Thank you to all those who helped make last night’s celebration of Rafe Mair’s 80th birthday a smashing success! A packed house at Vancouver’s Wise Hall was treated to entertaining and inspiring words from a wide range of speakers – each representing the different areas of Rafe’s long and storied career in politics, media and the environmental movement.
The list of memorable roasters included CBC broadcaster Rick Cluff, radio legend Red Robinson, David Beers of The Tyee and Grand Chief Stuart Phillip – plus surprise appearances by retired NDP MLA Corky Evans and Chief Marilyn Baptiste of the Tsilhqot’in peoples battling Prosperity Mine. The program was expertly MC’d by Rafe’s former producer and current CBC program director Shiral Tobin and culminated in a moving speech from the man of the hour, Rafe Mair.
The proceeds from the roast will be a boon to our work at The Common Sense Canadian – bad news for the likes of Enbridge, Marine Harvest and Taseko Mines; good news for citizens who care about managing our public resources for the public and environmental good.
A special thank you to Rafe’s family who came a long way to be there, to all our roasters, volunteers and to the Wise Club for playing host to such a memorable evening.
Last night’s event was well documented, so watch for video highlights next week!
I, too, would love to have a DVD copy of the event. I read Rafe’s blogs religiously, and would have gone to the party if it had been at all possible.
Belated birthday greetings, Rafe!
Well I was one of the ones who tried really hard to get there last night. I met Richard Hughes in the ferry lineup at Departure Bay; all ferries cancelled due to high winds. I was left looking longingly out to sea. Thank you Rafe for all you give to public dialogue: your truth, courage and humour. You are inspiring.
My daughter took my wife and I to a surprise event last night. It was to the Roast. I don’t know how she found out about the Roast but she remembers hearing Rafe on the car radio when I drove her to school in the morning all those years ago and thought I might be interested.
Times have changed since those days.
The radio is no longer total NW. We still wake up to Till in the morning and McComb in the afternoon but CBC has become a staple.
As a Liberal, I always thought Rafe was more wrong than he was right. Now the Harper bunch has been in power for a while, I know he was wrong.
I was disappointed with the affair. I went to a Roast and got a love-in with a garlic ring in place of the beads!
For a moment I thought I was at the Bard and Corky Evans is going to get drummed out of the NDP. The three Chiefs practically blew me away with their sincerity and the song was amazing! McComb forgot to Roast and Red didn’t mention the Glue Song.
I thought Rafe looked old but when I got home and looked in the mirror………
He sure sounded good. I could have closed my eyes and been 20 years younger.
Thanks for all the good times, Rofe. Keep it up.
Good suggestion, Kelly. I think we’ll take you up on it. We thoroughly documented the show last night with three cameras. Thanks for coming and being a part of a memorable evening. Rafe was deeply touched by the outpouring of support.
As a further ‘fundraising’ effort, I hope you will be making DVD copies of the Roast available for sale. It would be a great way to share the event with those who could not be there in person to enjoy this celebration. I would be the first in line to buy one… and I WAS there. It was an amazing event, and I would love a permanent record of this historic celebration.
All my love & admiration to Rafe.