Norm Macdonald MLA                                Columbia River – Revelstoke

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release

October 23rd, 2007

Today in the British Columbia Legislature, Columbia River – Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald made the following statement recognizing the work and contribution of Stephen Lewis and those in the area that have been inspired by Lewis.

 - - -

On Sunday I joined over 600 Kootenay residents in Cranbrook to hear Stephen Lewis speak. Members of the Legislature will know that Stephen Lewis has a tremendous list of accomplishments including his work as the United Nations representative in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

If members have not already done so, I highly recommend that the read his book Race Against Time, which builds on the work he prepared for the Massey Lectures. It is a powerful read, and I'm hoping that a number of you have already read it.

The opportunity to hear Stephen Lewis speak is a compelling example of the power of spoken word. He is a tremendous speaker.

It is that spoken word that has inspired so many in my area to take action. These are a few examples.

In the Kootenays we have the organization Grandmothers to Grandmothers and if you remember, at the beginning of the week, we had visitors here from Zambia that are also members of that organization. Last spring I had a booth at the Golden trade fair, and in the booth beside me there was a group of Golden Grandmothers raising money for Africa. Over the course of that trade fair, I watched a group of friends and neighbours which included my mother-in-law and the person who rents out my constituency office all working together with Grandmothers on the other side of the world to make a difference with the difficulties created by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Also inspired by Stephen Lewis, Kara Hunt, a teacher in Golden, is working with her class and other elementary students in the area to raise money for Africa.

Last year, a group of Selkirk Secondary students in Kimberley began to organize an event which would be held on July 7th of 2007 which is of course the date 07/07/07. They had been inspired by Stephen Lewis. They had read the book Race Against Time, they had discussed it, and they met to plan an event to raise the issue of Canada's failure to meet the objectives set by Lester Pearson to have 0.7 percent of our GDP going towards international development.

All of these people took action because of the work and the words of Stephen Lewis.

If you've not read the book Race Against Time; it's there in the library for our use. I would invite all members to take the time to read it.