Hazel McCallion, a political powerhouse who served as Mississauga’s mayor for 36 years, was laid to rest on Tuesday in a state funeral surrounded by dignitaries, members of the public, friends and family.
Hundreds gathered at Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ont., to pay their respects on Feb. 14, which would have been McCallion’s 102nd birthday.
McCallion died at her home on Jan. 29 at the age of 101. Family friend Jim Murray said she died of pancreatic cancer, which she was diagnosed with around Christmas.
Affectionately known as “Hurricane Hazel,” many described her as the matriarch of Mississauga, transforming a small bedroom suburb community into one of Canada’s largest, fastest-growing and vibrant cities.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford took the podium and boasted about McCallion’s service in public office, her dedication and her commitment to her community. He called her a longtime close friend who selflessly offered wisdom and advice.
“There isn’t a single person who met Hazel who didn’t leave in awe of her force of personality,” Ford said. “She was always fighting for the underdog.
“Mississauga is a better city, Ontario is a better province and Canada is a better country because of the amazing life of Hazel McCallion.”
Born in 1921 in Port Daniel, Que., a small rural fishing community, McCallion moved to Toronto to work with Canadian Kellogg for 19 years. She then devoted her life to politics.
Prior to becoming mayor of Mississauga, McCallion was the mayor of Streetsville from 1970 to 1973. In 1974, Streetsville, Port Credit and the town of Mississauga amalgamated to form the City of Mississauga.
McCallion was then voted in as the mayor of Mississauga in 1978, which was followed by landslide victories for 12 terms where she developed a “no-nonsense advocacy.” She retired from politics at the impressive age of 93.
“She was a trailblazer, an innovator, a fighter, a pragmatist. Getting things done,” said Ontario’s Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell. “She will be long and fondly remembered.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also attended the funeral and said “Hazel was so unstoppable.”
“I think we all felt she was going to live forever.”
Trudeau described a time when he ran into McCallion in Europe, 15 years ago, where he joined her on one of the longest, highest and fastest ziplines in the world — a zipline between two mountain peaks in Italy.
“Then, in her late 80s, Hazel was not just the oldest elected official to ever do the zipline, she was one of the oldest people, period, to do it,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau said McCallion never had any interest in running provincially or federally because she said she “wouldn’t have been any good at following the party line.” Trudeau said it was likely that “we probably would have ended up as ministers serving in her cabinet.”
She was inducted into the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2005 and the Order of Ontario in 2021.
Amid all of her achievements, and decades of serving in politics, she also found time to raise three children: Peter, Linda and Paul.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who is in her third term as mayor, called her predecessor “our matriarch” and the “architect of our city.”
“She built our city in her vision and through her stewardship,” Crombie said. “It was a city that we chose, because of Hazel, to live in, to work in, to play in, to pray in, to invest in, and to raise our children in. It is the finest city in Canada.”
In 2016, Feb. 14 — which also happens to be Valentine’s Day — was renamed Hazel McCallion Day across Ontario in honour of her birthday.
Mississauga is now the third-largest city in Ontario and the sixth-largest in Canada, with a population of more than 700,000 as of 2021.
— with files from The Canadian Press