Sherry Sakamoto pulled up to the Vancouver Art Gallery on her bike Wednesday afternoon and grabbed a bouquet of flowers from her panniers.
"They're for Jack," she said after laying it on the steps of the gallery, where a makeshift shrine was created in memory of late national NDP leader Jack Layton, who died of cancer Monday. "I really feel that Jack represented the every person and I just wanted to show my respects."
Sakamoto confessed she "voted strategically" in the last federal election in May and not for Layton and the NDP, which won an unprecedented 103 seats in Parliament to form the Official Opposition. "I didn't want to vote strategically, but I felt I had to," she said, adding that she has a "soft spot" for the NDP and its predecessor the CCF. "It was the only party that tried to support my parents through the [Japanese] internment."
Sakamoto was one of dozens of people who stopped by the shrine on the Robson Street side of the gallery to pay their respects to Layton, who was 61 when he died at his home in Toronto.
Cards and notes lay on the steps, including one from Audia, which read, "I didn't know him but I know I loved him." Another read, "I heard somebody say he was the best prime minister we never had."
Among the notes were Orange Crush cans and bottles-symbols of the NDP's orange colour-and flowers and candles. What caught Clement Lau's attention was a picture somebody drew of Layton's moustache.
"It's iconic," said Lau, a Sir Winston Churchill Secondary student who was inspired by Layton's optimism for young and old people to improve Canada. "We did our own election at school and it turned out the NDP finished on top."
Gus Leon spent a few moments reading the messages at the shrine and said he wasn't surprised by the outpouring of wishes for Layton. Leon immigrated from Germany 10 years ago and had never voted for the NDP until the last election.
"He was like a role model politician for me-he had a vision and that was very important," said Leon, noting Layton's championing of improving health care in the country and watching out for families. "Stephen Harper is so far away from the people and Jack Layton was down to Earth and was really close with the people."
News of a state funeral for Layton is deserving, added Leon.
"An outstanding person, an outstanding politician."
Thousands of people turned out Wednesday at the House of Commons in Ottawa to file past the NDP leader's Canadian-flag draped coffin. Politicians, staffers and Layton's family were all on hand.
Layton's coffin will return to Toronto and lie in repose at city hall before the state funeral Saturday. The ceremony will be televised-news to 14-year-old girls Maeve O'Sullivan and Jade Wu, who stopped by the shrine at the gallery. "My cousin passed away from cancer and it was really sad," O'Sullivan said.
"Even if you don't know a person who died from cancer, it's heartbreaking that their life is totally gone," added Wu.
Twitter: @Howellings
