Visitors line up around City Hall to pay respects to Rob Ford
Posted March 29, 2016 3:21 pm.
Last Updated March 29, 2016 3:33 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Visitation continues at City Hall today for former mayor Rob Ford.
A long line stretches outside of City Hall as mourners wait to pay their final respects to the Ward 2 city councillor who died last Tuesday.
City officials estimate about 2,500 people paid their respects yesterday. Mayor John Tory, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crosby and former mayoral opponent George Smitherman were among the mourners. A number of Don Bosco football players also payed their respects to their former coach.
His casket is draped in the City of Toronto flag.
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Ford’s family said tributes and messages of support have poured in from not only Toronto, but Canada and the around the world, and they are grateful for all of them. They have also thanked Mayor John Tory for allowing Rob Ford to lie in repose at City Hall.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in his honour to the Ford-Panov research panel at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Those who wish to express their condolences can go to City Hall until 9 p.m.
The councillor’s funeral will be at St. James Cathedral on Church St. near King St. The procession begins at 10:30 at City Hall and the funeral is expected to start at noon. Both will be streamed live on CityNews.ca and 680news.com.
Ford, who died after a long battle with a rare form of soft-tissue cancer, will be laid to rest in a private ceremony following the funeral.
Tomorrow evening a celebration of Ford’s life will be held at the Toronto Congress Centre at 6:30 p.m.
