Honourable senators, I rise today to pay tribute to my friend and a truly great Canadian, Stephen H. Lewis. Stephen Lewis is the co-founder and board co-chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. This is a brilliant, groundbreaking model of charitable work and truly a family vision forged with Stephen’s life partner and mother of their three remarkable children, Ilana, Avi and Jenny, my dear friend Michele Landsberg.

Stephen and their first-born, Ilana Landsberg-Lewis, followed a unique anti-colonial vision of working as supportive partners with African activists, understanding that it was the front-line advocates who must lead the way. Thousands of Canadians across this country, for more than a decade now, have participated in the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign that has saved lives.

Unlike many other charities at the time, Ilana and Stephen had deep roots with grassroots organizations in Africa and knew how to build respectful relationships that led to innovative programs on the ground.

This community-led work has been so effective that the foundation fund is now well over $10 million a year. Stephen is also the co-director of AIDS-Free World, an international advocacy organization that alerts the world on a whole range of UN-related issues but, in particular, sexual abuse and exploitation in the UN system under the banner Code Blue.

Stephen is a past member of the board of directors of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and emeritus board member of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. He served as a commissioner on the Global Commission on HIV and the Law. Stephen Lewis’s work with the United Nations spans more than two decades. He was the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa from June 2001 until the end of 2006. From 1995 to 1999, he was deputy executive director of UNICEF at the global headquarters in New York, and from 1984 through 1988 — appointed by then-Prime Minister Mulroney — he was Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations. It was my good fortune to be living in New York during this time, so I got to see Stephen up close in the complex UN system.

Stephen Lewis was leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, during which time he became leader of the official opposition and mesmerized the country over and over again with his orator skills. He is the author of the best-selling book Race Against Time. He holds more than 40 honorary doctorates from Canadian and American universities.

In 2003, Stephen was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest honour for lifetime achievement.

In the brief time left to me, I simply want to share with you that Stephen Lewis is fighting for his life with abdominal cancer. Steve Paikin and others in media have printed various tributes. I want to share the widespread sense that he is the greatest orator of our contemporary time. He is also a spectacular human being. I am so honoured to call him a friend and a mentor. I want to express heartfelt thanks for the number of times that, even though Stephen and Michele do not approve of this Senate —