It’s unusual for one young person to cause the Ontario legislature to grind to a halt.But the recent death of Yusra Javed, 21, a much-loved Queen’s Park press gallery intern, did just that on Tuesday.Political staffers, journalists, MPPs, and legislative officials stopped what they were doing to remember Javed, a Ryerson University student who died of a rare heart ailment on Sept. 14.Premier Doug Ford took time to attend the private unveiling of a photograph of Javed in the press gallery lounge, where he consoled her parents, Sabrina Suraiya and Mohammad Javed, and her brother Junaid.Ford, a father of four adult daughters, was visibly moved as he met with the Javed family.New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath, leader of the official opposition, also paid her respects in the gallery lounge.In the legislative chamber, Speaker Ted Arnott delivered a statement from the Queen’s Park press gallery about how much the ambitious young journalist cared about covering politics.“Her picture now hangs in the press gallery lounge, so that everyone will know that,” Arnott said before a minute of silence.“She has taken her rightful place among the giants who inspired her, and so that she may inspire generations of journalists to come,” the speaker continued.“Many of us have found ourselves in the past few weeks stopping all of a sudden when we realize Yusra’s gone. Her press gallery internship was always supposed to wrap up at the end of the summer,” he said.“But to know that she is not out in the world, wowing the CBC at her internship there, working on freelance stories in her spare time, finishing her degree at Ryerson, charming absolutely everyone she meets and spending time with her wonderful family, is just so abjectly unfair.”Before the daily question period, New Democrat MPP Doly Begum (Scarborough Southwest) delivered an address to the legislature on behalf of all members.“I had the privilege of ...
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