{"id":131724,"date":"2017-11-16T03:25:39","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T08:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=131724"},"modified":"2017-11-16T03:25:39","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T08:25:39","slug":"anna-paquin-viola-desmond-among-those-added-to-canadas-walk-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/16\/anna-paquin-viola-desmond-among-those-added-to-canadas-walk-of-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"Anna Paquin, Viola Desmond among those added to Canada’s Walk of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cThis<\/a>
\u201cThis is definitely a huge legacy piece for me,\u201d Bailey said from the red carpet alongside his 11-year-old son, Mateus, who presented his award. (Photo: Donovan Bailey\/Twitter)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO\u2014 Sprinter Donovan Bailey says he knows that his induction into\u00a0Canada’s Walk of Fame will affect the way he’s seen by future generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is definitely a huge legacy piece for me,\u201d Bailey said from the red carpet alongside his 11-year-old son, Mateus, who presented his award.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the gathering of the embodiment of success in\u00a0Canada\u00a0… I’m quite humbled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bailey, of Oakville, Ont., was one of six people inducted into\u00a0Canada’s Walk of Fame in a ceremony in Toronto on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

The honour was also given to actress Anna Paquin and environmental activist David Suzuki, as well as posthumously granted to civil rights leader Viola Desmond, country singer Stompin’ Tom Connors, and businessman Ted Rogers.<\/p>\n

Suzuki said he has Canadian supporters to thank for his continued success. \u201cI’m very pleased that there seems to be a sense that I deserve this recognition,\u201d he said. \u201cThis funny-looking science geek, that I could become a person they would trust and watch that says something about\u00a0Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suzuki \u201ccreated environmental activism in this country,\u201d said Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo, his longtime friend, who was chosen to inducted him into the Walk of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we’re the better for it,\u201d said Cuddy, adding other countries continue to grapple with environmental issues.<\/p>\n

But Suzuki said he doesn’t necessarily think his recognition signals\u00a0Canada’s unwavering dedication to environmental causes. \u201cThe environment as a really major issue? I’m still waiting to see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Paquin, who at 11 became the second-youngest Oscar winner ever for her role in \u201cThe Piano,\u201d said she was \u201cflattered and honoured\u201d by her inclusion in this year’s Walk of Fame, but that she was also \u201cquite nervous for tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paquin, who was born in Winnipeg and raised largely in New Zealand, said she’s proud of her recent work on Canadian productions. She appeared in Sarah Polley’s TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel \u201cAlias Grace\u201d and stars in the CBC crime drama \u201cBellevue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve worked in\u00a0Canada\u00a0an awful lot, because so much shoots here, but it was amazing to get to be part of two completely Canadian productions,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was for Canadians, by Canadians, about Canadians.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get to experience firsthand the enormous amount of talent and creative power that\u00a0Canada\u00a0has to offer … it’s some of the work that I’m most proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about the barrage of sexual assault allegations coming out of Hollywood with startling frequency since the Harvey Weinstein story surfaced last month, Paquin said she’s been thinking about it lot, but didn’t feel a celebratory event like the Walk of Fame was the right place to start that discussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so much to say about that … I just feel like that’s a much larger conversation than a quick catch-up on a carpet,\u201d she said. \u201cBut at some point, when I feel more comfortable, I have rather a lot to say about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walk of Fame CEO Jeffrey Latimer said he wanted to include posthumous inductees in order to focus the event on people from\u00a0Canada’s past, and on people who have made social contributions that deserve more attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we’ve done a great job of celebrating stars,\u201d he says. But now, \u201cwe have to empower our young people to find roads to achievement, and find out … how (an inductee) became a star, more than just what their fame was.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the first people who came to mind was Viola Desmond, the Nova Scotia woman who became a civil rights pioneer after challenging racial segregation at a movie theatre in 1946. Latimer admits he hadn’t previously known very much about Desmond, who will appear on the new $10 bill in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a lot in the last few months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Desmond was inducted into the Walk of Fame by a group including her niece Dawn Millington, nephew Sydney Parris, Canadian actor Lyriq Bent, and Martin Luther King III, who travelled to Toronto from his home in Atlanta for the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Desmond’s story should be known because \u201cevery nation needs to understand its history,\u201d King said. \u201cIt’s phenomenal that this woman is going to be on a $10 bill. Because she will be in the monetary system, young people will be asking: tell me more about what she represents, what she did.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about Desmond’s legacy, Bent, who starred in \u201cThe Book of Negroes,\u201d simply said, \u201cWe’re living it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever it is that you enjoy about your life, that is the legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gala will be broadcast next year, although a date has not yet been set. Global will air a one-hour retrospective special Dec. 3, hosted by \u201cWill & Grace\u201d star Eric McCormack.<\/p>\n

Last year’s inductees included actor Jason Priestley, director Deepa Mehta and hockey player Darryl Sittler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO\u2014 Sprinter Donovan Bailey says he knows that his induction into\u00a0Canada’s Walk of Fame will affect the way he’s seen …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":131727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[33565,33567,33566],"class_list":["post-131724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-anna-paquin","tag-sprinter-donovan-bailey","tag-viola-desmond-among-those-added-to-canadas-walk-of-fame","mauthors-maija-kappler","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}