State funeral underway for former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion
CBC
Former longtime Mississauga, Ont., mayor Hazel McCallion is being remembered at a state funeral Tuesday on what would have been her 102nd birthday.
The funeral began at 11 a.m. ET at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga. You can watch the proceedings live in the player at the top of this page.
Flags will be flown at half-mast across the province on Tuesday, according to the office of Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
People paid tribute to the former mayor as she lay in state for two days on Sunday and Monday.
Among those who paid their respects on Sunday were Bonnie Crombie, who succeeded McCallion as Mississauga mayor, Toronto Mayor John Tory and Ford.
McCallion left a legacy of feisty advocacy and more than three decades of nearly unchallenged leadership.
Known affectionately as "Hurricane Hazel," she was an outspoken political powerhouse who earned respect across the political spectrum.
In a statement, Crombie said, "Hazel was not only my mentor and political role model but the reason why so many women were inspired to enter politics."
Ford announced McCallion's death on the morning of Jan. 29, saying she died peacefully at her home in Mississauga at the age of 101.
Family friend Jim Murray confirmed McCallion died of pancreatic cancer, which she was diagnosed with around Christmas.
Hazel Mary Muriel Journeaux was born on Feb. 14, 1921, in Port Daniel, Que., a very small town in the Gaspé Peninsula. She was the youngest of five children. She met Sam McCallion in Toronto after she moved there in her 20s. They married and raised three children.
She was mayor of Mississauga from 1978 to 2014, serving 12 terms.
McCallion is survived by her sons, Peter and Paul, daughter Linda and a granddaughter.