‘My name is Nelson and I am Canadian’
Honoured by Canada’s commitment to his struggle, South African president made three trips to Toronto
He moved us. Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first Black president, touched Torontonians in a way no other foreign political leader has.
The freedom fighter — who fought his country’s apartheid system that institutionalized racial discrimination, and went on to champion peace and reconciliation as president — visited Toronto in 1990, 1998 and 2001. Each time, Torontonians of all ages, races and backgrounds reacted with a joyful outpouring of affection and respect.
But it was Mandela’s first two-day Toronto visit in 1990 — part of a tour of 14 nations aimed at promoting the ongoing fight against apartheid — that evoked the most emotional response.
Mandela had been released from prison just four months earlier, after serving 27 years of a life imprisonment sentence for conspiring to overthrow the white South African government that did not allow Black people to vote.
He arrived in Ottawa where he addressed Parliament and, on June18, landed at Toronto International Airport (now Pearson), where the Star reported that Mandela and his then-wife Winnie were given a red-carpet welcome. They were warmly greeted by officials and ordinary well-wishers, including 9-year-old Nnaumbua Farrell and his mother, Joan Farrell, who excitedly blurted: “I’m so happy and I welcome you and can I hug you?”
Mandela had been scheduled to go to city hall, where a crowd of about 8,000 waited. The plan was to confer honorary citizenship from the City of Toronto and an honorary doctorate of laws from York University before walking to Queen’s Park to speak.
But the plan changed. The 71-year-old, still frail from prison, instead rested at his hotel before he was driven to the legislature. At city hall, Winnie Mandela accepted his honours. Some cried when told Mandela would not appear.
Later that day, 30,000 people “pressed tightly together on the front lawn of the legislature” got to see their hero. They chanted and cheered when Mandela delivered a 30-minute speech, thanking Canadians, church groups, the peace movement, trade unions, youth and others for supporting the movement against apartheid, still the law at that time in South Africa.
He predicted that South Africa was on the threshold of “major changes” and said to remember that its people “love you all.” The crowd responded by chanting his name.
“Black, white, young and old, stood side by side shouting, Mandela, Mandela, Mandela,” the Star reported.
Mandela was honoured that night with a state dinner at the Harbour Castle Westin hosted by prime minister Brian Mulroney. The Star reported that Mandela was “mobbed like a rock star” by the 1,500 guests.
At the dinner Mulroney, a proponent of sanctions against South Africa since he was elected prime minister in 1984, pledged $5 million to help those imprisoned under apartheid to resettle once they were freed.
Mandela said it was a “source of wonder that a head of government so many miles away from our country has shown such a deep commitment to our struggle.”
At the same time, conservative stalwarts U.S. president Ronald Reagan and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher opposed sanctions against the white South African government, both considering Mandela and his African National Congress terrorists and communists. In 1986, the U.S. Congress and Senate approved a bill that imposed sanctions against South Africa, after overturning Reagan’s veto.
Mulroney invited Mandela to Canada the day after his release from prison.
“Black, white, young and old, stood side by side shouting, Mandela, Mandela, Mandela.” TORONTO STAR REPORT IN 1990
Mandela addressed Parliament — it was the first time in four decades a non-head of state had been given that honour — saying he was “deeply moved” on behalf of people who had been “deemed subhuman” to speak in a place “whose existence is based on the recognition of the right of all people to determine their destiny.” He urged the continuation of sanctions. Before leaving Toronto on June 19, he addressed 1,000 students at Central Technical School on Bathurst St., who chanted “Viva Mandela” while waiting to see him. He joked about being “old and ugly’’ and said the students’ warm welcome had cut his age down “by about 75 per cent.”
Mandela praised Canadians’ help in supporting the fight against apartheid and told the students that Black South Africans were still subject to a reign of terror by police.
Much had changed by the time Mandela returned to Toronto in 1998 to launch the Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund Canada, to assist children in South Africa.
Apartheid had been lifted in 1992 and Mandela had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. After the African National Congress won 62 per cent of the vote, Mandela, 77, and leader of the ANC, was elected the country’s first Black president in 1994. He and Winnie had di- vorced in1996 and he was now married to Graça Machel.
At age 80, he was still going strong. He rode into the SkyDome stadium (now Rogers Centre) on a golf cart with Machel, and jumped out and danced to the stage. More than 40,000 elementary school students, teachers and VIPs, including prime minister Jean Chrétien, were in the stands to hear him speak.
The Star’s Louise Brown reported that for almost two hours everyone “sang, clapped, hollered, did the wave, cheered, unfurled huge banners (‘We Love You Nelson’) and raised placards and posters. The prisoner-turned-president and the students were swept away in a tidal wave of love, respect and honour.”
Mandela talked about how he and others fought to end South Africa’s racist laws and that important challenges lay ahead.
He asked children to think about why other children in the world are still under-nourished and die of incurable diseases. He also told them dreams are achievable and that hope and forgiveness win against hate and fear.
Children were again at the front and centre when Mandela returned to Toronto in 2001for the renaming of Park Public School to the Nelson Mandela Park Public School on Nov. 17.
The room erupted when he entered, as 400 students cheered and chanted. Mandela, at this point retired as South African president, told the children they were the “future leaders” and said he loved “each and every one of you.”
On his way out, the 83-year-old used his handkerchief and gently wiped the tears from the eyes of one13-year-old girl, overcome with emotion.
Two days later, on Nov. 19, in Ottawa, Mandela became the first living person to be made an honorary citizen of Canada. In accepting the honour, Mandela gave a speech that began with: “My name is Nelson and I am Canadian.”
The man known affectionately as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name, died on Dec. 5, 2013, at the age of 95. As a Dec 6, 2013, Star editorial put it: “We have long regarded Mandela as family, and he in turn hailed us as ‘brothers and sisters.’ ”