Trudeau’s brown face debacle shows Canada too has far to go on race

Canada’s Prime Minister has apologized for appearing in brown face. AP PHOTO

Who would have thought that Canadians would wake up to find multiple images of the Prime Minister of Canada wearing a brown face or black face?  He did it again and again, and in one instance, when he was a teacher no less.  As if that’s not disturbing enough, Trudeau admitted that he doesn’t even know how often he had done this.  With this revelation, it is clear that he has engaged in this kind of racist behavior without much thought or consideration.

Of course, since this bombshell hit the airwaves, Trudeau has had to apologize to Canadians.  In his second apology, he stated that he was too embarrassed to mention it during the 2015 vetting process by the Liberal Party of Canada. What that tells me is that Trudeau knows that it was racist to wear brown face or blackface.  What he also knows is that the vetting process relies heavily on the individual’s integrity to tell the truth.  Instead of taking responsibility of his actions at the first opportunity, Trudeau chose to hide this shameful behavior.  For someone who holds the highest office of this land, you have to ask what does this non-disclosure tell you about his character.

Trudeau at a party in brown face makeup.

Since Trudeau’s brown face/black face scandal surfaced, there are those who say this is a “distraction.”  I was dismayed to see the tweet from BC Green leader Andrew Weaver where he stated: “there are profound issues facing our society. Talk about them.” Then it was federal Green Party Elizabeth May retweeting, “Can we please, please focus on the nightmares of climate change as something that actually matters to the futures of every. single. human?” She would later delete that.

There is no question that there are many issues we must tackle, not the least of which is the need for bold climate action. This work needs to be done now so that we can avert climate catastrophe.  I, like you, feel the urgency to act.  I, like you, want my children, and someday, their children, to have a future. But let’s be clear, fighting for climate leadership does not mean to say that you cannot fight against racism at the same time.  Those two things are not mutually exclusive.  In fact, I would argue that they are intrinsically linked.  To have a future, we need a clean and healthy planet.  That future also need to be a place where we are free from racism and discrimination.

We don’t need to fall into this false dichotomy that if we talk about racism we are somehow forgetting about the urgent need for climate action.

Colonization is rooted in racism and discrimination.  The impact of this ongoing racism is far-reaching and intergenerational.  The legacy of this racism is so evident, from residential schools to the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls to the child welfare system to the mercury poisoning.  The Liberals have yet to commit to implementing all the recommendations from the Calls for Justice.

Dr. Cindy Blackstock has had to lead a fight against our own Canadian government in the courts so that Indigenous children could be funded at the same level as non-indigenous children.  Look at the implications of Bill 21 in Quebec.  People are being denied the right to be in a profession that they choose.   The yellow vests are alive and well in our communities.  The Soldiers of Odin are active and engaged.

In recent years, I have been told to my face by white supremacists that they don’t like the color of my skin and that I should go back to my own country.  The ongoing hate crimes targeting the Jewish community and the Muslim community are real.  The pervasiveness of racism and discrimination run deep.  Sometimes in a subtler form. Omer Aziz, former Liberal advisor who worked in Foreign Affairs Minister’s Chrystia Freeland’s policy team, quit his “dream job because of racist prejudices that went unacknowledged” in 2018.There is a very real policy issue behind Trudeau’s brown face/black face debacle.  It is about racism and the hurt that it has and can cause in the lives of those who have to live with this reality.   This reality is not just in the past but it is very much the here and now.  Canada is not immune to racism and discrimination.

Suggesting those insulted and hurt by learning a Prime Minister wore blackface an unknown number of times – something Mr. Trudeau acknowledged was racist — are distracting us from the real issues amplifies the “blindspots” those with privilege has.  It is unfortunately commonplace for those in positions of power and authority to routinely create this false dichotomy.

I learned to walk and chew gum at the same time from an early age.  I for one, can stand in support and champion the climate leadership that Canada needs to ensure we meet our emissions targets to avert a climate catastrophe and provide a just transition for workers. I can do that while I stand up against racism and discrimination and work to dismantle the structural barriers that racialized Canadians face every day.  I hope you can too.