Ex-Canadian politician, activist dies

The Stephen Lewis Foundation announced his death on Tuesday. He had been diagnosed with stomach cancer eight years ago.

Lewis held multiple posts with the U.N. after his four-year stint as Canada’s ambassador, including as a special adviser to then secretary-general Kofi Annan.

He is the father of Avi Lewis, who was elected leader of Canada’s leftist federal New Democrat Party on Sunday.

Lewis spent a lifetime fighting for causes close to his heart — including human rights, equality for women and the plight of African families decimated by AIDS. His weapons of choice were words.

“Stephen spent the last eight years of his life battling cancer with the same indomitable energy he brought to his lifelong work: the unending struggle for justice and dignity for every human life,” his family said in a statement released shortly after his death.

Lewis was a prominent writer and orator in Canada, and spent decades championing the economically downtrodden and disenfranchised, warning the world of the threat of climate change and railing against physical and sexual violence against women and children everywhere.