Apology for brown face
OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologised yesterday for wearing brown face makeup in 2001 after an embarrassing picture emerged less than five weeks before an election in which he faces a tough fight.
The image of a 29yearold Trudeau with his face in dark makeup is a major challenge for a leader who often speaks about the need to fight racial discrimination and who has three prominent ministers of Indian descent in his cabinet.
‘‘I should have known better then, but I didn’t and I did it and I’m deeply sorry,’’ Trudeau (47) told reporters on his campaign plane in Halifax, Nova Scotia, after Time magazine published the image.
Time said the image was provided by Vancouver businessman Michael Adamson earlier this month. Adamson was part of the West Point Grey Academy community where Trudeau (then 29) worked at the time, the magazine said. The picture was in the Vancouver private school’s yearbook.
Trudeau is locked in a tight battle with Conservative leader Andrew Scheer for the October 21 federal election.
Scheer said he was ‘‘extremely shocked and disappointed’’ by the photo, calling it ‘‘open mockery and racism’’.
Trudeau has seen his once skyhigh popularity hurt by a series of missteps, including a ruling last month by a top watchdog that he had breached ethics rules by pressuring the former justice minister to ensure a major construction firm avoid a corruption trial. — Reuters