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For those who have no one to celebrate on Father’s Day, it’s easy to grow resentful. For many years, I could not forgive my father. I was angry at him for not being the dad I needed. He wasn’t around for much of my childhood. When I was a teenager, he disappeared entirely.

After a decade of silence, we exchanged emails in 2018, when he learned that I was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer. He wanted to see if I was going to live or die. We haven’t had any contact since. I’m not even sure if he knows that I survived.

Jamil Jivani
Senior Fellow at Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Jamil Jivani is an award-winning lawyer and author, who serves as the Government of Ontario’s first-ever advocate for Community Opportunities. He also leads a youth-focused research nonprofit, Road Home Research & Analysis, which is supported by the Pinball Clemens Foundation, and hosts a weekly radio show, “Tonight with Jamil Jivani” on Newstalk 1010.