Oakville remembers Councillor Marc Grant at a Town Hall celebration of life

Flags outside Oakville Town Hall have been at half-mast since the end of July, and on Saturday morning the atrium underneath them filled with people wearing purple. The gathering was a celebration of life for Ward 5 councillor Marc Grant, who served on Oakville council for 23 years and died on July 27 after a sudden illness.

Town staff, family, friends and colleagues attended, along with MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos and MP Anita Anand. Oakville Fire held an honour guard. Grant's sister, partner, former spouse, daughter and step-daughter were all there.

His daughter Mackenzie started with the ordinary things. She remembered her father trying to get her into Star Trek, his favourite, when she was four, and losing out to Barbie and Polly Pockets. ("That's not to say he didn't check in every couple of months just to be sure I didn't change my mind.") The lessons she took from him were about laughing, showing up for other people, and being good "even if you don't think what you do is good enough."

Councillor Jeff Knoll, a colleague on council and Grant's best friend for 25 years, turned the loss into an instruction for the room. "Don't wait," he said. "If somebody matters to you, tell them. If you love somebody, say it." Mayor Rob Burton called Grant the spokesperson on council for transit, gathering spaces, poverty and food security, the files he went to when the rest of council was distracted by other things.

Elder Stephen Paquette spoke about Grant's interest in Indigenous culture and his commitment to Truth and Reconciliation, and said it was not something Grant picked up because a date was coming up on the calendar. Paquette also noted that Anishinaabemowin has no word for goodbye, and closed with "bamaapii": until we meet again.