Lennox Farrell is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 community activist and retired teacher from Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

.

Currently, he is head of the Caribbean Cultural Committee, which puts on the Caribana parade.

In 1985, Farrell was involved in protesting the appearance of apartheid South Africa’s ambassador to Canada, Glenn Babb

Glenn Babb

Glenn Robin Ware Babb is a former politician and diplomat for the former apartheid government in South Africa. More recently he has been a businessman and entrepreneur...

, at a debate at the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

’s Hart House. Farrell was accused of hurling the debating society’s ceremonial mace at Babb during the raucous protest. Charges against Farrell were eventually dropped.

Farrell ran as a New Democratic Party of Ontario candidate in the riding of Oriole in the 1990 provincial election

Ontario general election, 1990

The Ontario general election of 1990 was held on September 6, 1990, to elect members of the 35th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada....

, coming in second place behind Elinor Caplan

Elinor Caplan

Elinor Caplan, PC is a retired politician and businesswoman in Ontario, Canada. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1997, and was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 1997 to 2004...

.

He ran against popular North York Mayor Mel Lastman

Mel Lastman

Melvin Douglas "Mel" Lastman , nicknamed "Mayor Mel", is a former businessman and politician. He is the founder of the Bad Boy Furniture chain. He served as the mayor of the former city of North York, Ontario, Canada from 1972 until 1997. At the end of 1997, North York, along with five other...

 in 1994, over a dispute over the musical Show Boat

Show Boat

Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...

being staged in North York. He finished a distant third.

In 1988, Farrell was a founding member of the Black Action Defence Committee

Black Action Defence Committee

The Black Action Defence Committee is a Canadian activist group founded by Dudley Laws, Charles Roach, Sherona Hall and Lennox Farrell with Laws as the group's chair. It was founded in 1988 in response to the killing of Lester Donaldson, which was the latest in a series of police shootings of Black...

.