Before Stompin’ Tom passed away on March 6, 2013 he had made plans for more then just his own memorial service. He also stated that he did not want to be any part of the “In Memoriam” segments that are always included during the Juno Awards which is Canada’s equivalence of The Grammy Awards.

Connors has always been throughout his entire career the epitome of a proud Canadian and has stayed here his entire life, refusing to leave Canada even if it meant to make more money or further his career because that is not what Stompin’ Tom was all about.

In 1978 he had protested against the Junos and returned his 6 awards for his beliefs against the way he believed that they recognized other Canadian artists who had moved abroad in order to further their careers to achieve greater fame thus ignoring all of the smaller artists that chose to remain here in their home country of Canada. He referred to these kind of artists as “turncoat Canadians” stating that they should compete with U.S. artists for Grammy Awards and leave the Junos to those Canadian artists that chose to stay here in Canada.

As a very proud Canadian myself, I tip my hat off to you Stompin’ Tom for always staying true to your beliefs and your love of this great country of ours throughout your entire life and career is above and beyond reproach. I wish that I could have met you at some point during your life but that never happened, so like many other Canadians I am happy that your great music will be with us now and forever. May you always Rest In Peace and thank you for being such a very large and integral part of Canadiana

Cheers,
BriShi