After gaining worldwide notoriety for repeatedly wearing blackface, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to take part in a taxpayer-funded $110,000 pre-election video on slavery, says Blacklock’s Reporter..Participants in the YouTube video include a Liberal-appointed senator who “felt a sense of hopelessness” after seeing images of Trudeau clowning in blackface..“The event will include commentary from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,” the Department of Canadian Heritage said in a statement, adding it tried to interest television networks in broadcasting the sixty-minute video, without success..“The video will be educational in nature,” said Daniel Savoie, spokesman for the Heritage department..“It will feature black Canadian personalities as well as storytelling from black Canadians. We recently reached out to broadcasters around the country to see if their organization would be interested.”.The department would not release a script for the production..The video was produced by the department and National Film Board. It includes commentary by Minister of Diversity Bardish Chagger, and Sen. Wanda Thomas Bernard (N.S.), sponsor of Bill S-255 an Act Proclaiming Emancipation Day that lapsed in the last Parliament..Bernard in a 2019 interview said she was “surprised and disappointed” by disclosures the prime minister appeared in blackface on three occasions – as a high school student, then a faculty member at Vancouver’s West Grey Point Academy at age 29, and in an undated video obtained by Global News..“It weighed heavily on my mind,” Bernard said at the time. “I felt a sense of hopelessness..“It epitomizes how deeply rooted racism is in our country, how deeply rooted privilege and power is in our country. These were socially sanctioned events. It tells me racism is socially acceptable in our country..“Those types of things were sanctioned by social institutions. The people who attended those events saw nothing wrong with it. People don’t stop to think of how these acts impact on others.”. ‘Blackface’ Trudeau set to take part in slavery video .Trudeau on September 19, 2019 told reporters he could not recall how many times he appeared in blackface at social events..“I am wary of being definitive about this because the recent pictures that came out I had not remembered,” said Trudeau..“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..“Darkening your face regardless of the circumstances is always unacceptable because of the racist history of blackface.”.“When did you realize blackface was racist?” asked a reporter..“Minimizing or further marginalizing people by dressing up that way is absolutely unacceptable,” Trudeau replied..The prime minister said he never spoke to MPs or staff about the incidents..“Quite frankly I was embarrassed,” he said – and only revealed them when contacted by Time magazine for comment on his 2001 appearance at a Vancouver costume party..The federally-funded video will be broadcast on YouTube August 1, the anniversary of Britain’s 1834 enactment of An Act For The Abolition Of Slavery Throughout The British Colonies. No Canadian Parliament legalized slavery..Savoie said the video was a first-ever federal commemoration of U.K. abolition..“Recognizing Emancipation Day at the federal level is another step forward in promoting greater awareness of the past existence of slavery in Canada and acknowledging the multi-generational harms caused by slavery,” said Savoie..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
