Recently published photos of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in brownface and blackface are causing an uproar across the country and Skeena-Bulkley Valley is no exception.
Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n Chief Na鈥橫oks (John Ridsdale) was unequivocal that it sows fear within Indigenous communities.
鈥淲hen you have an elected official who actually has photos of that subject matter made public, it affects everybody,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 such a terrible thing where this country has two parties, either Liberal or Conservative, and you always have to take the best of the worst, I guess. That鈥檚 what we did when he got in last time, and now between him and that Scheer madness, I thought one was more racist than the other, but now it appears they seem to be neck and neck.鈥�
The first photo, published on Wednesday by Time Magazine, shows Trudeau in 2001 in dark makeup and wearing a turban during an 鈥楢rabian Nights鈥�-themed party at West Point Grey Academy, the private school at which he taught. By this morning two more instances of Trudeau, this time wearing blackface, emerged.
Dave Birdi, the Liberal candidate and himself a person of South Asian descent, downplayed the issue.
鈥淢y main focus is on jobs,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ith this, I do have trust with Trudeau.
鈥淭hose photos of Justin Trudeau don鈥檛 matter. What matters are jobs. And wherever I go in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley that鈥檚 what I hear.鈥�
Trudeau apologized during a news conference Wednesday evening.
鈥淚 shouldn鈥檛 have done that,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 should have known better, but I didn鈥檛 and I鈥檓 really sorry.鈥�
He noted he now recognizes wearing brownface was racist, but didn鈥檛 at the time.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to be asking Canadians to forgive me for what I did. I shouldn鈥檛 have done that. I take responsibility for it. It was a dumb thing to do,鈥� he said.
Skeena-Bulkley Valley Conservative candidate Claire Ratt茅e said that鈥檚 not good enough.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have a lot to say on that, I think it鈥檚 pretty self-explanatory,鈥� she said. 鈥淎ll I would say is that it鈥檚 shocking and pretty disgusting to see something like that coming from our prime minister. It was wrong then, it鈥檚 wrong now and I don鈥檛 think he鈥檚 given a reasonable apology on that at all. I don鈥檛 think that he actually understands the gravity of what he鈥檚 done.鈥�
Chief Na鈥橫oks said he worries about what it means for Indigenous people going forward.
鈥淲hen you have material such as that out there, it makes everybody worried,鈥� he said. 鈥淐anada is supposed to be a pretty caring and sharing country and when you get down to dirty politics, these things come out, but just the fact that he has these, is really disturbing.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty unfair when you have a two-party country, you have options in third and fourth place, but they seem to go down in the polls. This year, I think, the political race is going to get dirtier and dirtier by the day.鈥�
editor@interior-news.com
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