Groping ‘did occur as reported,’ woman says

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continued to face questions Friday over an alleged groping incident from 18 years ago, the woman who initially made the allegation broke her recent silence, saying the incident “did occur as reported.”

In a statement offering the caveat that she represents no organization, media outlet or political movement, and that she has no intention of saying anything further, the woman said she is standing by the account of the events outlined in an August 2000 editorial published in a small-town B.C. newspaper that alleged Trudeau “groped” and “inappropriately handled” her. “I issue this statement reluctantly in response to mounting media pressure,” the woman said in the statement, which CBC published late Friday afternoon. While her name was included in the statement as CBC published it, the Post is still choosing not to name her out of respect for her request for privacy. She has previously declined the Post’s requests for comment. In August 2000, Trudeau, then 28 years old and still years from launching his career in politics, attended a music festival in Creston, B.C. to accept a donation towards a the construction of a public backcountry lodge to be built in the nearby provincial park where his brother Michel had died two years earlier after being swept into a lake by an avalanche while skiing.

“I was a reporter for the Creston Valley Advance from 1999 through 2001," the woman’s statement said. "I was assigned to cover the August 2000 Creston music festival by my employer and was the reporter referred to in the editorial.

“The incident referred to in the editorial did occur as reported. Mr. Trudeau did apologize the next day. I did not pursue the incident at the time and will not be pursuing the incident further. I have had no subsequent contact with Mr. Trudeau before or after he became prime minister.” “The debate, if it continues, will continue without my involvement,” she wrote.

As the statement was released Friday Trudeau was making a media appearance in Calgary, where reporters asked him to react to the woman standing by the allegation.

“As I’ve said from the very beginning, I would never presume to speak for her or to have a perspective on how she should feel or should act on this," Trudeau said. "I respect very much her right and her ability to make choices about what is best for her and her family and I obviously will continue to stand as a defender of understanding and respect for individuals and the experiences they go through.”