August 2, 1988 - Rekindle the Light Festival

Commonwealth foreign ministers join festival seeking to end apartheid. Canada was actively involved in proposing sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid system, which legally denied basic rights to blacks. As a member of the British Commonwealth, Canada also sought to lead a unified front that would persuade South Africa to change its laws. Canada supported changes that would allow the black majority to vote and enjoy the same freedoms as South Africa’s white population. On August 2, 1988, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Clark and six other Commonwealth foreign ministers joined 3,000 people at the Rekindle the Light Festival on Toronto’s harbourfront. There, they lit candles to symbolize “lighting the way out of apartheid.” Six years later, their aims became reality as black South Africans were granted equal rights, including the ability to vote.

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