Longtime Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion was remembered at her state funeral Tuesday as a “force of nature,” a woman with boundless energy who bucked the expectations of her time to become one of the longest-serving leaders in Canada and who transformed the city she led in the process.
The funeral, which she helped plan in detail herself before her death, was held on what would have been her 102nd birthday and drew some 3,000 members of the public to the Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
Her casket, draped in a Canadian flag and carried by an honour guard, was placed in a hearse at Mississauga City Hall where McCallion had been lying in repose and was transported in a procession to the large event centre.
Dozens of officers, Mounties, firefighters and paramedics marched in ceremonial uniforms, with drums and bagpipes playing and flags waiving, to meet the casket.
The guest list -- which included prime ministers, mayors, the premier, the lieutenant governor, prominent business leaders and others – was testament to the fact she became a figure whose advice was widely sought by those in the humblest office to the highest.
Current Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said McCallion “left an indelible mark” and that the city will never be the same without her.
“She spent 36 years serving as mayor and during that time made Mississauga the envy of the world,” Crombie said. “As a trailblazing woman in politics, and a no-nonsense city builder, she set a framework for our future, and transformed Mississauga from farmland and fruit trees to the growing urban city that we are today.”
Born in a small fishing village in Port Daniel, Que. In 1921, McCallion was the youngest of five children. She played women’s hockey professionally in Quebec before moving to Ontario and became a lifelong advocate for the sport.
In 1970, she ran to become mayor of Streetsville. In 1978, four years after the municipality was integrated into the new city of Mississauga, MacCallion was elected as its third mayor. She held the office until 2014 when she retired from politics.
Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien was the first person McCallion requested to have speak at her funeral.
Addressing the crowd, Chretien joked that while he originally thought he might have around 30 minutes to speak, he heard McCallion’s voice in his head “Jean, keep it clear, keep it short. Like me.”
“In all my travels and meetings with leaders around the globe, I have never met any politician like Hazel,” Chretien said.
He recalled that she called “to give me hell” when he retired from politics at 70, reminding him that that the two of them had once made a pact with CTV newscaster Lloyd Robertson to all retire together.
He called her a “rare” person who was “always an example” and who had “energy all the time.”
Others also paid tribute to her boundless energy.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recalled bumping into McCallion on a trip to Italy around 15 years ago. Not on a beach, but at one of the world’s longest, highest and fastest zip lines.
“Then in her late 80s Hazel was not just the oldest elected official to ever do the zip line. She was one of the oldest people, period, to do it,” Trudeau remembered. “But that's just who Hazel was.”
She never stopped using that energy to serve the public and to push for better outcomes.
When he last spoke with her a few weeks ago, Trudeau said, she urged him to push for Canadian jobs in an upcoming meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.
He joked that if the former mayor had gone into federal politics, he probably would have ended up as a minister in her cabinet.
“I must admit, it feels a little strange to be here today. Hazel was so unstoppable I think we all felt she was gonna live forever,” he said.
Premier Doug Ford, who was close with McCallion and spent a few hours with her in her last days, called her “relentless, funny, kind.”
He remembered that during that visit, her face lit up and she pulled out one of her signature miniature racecars.
“She grabbed the marker and wrote on the bottom ‘to my favorite premier. Love Hazel,’” Ford recalled.
“That little red racecar embodies the best of Hazel. Always on the move, never slowing down. Not even in her later years. Excited about the promise of what came next. Always leading with love,” Ford recalled, becoming emotional as he remembered holding her hand.
“Mississauga is a better city. Ontario is a better province and Canada is a better country because of the amazing life of Hazel McCallion.”
Ontario Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell remembered McCallion as a figure who “gave us honesty.”
“You were never in doubt as to where the mayor stood on any issue,” Dowdeswell said. “Tough but fair, uncompromised, uncompromising. But kind Hazel was driven in all that she did by a fierce desire to make things better for the people around her.”
That idea was echoed by McCallion’s best friend, Fran Rider, who is also president and CEO of the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association.
“If you spoke to Hazel at the end of the day, she would always respond ‘I had a great day’ because she was with people and she was living a life she loved. She would happily climb into bed at night,” Rider recalled.
Even in her final days, Rider said, McCallion was trying to comfort those close to her as they faced her passing.
Other people gave her energy, as did thinking about how to make Mississauga better, Rider said.
“Her greatest joy was the warm words of appreciation from so many people. It brought her great happiness when young people recognized her and approached her for a picture or a few words,” she said.
McCallion’s children Linda, Peter and Paul and granddaughter Erica were in attendance, but did not address the crowd.
However McCallion’s friend Jim Murray spoke on behalf of the family, remembering the sacrifice they all made so that their mother could spend long hours in public service.
“We truly thank you for your lifelong contributions and sacrifices that your family has made while your mother and grandmother spent her entire life working tirelessly on our behalf,” Murray said.
But he shared a conversation with Erica in which she said the family not only felt the sacrifice but the enormous “pride” in what their mother and grandmother did for the public.
Murray opened the funeral proceedings with words of advice McCallion shared often with those who sought her wisdom: “do your homework.”
Speaking with CP24 ahead of the funeral, former Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa, now an MP for Mississauga-Lakeshore, said he heard those words from her as well.
He said he heard from her often when he was minister of finance to make sure the province was being fiscally responsible, but also because she wanted to ensure that elected officials were listening to the people they represented.
“She was no pushover,” he recalled, remembering that she didn’t tolerate critics who had no ideas to offer.
“She turned the tables on them right away to say ‘What have you done. What are you doing to support people and what are you doing to help?’ And she always put people in their spot and made them feel responsible for their actions. She was very much responsible for hers.”
McCallion died at home on Jan. 29 following a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
"She was an icon, a legend, she was Hurricane Hazel," Ford said.
