The casket carrying theThe funeral cortège of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is taken through the streets of Montreal as it is taken to Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal Saturday, March 23, 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter McCabe
MONTREAL – A handful of mourners gathered outside the security barrier surrounding Old Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica this morning, braving snow and frigid temperatures to pay respects to Brian Mulroney and get a glimpse of the former prime minister’s funeral ceremony.
Seventy-four-year-old Colleen Hawley said she travelled all the way from Amherst, N.S., to say goodbye to her favourite prime minister, a man she said she admired for his common sense and dedication to Canada.
She initially stood alone on the snow-covered street to the west of the basilica, saying she was determined to witness Mulroney’s funeral procession despite the weather and her increasingly damp sneakers.
A block away, 65-year-old Michel Morin took shelter from the snow inside a doorway across the street from the basilica hoping to watch the ceremony for Mulroney, a fellow Quebecer who Morin called the “little guy from our home.”
Nearby, 61-year-old Kathleen Girard tried to get a glimpse of some of the funeral’s high-profile attendees as they entered the basilica.
She came to Montreal from Plessisville, Que., for an unrelated event but said she respected what she described as Mulroney’s down-to-earth personality and selflessness.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 23, 2024.
