Justin Trudeau jets to Tofino, B.C. for vacation on first Truth and Reconciliation day
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation on vacation in Tofino, B.C., instead of participating in any events to mark the occasion.
The trip to Tofino also deviated from the prime minister’s daily itinerary, which said he was in Ottawa for private meetings. Trudeau started his day in Ottawa, but according to flight tracking websites his plane left the nation’s capital shortly after 8 a.m.
“The PM is spending time in Tofino with family for a few days,” confirmed his press secretary, Alex Wellstead.
Trudeau attended an event at the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill Wednesday evening to mark the occasion of the first Truth and Reconciliation day. And Wellstead said on Thursday the prime minister was spending the day on the phone with residential school survivors.
“Following his participation in last night’s ceremony marking the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, he is speaking today with residential school survivors from across the country.”
The prime minister’s itinerary was updated at the end of the day on Thursday, indicating he had been in Tofino instead of Ottawa.
In a statement issued Thursday morning — just after his plane departed — Trudeau said the first National Truth and Reconciliation Day was an opportunity for reflection.
“It is a day to reflect on the painful and lasting impacts of residential schools in Canada, and to honour survivors, their families, and their communities,” he said.
Lynne Groulx, chief executive officer of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, told CBC she thought it was inappropriate for Trudeau to take it as a vacation day and said she was “quite upsetting.”
This is a government that has said Indigenous people are (the) most important priority for the government and that action…does not match the words,” she told CBC. “So that’s very inappropriate, in my view, for the prime minister.”
The Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc First Nation, which found 215 unmarked children’s graves at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., also noted on Twitterthat they had sent two “heartfelt” invitations to the prime minister to spend the day with them.
Creating a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a statutory holiday was one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action. The Liberals introduced a bill to create the federal holiday in September 2020 and it was then fast tracked through the House of Commons, with all party support, after the discovery in Kamloops.
With Thanks Reference to: https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/trudeau-jets-to-tofino-b-c-on-first-truth-and-reconciliation-day
