Harper marks Mandela’s passing with message as world continues to mourn

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper has signed a book of condolences marking the passing of Nelson Mandela.

Harper’s handwritten note said Mandela lived a life for the ages.

The world continued to mourn the passing of Mandela, 95, who died Thursday in his native South Africa.

Mandela was granted honorary Canadian citizenship in 2001, on this third and final trip here.

In the last decade of his life, he continued to entertain visitors to his home, including Stephen Lewis, the former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations during the end of the apartheid era.

Lewis says Mandela never forgot the support he received from Canada in helping gain his freedom and end racist, white rule of South Africa.