis had a voice that could fill a room, a  convention hall, the United Nations General Assembly.  When he spoke, you felt it: the moral clarity, the  righteous anger, the unshakeable belief that suffering  was not inevitable and injustice was not acceptable. He  made you truly believe a better world was possible, and  he made you want to fight for it.   For eight years, Stephen was the leader of the Ontario  NDP. In 1975, he doubled our seats in the legislature  becoming Leader of the Official Opposition. What people  remember mostly is how he campaigned: telling the story  of a different Ontarian in trouble each day, humanizing  what others reduced to statistics, making people see  themselves in each other’s struggles. He championed  the Elliot Lake miners when no one else would. He  forced a Conservative premier to bring in rent control.  He fought for the Occupational Health and Safety Act.  Stephen Lewis with federal NDP Leader Ed Broadbent after securing the nomination to defend his seat in Scarborough West, 1975 // Toronto Star Photograph Archive. © Toronto Star. But Stephen Lewis became legendary on the world stage,  not because of titles, though he held many, but because  of what he did with them. As the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen stood  before presidents and prime ministers and refused to let  them look away. He had seen the overflowing hospital  wards, the endless funerals, the villages full of women,  so many women, dying while the world debated whether  they were worth saving.   Stephen saw what others wouldn't: that gender inequality  was driving the pandemic. That women were being  denied treatment, living with violence, carrying the  burden of care for entire households while dying  themselves. That grandmothers were raising  AIDS-orphaned children with no support. He was  relentless in demanding testing, treatment, funding, and political will. And when the world moved too slowly,  he came home and built the Stephen Lewis Foundation  with his daughter Ilana, turning rage into action, and  compassion into survival.   The honours piled up. Companion of the Order of  Canada, TIME's 100 most influential people, the  Pearson Peace Medal, Knight Commander of Lesotho,  42 honorary doctorates. But ask anyone who knew  Stephen's work, and they won't talk about the awards.  They'll talk about the 300 grandmothers who gathered in Toronto in 2006  and raised $40 million for African grandmothers caring for AIDS orphans.  They'll talk about the lives saved by the Foundation's  work. They'll talk about the community organizations in  Africa that finally got the funding and respect they deserved. Stephen Lewis with Patricia and Nonhlanhla at Blue Roof in South Africa. Photo by Gillian Mathurin Even at 87, even after being diagnosed with cancer and  given just three months, his conscience would not let him  rest. As the world witnessed genocide unfolding in Gaza,  Stephen went out to his old riding of Scarborough West  and stood at the roadside with signs calling for an end  to the violence, demanding justice for Palestine. He  refused to look away. He never did.   There’s one more extraordinary part of Stephen's story.  His father David Lewis was a founding architect of our  movement. In the 1970s, father and son led the federal  and provincial NDP together, a rare moment in the history  of our party. Stephen knew what that meant. He knew what  it felt like to carry that torch. Two days ago, from his  hospital bed, Stephen watched his own son, Avi Lewis,  elected leader of Canada’s NDP.  Stephen Lewis gives the eulogy for late NDP leader Jack Layton at his state funeral service in Roy Thomson Hall Toronto on Saturday, August 27, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette To Michele, to Ilana, Avi and Jenny, to his grandchildren  Zev, Yoav, Zimri, and Toma, to his siblings Michael, Janet,  and Nina, and to everyone who loved him: we share in your  grief. We will carry him forward in everything we do.   Rest in power, Stephen Lewis.    In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the  Stephen Lewis Foundation.     New Democratic Party of Ontario 2069 Lakeshore Blvd West, Suite 201, Toronto, ON M8V 3Z4