In spite of stepping away from politics more than a decade ago, Mandela remains very much in the public spotlight after retirement, establishing the Nelson Mandela Foundation and visiting with high-profile leaders both at home and abroad.

Just a few months after his release from prison, Mandela makes his first-ever visit to Canada and addresses Parliament. Upon his second visit in September 1998, he is awarded the Companion of the Order of Canada, the first foreign head of state ever to receive the honour.

"Few people in our time or any century have so symbolized the spirit of freedom that lives in every human being as you have, sir," then Prime Minister Jean Chretien says, as he introduced Mandela to a joint session of the Commons and Senate. "Canadians respect, admire and love you."

In November 2001, Mandela becomes the first living person to receive an honorary Canadian citizenship during another trip to Ottawa, an event which is almost cancelled due to his prostate cancer treatment.

"You have honoured me beyond anything that I might have desired. I thank you," Mandela tells a special session of Parliament.

Mandela will forever be entrenched as a potent symbol of the struggle for human rights equality, not only in South Africa but around the world.

He is survived by his four living children, 17 grandchildren, and his third wife Graca Machel, whom he married in 1999 on his 80th birthday.