Member's statement: Michael Canavan

Member's statement by Ms Sinéad McLaughlin on 12 October 2026.

MLA: Ms Sinéad McLaughlin
Party at the time: Social Democratic and Labour Party
Date: 12 October 2026
Type: Member's statement
Business: Members' Statements
Heading: Michael Canavan
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5785792

Text

I pay tribute to Michael Canavan, who has sadly passed away at the remarkable age of 102. He was an extraordinary gentleman, and I held him in high regard. Michael was a giant in Derry's civil rights movement and a founding member of the SDLP who dedicated his life to standing up for his city and its people. It is difficult to do justice in just a few minutes to everything that Michael achieved. He was on Duke Street on 5 October 1968, when peaceful civil rights protesters were met with violence. He witnessed at first hand the discrimination and injustice that so many people in Derry faced. He served as the secretary of the Derry Citizens’ Action Committee, was involved the Derry Citizens' Defence Association during the battle of the Bogside and was chair of the central committee at the time of Bloody Sunday. Michael refused to stand by when he saw injustice. He believed that everyone deserved to be treated with dignity, fairness and respect, and he was prepared to stand up and demand it. Michael's contribution to Derry went far beyond the civil rights movement. He was John Hume's election agent in 1969, helped to establish the SDLP and was elected to the Assembly in 1973.
He was also involved in establishing Derry Credit Union, an organisation that continues to make a real difference to people across our city.
One of the causes closest to Michael's heart was the campaign for a university in Derry. He was part of the University for Derry Committee. In 1965, when the decision was made to locate the new university in Coleraine, he refused to accept that Derry should simply be left behind. At a time when our city was losing rail connections and economic opportunities, Michael was writing to industrialists across the world, encouraging them to invest in Derry and the north-west. That tells us everything that we need to know about what kind of man he was. He was not prepared to accept that Derry should settle for less, and he certainly was not prepared to give up on its future. Sixty years later, Michael was still campaigning for greater investment in our city and in the university, which generations of people had fought to secure. I had many lively conversations with Michael on a range of economic issues, and I always came away feeling much richer for them. As someone who continues to campaign for regional balance and fair investment in the north-west, I feel that there is an enormous amount that we can learn from Michael's determination. He understood that Derry deserved the same opportunities as everywhere else — not special treatment but equal treatment — and that achieving that fairness required people who were prepared to keep making the case, even when others refused to listen.
Our city is a better place because of Michael's —
— courage, determination and lifelong commitment to the city.

489 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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