Trudeau apologizes a second time after blackface video surfaces

WINNIPEG, MB. (NEWS 1130) – After a third image of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau with darkened skin surfaced online, he again said sorry for “the pain he caused racialized Canadians.”

“What I did hurt them, hurt people who shouldn’t have to face intolerance and discrimination because of their identity. This is something that I deeply, deeply regret,” he said. “It is something that people who live with the kind of discrimination, that far too many people do, because of the colour of their skin, or their history, or their origins, or their language, or their religion, face on a regular basis and I didn’t see that from the layers of privilege that I have. And for that I am deeply sorry and I apologize.”

Trudeau made the second apology in as many days in Winnipeg while on the campaign trail surrounded by supporters and candidates.

He added it is always been unacceptable to darken your skin, stressing blackface is racist.

During his first apology on Wednesday night, Trudeau said he was sorry for wearing “makeup,” but did not use the terms “brownface” or “blackface.” However, that changed within 24 hours. “It is something absolutely unacceptable to do, and I appreciate calling it makeup, but it was blackface, and that is just not right.”

Related stories:

It’s shaken the election campaign, but has Trudeau’s brownface image shaken the trust of voters?

‘Insulting,’ ‘shocking,’ troubling:’ Party leaders react to photo of Trudeau in brownface

Trudeau apologizes for ‘racist’ brownface yearbook photo

Trudeau was asked again Thursday how many other times has he done this. He hesitated, and admitted he couldn’t remember.

“I am wary of being definitive about this because of the recent pictures that came out, I had not remembered. And I think the question is, ‘How can you not remember that?’ The fact is, I didn’t understand how hurtful this is to people who live with discrimination every single day. I have always acknowledged that I come from a place of privilege, but I now need to acknowledge that comes with a massive blindspot,” he said. “I have dedicated my leadership and my service to Canada, to try to counter intolerance and racism everywhere I can, but this has been a moment where I’ve had to reflect on the fact that wanting to do good and wanting to do better simply isn’t good enough, and you need to take responsibility for mistakes that hurt people who thought I was an ally.”

Trudeau was asked if he would allow one of his candidates to continue running for the Liberals in this election if they came forward with a similar incident in their history. “I think that’s a question that we would look at every step of the way. I think examining a case by case situation, examining the actions that someone has taken, I am certainly conscious that in my political career, as leader and indeed as prime minister, we’ve taken many concrete actions to fight against racism, to fight against intolerance, to fight against anti-black racism specifically to recognize unconscious bias and systemic discrimination that exists in Canada and elsewhere… even though we’ve moved forward in significant ways as a government what I did, the choices I made, hurt people who thought I was an ally. I am an ally, but this is something that obviously I deeply regret and I should’ve never done.”

When NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was asked whether he thought Trudeau is racist, he said that is for Canadians to decide. Singh says he’d like to meet with Trudeau face-to-face to tell Trudeau how the yearbook photo affects minorities nation-wide. “He’s mocking the struggles people are going through and that pattern of behaviour of making light of the struggles that people face, to me, I think Canadians are going to have a lot of questions about his sincerity. A lot of questions about who is the real Mr. Trudeau.”

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer revealed his party received the video depicting Trudeau with darkened skin and it was turned over to a news outlet. “A concerned individual who did see the video did bring it to our campaign and our campaign turned it over to a responsible news outlet for verification.”

He feels the image of Trudeau dressed in costume was based on a lie. “Canadians might have been able to accept his apology if he had been truthful and open, if he hadn’t based that apology on a lie but he was specifically asked if there are other instances where he engaged in this type of racist behaviour and he indicated there was only one other incident and now we know there were at least three.”

On the campaign trail, Scheer was asked if he should apologize for comments he made about same sex marriage back in 2005 but dodged answering it. He said Thursday’s conversation was about Trudeau. This is the second time Scheer has specifically been asked if he wants to say sorry during the 2019 election campaign and hasn’t.

~With files from The Canadian Press