{"id":24792,"date":"2019-09-27T15:30:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T19:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=24792"},"modified":"2019-10-03T19:12:02","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T23:12:02","slug":"trudeau-photos-spark-dialogue-on-race-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/trudeau-photos-spark-dialogue-on-race-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Trudeau photos spark dialogue on race issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora\u2019s Liberal candidates are standing behind leader Justin Trudeau following the release of three images last week showing him in blackface and brownface, the earliest being when he was a high school student to the latest while teaching at a Vancouver school more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The images, which emerged last Wednesday night, forced\nthe Federal campaign to shift gears, while Trudeau apologised for donning the\nmakeup, stating the images do not reflect who he is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the images shifted the nationwide conversation,\nAurora\u2019s Liberal candidates remained focused on the local issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was very disappointed to see [the images, but] he\nacknowledges it was wrong then and it is wrong now,\u201d said Aurora-Oak\nRidges-Richmond Hill Liberal candidate Leah Taylor Roy. \u201cI think we need to\nlook at what his record has been over the last four years to see who he really\nis now, and I think that record speaks very clearly to the fact he is a Prime\nMinister who is inclusive, who has done things to help many marginalized\ngroups, and that is just very positive in terms of race relations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is about looking at who the candidates are now. Let\u2019s\nlook at Justin Trudeau vs. Andrew Scheer and what they stand, and what they\nhave come out in support of today. As Andrew Scheer said himself, we can\nforgive people if they apologize and I think Justin Trudeau handled it very\nwell. He came out, he said it was wrong, he took full responsibility and he\nimmediately apologized to all the people of Canada, and I think most people\naccepted that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newmarket-Aurora Liberal candidate Tony Van Bynen said he\nheld a similar view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have to say I am disappointed and I heard the Prime\nMinister apologize in a very genuine and sincere way,\u201d he said. \u201cI think he\nrecognized that what happened has been hurtful to certain communities, but I\nthink it is up to the Prime Minister to make apologies to the people who have\nbeen hurt by his actions. I believe he was forthright [in trying] to build on what\nhe has learned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the opposite side of the floor, Aurora-Oak\nRidges-Richmond Hill Conservative candidate Leona Alleslev said both she and\nthe residents she had spoken with were \u201cvery concerned\u201d by the images and what\nthey represent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJustin Trudeau\u2019s actions not only undermine his personal\ncredibility, but also his authority as Prime Minister and Canada\u2019s reputation\nworldwide,\u201d she said. \u201c80 per cent of Canada\u2019s GDP is derived from trade. A\nnation\u2019s trade is built on the quality of its relationships with foreign\nleaders. Canada needs a Prime Minister who acts with the upmost integrity and\nis respected on the world stage to ensure we have a strong trading relationship\nand, in turn, a robust and growing economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newmarket-Aurora Conservative candidate Lois Brown also\nfocused on the impact the images might have on the world stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do not believe that Mr. Trudeau is a racist\u2026that is a\nvery strong term; however, it does reflect his lack of good judgement and,\nunfortunately, diminishes Canada\u2019s reputation globally,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Newmarket-Aurora NDP candidate Yvonne Kelly said\nshe was \u201cdisappointed\u201d to see Mr. Trudeau in the pictures and was \u201ctaken aback\u201d\nthat he would make those choices, she said that marginalized individuals who\n\u201care accustomed to facing mockery, stereotypes and discrimination on a daily\nbasis\u201d were less surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn apology in my opinion, is only a first step but it\ncan open up a more nuanced and deep conversation about race and racism in\nCanada,\u201d said Ms. Kelly. \u201cThere are more concrete actions that need to be taken\nby Justin Trudeau, his party, and all of us quite frankly, in order to\ndemonstrate that this event has increased awareness of how racism of all forms\nremains embedded in our society and institutions. Real action and movement to\naddress the living conditions of and lack of access to clean water for our\nIndigenous communities for example would go a long way to redressing the\nlong-term consequences of anti-Indigenous racism in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI most appreciated and resonated with the\ncommentary from those who highlighted that we should not stay focused on the\nindividual and whether or not Mr. Trudeau is indeed racist or not. If we do, we\nfail to see the bigger picture and learn from it. What we can learn from this\nexperience is the degree to which race and racism is still not openly discussed\nand understood in our country. The negative impacts on our Indigenous and\nracialized communities is real and our failure to admit that and challenge\npolicies and practices that perpetuate systemic racism, is where the focus of\nthis discussion needs to go. The issue is much bigger and deeper than Mr.\nTrudeau alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora\u2019s Liberal candidates are standing behind leader Justin Trudeau following the release of three images last week showing him in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6rS","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-20 10:27:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24792\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}