Jack Layton - Illness and Death

Illness and Death

On February 5, 2010, Layton announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He noted that his father Robert Layton had suffered from the same type of cancer 17 years before and recovered from it. His wife, Olivia Chow, had battled thyroid cancer a few years before. He vowed to beat the cancer and said it would not interrupt his duties as member of Parliament or as leader of the NDP.

Following the 2011 federal election, Layton led the party into the first month of the new session of Parliament, as well as attending the NDP Federal Convention in Vancouver. After Parliament rose for the summer, Layton announced on July 25, 2011 that he would be taking a temporary leave from his post to fight an unspecified, newly diagnosed cancer. He was hoping to return as leader of the NDP upon the resumption of the House of Commons on September 19, 2011. Layton recommended that NDP caucus chair Nycole Turmel serve as interim leader during his leave of absence.

Layton died at 4:45 am ET on August 22, 2011, at his home in Toronto. He was 61 years old.

Upon hearing the news, there was a nationwide outpouring of grief, and the Governor General, David Johnston, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, NDP deputy leader Libby Davies, and United States Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson issued statements praising Layton and mourning his loss. Layton's family released an open letter, written by Layton two days before his death. In it, he expressed his wishes regarding the NDP's leadership in the event of his death, and addressed various segments of the Canadian population, concluding, "My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world."

Layton was accorded a state funeral by the Governor-General-in-Council, which took place between August 25 and 27, 2011, with the final memorial service at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. Only two opposition leaders have died while in office; the first, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, had been a former prime minister, and so a state funeral was consistent with protocol. Layton is only the first opposition leader to die for whom a state funeral would not otherwise have been afforded, but Prime Minister Harper made the offer to Layton's widow who accepted. Layton was cremated following the funeral, with one portion of his ashes scattered on the Toronto Islands, a second portion buried at St. James Cemetery in Toronto under a memorial marker and a third portion planted with a memorial tree at the Wyman United Church cemetery in Hudson, Quebec, where his father and maternal grandparents are buried.

Layton's widow Olivia Chow, along with family members, as well as MP Tom Mulcair, attended the renaming ceremony of Hudson Marina to Jack Layton Park, a park located in Hudson, Quebec.