Canada’s Trudeau admits to racist ‘brownface’ makeup

OTTAWA (AFP) — Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a fervent advocate of the multiculturalism integral to Canadian identity, apologized Wednesday for wearing brownface makeup to a party at a school where he taught 18 years ago.

Time magazine published the photograph one week into a federal election campaign with Trudeau’s Liberal Party in a tight contest against the Conservatives led by Andrew Scheer.

Trudeau, 47, whose party won a landslide victory in 2015, has already been under attack for an ethics lapse and other controversies.

The black-and-white photograph shows Trudeau, then 29, wearing a turban and robes with his face, neck and hands darkened at a gala party in 2001.

The picture appears in the 20002001 yearbook of West Point Grey Academy, a private school where Trudeau taught at the time, the U.S.based Time magazine said.

Trudeau himself confirmed it was him in the photo “at the school’s annual dinner which had a costume theme of ‘Arabian Nights.’”

“I have worked all my life to try to create opportunities for people, fight against racism and intolerance,” Trudeau told a televised news conference on his campaign aircraft.

“I can say I made a mistake when I was younger and I wish I hadn’t. I wish I had known better then, but I didn’t and I’m deeply sorry for it.”

“Now I recognize it was something racist to do,” he said. “It was a dumb thing to do. I’m disappointed in myself.”

Trudeau also admitted to wearing dark makeup singing Harry Belafonte’s 1959 hit Day O (Banana Boat Song) at a separate high school talent contest.

Jagmeet Singh, leader of the third place New Democratic Party, reacted by calling the behavior “insulting.”

AP-Yonhap Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau makes a statement in regards to a photo coming to light of himself from 2001, wearing “brownface,” during a scrum on his campaign plane in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Wednesday.