Ing Wong-Ward, a CBC journalist and tireless fighter for the rights of disabled Canadians, died Saturday from complications of colon cancer.
Her husband, Tim, who was at her side, said Wong-Ward, who was 46, died peacefully.
“She was an exceptional person; a wonderful wife, mother, colleague and friend to so many, as well as a powerful force in the disabled community,” Tim Wong-Ward wrote on both Facebook and Twitter.
“She was the strongest person I have ever known, right to the very end.”
Ing Wong-Ward was a journalism and broadcasting mainstay for 23 years at CBC-TV and CBC Radio, mentoring scores of young journalists along the way.
She worked behind the scenes and as a host on The Disability Network; as a researcher and producer for Newsworld; and produced stories for the flagship nightly news program The National.
She also spent 15 years with CBC Radio, much of it in the CBC Toronto newsroom, where she was a producer with Metro Morning, Here & Now and Fresh Air.
Confined to a wheelchair because of neurodegenerative disorder, she was a tireless advocate for Canadians with disabilities, an issue Canada continues to grapple with.
Through it all, she refused to call attention to herself and loathed being referred to as “inspirational” or “brave.”
“The reality is every one of us is a mortal human bring with human bodies and will have to face something,” she said in a 2018 interview with Metro Morning.
Wong-Ward, who joined CBC in 1993 after earning a journalism degree from Ryerson University, left the corporation in 2016 to become associate director at The Centre for Independent Living in Toronto.
In 2017, she was diagnosed an inoperable form of colon cancer
Presented with the option of a medically-assisted death, she chose to enter palliative care because, she explained, she didn’t want to miss a moment with her young daughter, Zhenmei.
With files from CBC, CP,
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