Monday 18 January 2016
For the two hundred people gathered at City Hall for the 60th anniversary of the late civil rights icon, Martin Luther King Junior, it was a day to remember. Keynote speaker Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau sprang a big surprise by bursting into song at the tail end of her speech, with a song she had written for her daughter, Ella Grace. The instantaneous standing ovation that followed was a testimony, not only of her surprising singing talent, but an acknowledgement of an inspirational speech that focussed on love, compassion, fairness, equity and all those values espoused eloquently by the the late civil rights hero in his lifetime.
The celebration itself , established twelve years ago by Ottawa’s Dream-keepers team, was the usual somber commemoration of the life and times of Martin Luther King Junior, whose life was cut short by an assassin’s bullet sixty years ago. With MC Rev. Anthony Bailey, special guests included former Prime Minister Joe Clarke who recieved the Dreamkeepers’ Life Achievement award; Mayor Jim Watson; MP Anita Vandenbeld and Provincial Minister and MPP Yasir Naqvi. Other award winners were former Ottawa Deputy Police Chief, Larry Hill for his outstanding advocacy on behalf of the city’s diverse and multicultural communities, and Desire Kilolwa for his heroic contribution in advocating and supporting displaced and vulnerable victims and survivors of the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
