Canada’s Trudeau apologises for ‘racist’ brown-face picture

Ottawa, September 19

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologised on Wednesday for wearing brown face make-up 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 29-year-old Trudeau with his face in dark make-up 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 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,” Trudeau, 47, told reporters on his campaign plane in Halifax, Nova Scotia, after Time magazine published the image. “Now, I recognise it was something racist to do. It was a dumb thing to do. I’m disappointed in myself,” he said. 

“I have worked all my life to create opportunities for people and fight against racism and tolerance and I can stand here and say I made a mistake when I was younger,” he said.

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.  “I dressed up in an Aladdin costume and put make-up on. I shouldn’t have done it,” Trudeau said.

The picture shows him wearing a turban and a white robe, with his face covered in dark makeup. Trudeau also admitted he had dressed up in make-up when at high school and performed “Day O”, a traditional Jamaican song about people loading bananas onto boats.

Trudeau is locked in a battle with Conservative leader Andrew Scheer ahead of the October 21 federal election. Scheer said he was “extremely shocked and disappointed” by the photo. —  Agencies