Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it has it Terry Fox statue wrapped in a Palestine Keffiyeh scarf and kids holding Palestinian flags in Canada.
Keffiyeh SCARF WRAPPED AROUND TERRY FOX STATUE:
In January 2022 – not long after hundreds of Freedom Convoy protesters arrived in downtown Ottawa – it quickly became a point of national controversy that demonstrators had draped the city’s Terry Fox statue with anti-mandate paraphernalia.
Images showed the bronze statue with a Team Canada ball cap, a sign reading “mandate freedom,” and an upside-down Canadian flag – a symbol of the Freedom Convoy.
Not long after a cross-section of Canadian politicians and media figures decried the “desecration” of Ottawa’s Terry Fox statue after it was hung with Freedom Convoy paraphernalia, those same quarters have remained oddly silent after people attending an Oct. 29 rally calling for Israel’s destruction did exactly the same thing.
“This is wrong. In fact, garbage. Here’s a simple thought: leave Terry Fox’s statue (& veterans memorials alone),” wrote West in a Thursday post to X.com.
On Oct. 29, Parliament Hill and surrounding areas saw one of Canada’s largest pro-palestinian demonstrations. Although framed as rally for a “ceasefire,” the event featured no shortage of open calls for Israel’s destruction, most notably through repeated chants of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Photos taken by demonstrators show the Terry Fox statue draped in a keffiyeh — a symbol of Palestinian “resistance.” Three children are also pictured hanging from the statue holding Palestinian flags and flashing “v for victory” signs with their fingers.
The photo was posted online by the Palestinian Youth Movement, a perennial organizer of anti-israel protests in Canadian cities, including following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacres against Israeli civilians.
The images prompted no less than 10 separate condemnations in the House of Commons or in Parliamentary committees – and inspired statements from Ottawa’s then-mayor Jim Watson and Brad West, the mayor of Terry Fox’s hometown of Port Coquitlam, B.C.
“Whatever your cause, you don’t get to appropriate his legacy and you don’t touch his statue. Ever,” West wrote at the time.
This week, he was one of the only politicians to strike the same tone in the wake of the statue being draped in Palestinian symbols.
WHO WAS TERRY FOX?
Humans of Socrates 20: Terry Fox
Terry Fox (1958-1981) was a Canadian athlete and cancer research activist who became a national hero for his Marathon of Hope.
Diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, Fox had his right leg amputated but didn’t let that stop him from making a difference.
He lived only 23 years but made a great impact on everyone who knew him.
The Act:
In 1980, Terry Fox embarked on the Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada run to raise money for cancer research. Starting in St. John’s, Newfoundland, with a prosthetic leg, he aimed to run a marathon a day until he reached the Pacific Ocean.
His journey captured the hearts of Canadians and people around the world, raising awareness and millions of dollars for cancer research.
Fox had to end his run after 143 days and 5,373 kilometers (3,339 miles) when cancer spread to his lungs. Though he couldn’t complete the marathon, his legacy lived on.
The annual Terry Fox Run has since raised over $800 million for cancer research, making a lasting impact on the fight against the disease.
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