Rob Ford’s body will lie in repose at city hall for two days next week in order to allow members of the public to pay their respects to the late city councillor and former mayor.
According to funeral details that were released late Wednesday afternoon, Ford’s body will arrive at city hall at 9 a.m. on Monday. Members of the public will then be able to stop by city hall between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Monday and 7:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Tuesday to pay their final respects.
A procession will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday as Ford’s body is taken from city hall to St. James Cathedral for his funeral. That service is planned for 12 p.m. and will be followed by a private ceremony, where Ford will be laid to rest.
A public memorial will then be held at the Toronto Congress Centre on Dixon Road at 6:30 p.m.
As part of that event, Ford’s family are asking members of the public to send short video clips to robfordmemorial@gmail.com in which they talk about their experiences with the longtime Ward 2 councillor. Those clips will then be compiled into a montage that will be shown during the event.
Due to the proceedings, city council meeting that was scheduled to begin next Wednesday will begin on Thursday morning instead.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Ford’s honour to the Ford-Panov research panel at Mount Sinai Hospital.
“As difficult as it is to say goodbye, they (Ford’s family) would like to do so in the same manner in which he lived his life, by sharing it with the people,” Ford’s chief of staff Dan Jacobs said in a statement announcing the funeral details.
Jacobs told CP24 that officials at city hall are expecting “a lot of people” to come by to speak with Ford’s family and say their goodbyes.
The chief of staff also said that it is the hope of the family that some members of the public will be able to attend the funeral at St. James Cathedral.
It is not immediately clear who will eulogize Ford.
“It is a matter of who feels up to it,” Jacobs said. “It is very hard for a lot of people.”
The last time members of the public were invited to city hall to pay their final respects to an official was in 2011 when Jack Layton died.
Back then, thousands of Torontonians filed into the rotunda of city hall where the late NDP leaders casket was placed.
Condolences pour in
Ford passed away on Tuesday morning following an 18-month battle with a rare form of soft tissue cancer.
In the wake of his death, hundreds of city residents have visited city hall to sign a book of condolence that will be provided to Ford’s family and thousands more have posted their thoughts on a website that had been set up to provide Ford with well wishes during his battle with cancer.
A separate website set up by the City of Toronto has also been inundated with messages of condolences and memories of Ford. As of 5 p.m. that site had already accumulated more than 140 pages of messages.
Speaking with CP24 on Wednesday, a friend of the Ford family said they have been overwhelmed by all of the good wishes they have received.
“They (Ford’s family) are overwhelmed with the amount of words and condolences and sympathy that has been forwarded over the last 24 hours from all over the world,” Dana McKeil said. “It has been really overwhelming.”
McKeil said that some of Ford’s former football players at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School are planning to visit city hall as a group to sign the book of condolence and efforts are underway to display many of cards and artifacts that have been sent to Ford’s office in the late councillor’s window overlooking Nathan Phillips Square.
Meanwhile, as Toronto gets set to say its final goodbyes to Ford many residents are taking the time to reflect on his life and discuss his legacy.
“Rob had this real talent to connect with people who felt they had no power and felt left behind. He could connect with people emotionally and sort of feel their pain,” former mayoral candidate Olivia Chow told CP24 on Wednesday morning. “I think that is something that we could all stand to learn, whether you are in politics or not.”
“He really believed that the way to do his job was every case at one time, so in other words ‘this lady needs her curb fixed. Let’s fix that curb and then move on.’ That is why people loved him,” Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti added in a subsequent interview, noting that Ford was a “gentle giant.”
Memorial at Douglas B. Ford Park
Since Ford’s death was announced, a growing memorial has sprung up at Douglas B. Ford Park, which is named for his late father.
One man who visited the park to pay his respects on Wednesday told CP24 that Ford was truly one of a kind.
“I am disabled and when I was trying to cross the street he would stop his truck and walk me across the street. When he was running for council and going through chemo he would stop at my door just to see how I was doing,” the man said. “To me he was good. He always put me first and him with his problems second. What more can you say about a person like that.”
Flags at City Hall, Metro Hall and Toronto civic centres were lowered to half mast following the announcement of Ford's death and will remain so until the end of the day on March 30.
