Paying tribute to Mandela
Union United leaders, remembering visit in 1990, host service at St. James church
Mayor Denis Coderre joins hundreds of other Montrealers at St. James United Church for a commemorative service hosted by officials from the Union United Church, which Nelson Mandela visited in 1990, Paul Cherry reports.
Nelson Mandela was remembered Sunday night as a historic leader and an inspiration to the black community in Montreal, particularly to members of Union United, the St-Henri church he visited just months after his release from prison.
Hundreds of Montrealers attended a commemorative service in St. James United Church Sunday night, the same day he was buried in his hometown in South Africa.
The service was hosted by representatives from Union United Church, which Mandela visited during his trip to Montreal on June 19, 1990, four months after his 27-year wait for freedom finally arrived and he was released from a South African prison.
The brief visit to the city was mentioned often during the commemorative service and it was clear his presence left a deep impression on many.
The service was attended by Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, Notre-Dame-deGrâce borough mayor Russell Copeman, MP Irwin Cotler, Fo Niemi, executive director of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, and Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré, a lawyer and human- rights activist before she was named Quebec’s first black judge in 1999.
Westmoreland-Traoré accompanied Mandela as he travelled from Toronto to Montreal in 1990. Sunday, she recalled his ability to engage in conversation with anyone he met as he visited the city.
“Nelson Mandela was more than a symbol to us, to our community and the larger community. His life was an inspiration to us. He was indeed one of our historic leaders,” said Westmoreland-Traoré, who was baptized and married in Union United.
She also said she hopes to one day help reintegrate the church, which has served as a community and spiritual centre for Montreal’s black community for nearly a century, into the same building Mandela visited on Delisle St. in St-Henri. Union United had to leave its longtime home in 2010 when repairs to maintain it became too costly.
During Mandela’s visit, Union United “was overflowing on to the sidewalk, on to the street and traffic was blocked,” she recalled.
“With his electrifying presence, President Mandela inspired all who were there; clergy, community leaders, parishioners, friends and the media. He brought with him the living legend of his personal struggle, his imprisonment and his collective triumph. Above all, by accepting the invitation of Union United Church, the historic black community church in Montreal, President Mandela and his spouse (Winnie Mandela) underscored the bond that links the struggles of all people of African descent. They brought us pride, dig- nity and hope.”
The service inspired those in attendance as a choir sang a spirited version of the gospel song We Shall Overcome. Their rendition spurred everyone, including the politicians, to stand and clap their hands in unison. Coderre, Montreal’s first mayor to embrace social media, pulled out his smartphone at one point early in the service and clicked a photo of the choir.
Mandela “made all of us greater through his humanity and his teachings. The entire world is proud to be illuminated by the light he brought to it. Montreal is proud to have taken action when necessary to fight apartheid,” Coderre said while acknowledging Jean Doré, the former mayor of Montreal who welcomed Mandela to the city in 1990.
Coderre said the city will send a book of condolences that people have been signing at city hall since Mandela’s death Dec. 5 to his family in South Africa.
“In this way, we recognize his contributions to human thought,” the mayor said.