Malcolm Austin Day declared in Yellowknife for boy, 6, with cancer

The City of Yellowknife has declared Nov. 30 Malcolm Austin Day, after a six-year-old boy who has a rare form of brain cancer.

Friends and family of Malcolm asked the city to make the declaration for Sunday specifically because Malcolm is returning to Yellowknife today after spending six weeks in an Edmonton hospital.

"Oh, it's a huge honour, it's a huge honour," said Malcom's father Andrew Austin. "We were kind of dumbfounded by it." 

Malcolm has an aggressive brain tumour that's hard to treat. He has been in Edmonton getting radiation.

​"Hopefully he'll be feeling OK," Andrew said. "The effects of the radiation treatment have taken their toll on him."

In the proclamation for Malcolm Austin Day, Mayor Mark Heyek says Malcolm and his brother Lachlan have always been active Yellowknife citizens, "who have not hesitated to contact City Hall to find out when the street sweepers will be passing through their neighbourhood each spring so they could start riding their bicycles."

The celebration for Malcolm Austin Day begins with Malcolm riding in a police car — flashing lights and all — followed by a party at N.J. Macpherson School.