Terry Fox has a place in the heart of every Canadian.  I also believe there is room for Terry's mother Betty Fox in our hearts too.  Just watching her on the tv special, Terry Fox: 25 Years of Legacy, and at the Terry Fox "hometown" Run in Port Coquitlam. show confirmed for me, that Betty Fox is a quintessential mother for all Canadians.

Betty Fox has tirelessly talked at elementary schools, universities and run sites across our country, and in other countries as well. Her two sons Fred, and Darrell, had been former directors of the BC Yukon Terry Fox Run offices.  Darrell is now National Run director.

On Friday, September 16, over one million school children across our vast country participated in the first-ever Terry Fox National School Day Run.  From St. John's in NewFound Land, to Victoria on Vancouver Island in BC.

To have Betty and Rolly Fox interviewed for the tv special while school children ran in the background was very important.
To have live television coverage of this event from different points across our country was very important.  At now other time in our nation, have over one million people all participated together in a single event.

And yet television coverage was almost jeopardized by the CBC lockout.  Moyra Rodger of Out To See Productions has been working tirelessly over the past year to produce the tv special that was shown twice on the weekend.  Over the past year, she filmed footage of interviews with significant people in Terry's life, as well as events such as the Canadian Mint coin launch for the $1 Terry Fox coin at Simon Fraser University.  Because of the CBC lockout, the project was threatened.  Scaled  back, and switched to an independent production, it continued on. On the morning of Friday, Sep 16th, Moyra recieved a 6am phone call that a picket line was blocking the St. John's camera crew.

I had a heart-felt talk with Moyra on Sunday night.  She had been the producer for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy television special that aired in 2004 and 2005, and was nominated for two Leo Awards.  I knew how much Terry Fox now meant to her.  Both Darrell Fox and I sung her praises to each other when we chatted at the coin launch.  Moyra is a compassionate worker, and includes people in the process.  Both Darrell and I felt that our own stories and interests were represented and respected by Moyra.  And here she was, exhausted from a long 2 weeks of filming and editing, getting the show finished for its 8pm airing just seconds in time.

We talked about how important it was for the country to have the television special go ahead, and what Terry means to Canadians.  She herself, had questions about proceeding during the CBC lockout.  She wouldn't have done it for a hockey game she told me.  But Terry Fox is special.  I told her that Darrell Fox had told me at times, "What would Terry do?"  Does this event raise people's inspiration and connect them to Terry's dream.  It's important.  period.

more later....

Tonight premieres the brand new Terry Fox movie starring Sean Ashton. 

7pm, Sunday Sep 11
CTV

Advance notice on the movie is pretty good, focussing on Terry's internal journey instead of merely reporting what happened.  We all are very familiar with the events, but what actually went on in Terry's head, or the social dynamics with his brother Darrell and best friend Doug Alward are stories to be revealed.

CBC started a documentary about Terry Fox, produced by my friend Moyra Rodger (CBC's TV performance special Gung Haggis Fat Choy).  Moyra was very excited earlier this year when I saw here filming clips during the Canadian Mint unveiling of the Terry Fox $1 coin.  Darrell Fox was very up on the production, and we both shared praises of Moyra. 

All that is in jeopardy with the CBC lock-out, that Canadian cultural expert Max Wyman told me "is such a waste!"  Canadians are deprived of Canadian culture, and all the support that CBC gives to our artists and events.

The Fox Family was featured on Shelagh Rogers' Sounds Like Canada for the anniversary of Terry's dip into the Atlantic Ocean - broadcast live from New Foundland, as CBC did an incredible job on radio and television focusing on Terry's achievements, 25 years later.

If you love Terry Fox, and want to see the television documentary, and hear CBC radio tell more stories about Terry - Call your local MP, write letters to your newspaper, and to CBC management.  I think the CBC lockout is a travesty to the trust and legacy of Canadian culture and artists.  As grateful, as I am to both CBC radio and television for promoting and documenting Gung Haggis Fat Choy, I know the difference between the producers, radio hosts and national management decision makers.