Stephen Lewis, UN advisor on AIDS in Africa, "Canadian of the Year"

[Minstrel Boy]

Maclean's (Canadian newsmagazine) has announced that Stephen Lewis, special adviser to the United Nations on HIV/AIDS in Africa, is its inaugural "Canadian of the Year."

Lewis is also former leader of the Ontario NDP and former Canadian ambassador to the UN (not to mention, Naomi Klein's father-in-law), and has been asked to run in the next federal election by NDP leader Jack Layton. Though I think it's unlikely he'll leave his UN posting.

From the Maclean's story:

At the beginning of 2003, frustrated and disheartened by Western nations' willingness to ignore the crisis and commit "mass murder by complacency" while they devoted billions to ousting Saddam Hussein, Lewis agonized over whether he could continue. But he decided to turn his despair and anger to advantage, and push all the harder. "I'm still at the end of my rope because I find myself not handling things well when I travel. I get too distraught, too quickly," says Lewis. "But what is my emotional disarray compared to the hell that is happening? I'm in a great rage now, as I understand how many lives we have lost. But I don't want to leave until I see the breakthrough."

...

At home, he has started the Stephen Lewis Foundation (http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org), devoted to providing small-scale funding to communities dealing with the ravages of AIDS. In nine months, it has raised close to $900,000, mostly from individual donations. In Namibia, the money will pay for funerals and coffins; in Kenya, for home care for the dying; in Zambia for a prevention program. Lewis says he has been humbled and revitalized by the outpouring of support. "If our governments were one-tenth as generous as average Canadians, the problem would be solved," he says. "Truthfully, when I see what we can accomplish with money on the ground, it's the only time in my life I have wished I was Bill Gates."
http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/canada/article.jsp?content=20031229_72599_72599

[MrPrax]

1. Layton asked Lewis to run

Lewis said he was too busy...
Wouldn't that be something if Layton put together a NDP 'dream' team for the next federal election...
He should get Barrett or Romonov to run as well...

[Spazito]

2. Stephen Lewis is Canadian treasure, imo

I had the honour of helping bring him to my community to speak and he was awesome. He was to speak about the environment but Bush had just attacked Iraq so a great deal of the time was spent on the war and some on aids in Africa. Good man!