Walk of Fame induction ‘huge legacy’ for Bailey

Champion sprinter among group of six honoured for success in Canada, beyond

TORONTO Sprinter Donovan Bailey says he knows his induction into Canada’s Walk of Fame will affect the way future generations see him.

“This is definitely a huge legacy piece for me,” Bailey said from the red carpet alongside his 11-yearold son, Mateus, who presented his award.

“This is the gathering of the embodiment of success in Canada ... I’m quite humbled.”

Bailey was one of six people inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in a ceremony Wednesday in Toronto.

Others were actress Anna Paquin and environmental activist David Suzuki, as well as posthumously to civil rights leader Viola Desmond, country singer Stompin’ Tom Connors and businessman Ted Rogers.

Suzuki said he has Canadian supporters to thank for his continued success.

“I’m very pleased that there seems to be a sense that I deserve this recognition,” he said. “This funny-looking science geek, that I could become a person they would trust and watch — that says something about Canada.”

Paquin, who at 11 became the second-youngest Oscar winner ever for her role in The Piano, said she was “flattered and honoured.”

Paquin, 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 Alias Grace and stars in the CBC crime drama Bellevue.

“I’ve worked in Canada an awful lot, because so much shoots here, but it was amazing to get to be part of two completely Canadian productions,” she said.

“It was for Canadians, by Canadians, about Canadians ... it’s some of the work that I’m most proud of.”

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.

Walk of Fame CEO Jeffrey Latimer said he wanted to include posthumous inductees to focus the event on people from Canada’s past, and on people who have made social contributions that deserve more attention. One of the first people who came to mind was Desmond, the Nova Scotia woman who became a civil rights pioneer after challenging racial segregation in 1946. Latimer admits he hadn’t previously known very much about Desmond, who will appear on the new $10 bill in 2018.

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.

When asked about Desmond’s legacy, Bent said, “We’re living it. Whatever it is that you enjoy about your life, that is the legacy.”

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 Will & Grace star Eric McCormack.