Former television journalist and disability advocate David Onley, who served as Ontario’s 28th lieutenant governor, has died at the age of 72.
“It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of the Honorable David S. Onley. On behalf of the people of Ontario, I extend my deepest condolences to his wife, Ruth Ann, their children, Jonathan, Robert and Michael, and their extended families,” current Ontario Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdwell said in a statement Saturday.
Born in Midland, Ontario. and raised in Scarborough in Toronto’s east end, Onley had a 22-year career as a television journalist before being appointed deputy king and was one of the first on-camera personalities with a visible disability. He began his television career as a weatherman for CityTV in 1984 and held numerous network roles before becoming anchor at CP24 in 1999.
Onley served as lieutenant governor from 2007 to 2014, becoming the first viceroy with a physical disability. He used a mobility scooter after suffering from polio as a child and is remembered as a champion of accessibility issues during his administration.
“As Ontario’s first lieutenant-governor with a physical disability, he made accessibility an overarching theme of his tenure, just as he had made removing barriers a mission earlier in his life,” said Dowdeswell. “While in office, his commitment to accessibility fostered a keen awareness that access to opportunity for all is a powerful force for transforming individual lives and society as a whole.”
After retiring as lieutenant governor, Onley joined the University of Toronto Scarborough campus as a lecturer in political science and was also appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2017.
“Mr. Onley believed so deeply in the good will and dogged practicality of Ontarians that he saw no reason why we couldn’t lead the world in transforming society so that everyone could contribute something of value.” And there’s no doubt that his legacy has positively impacted the lives of people in Ontario,” Dowdeswell said.
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