Jagmeet Singh Wants A "Private" Convo With Trudeau Over The Brownface Photos
The Prime Minister and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh will reportedly be having a private conversation about the recently-surfaced Justin Trudeau's brownface and blackface photos. The bombshell photos have halted Trudeau's campaign schedule since they were released publicly earlier this week. As of September 18, three photos and a video of Trudeau in racist makeup have been released.
When asked what he would say to Singh in response to the controversy, Trudeau said, “I will be apologizing to him personally as a racialized Canadian as I have been apologizing to Canadians who have suffered discrimination and intolerance their entire lives in ways that some of us, like me, have never had to experience on a daily basis.”
“This is incident to which I am deeply sorry, and I have apologized to Canadian, but I have also pledged to continue to fight with Canadians against Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-black racism, intolerance in all it’s shapes and forms, and in that I am certainly in deep agreement with Mr. Singh and I look forward to having a good conversation with him,” he added.
Singh revealed during a press conference on the state of Canada’s pharma care that Trudeau had in fact reached out to him. “He has reached out; his office has reached out to my office, and that just happened recently,” the NDP leader said during a Q&A session.
When asked if he would be open to speaking to Trudeau on the matter, Singh replied, “I’ve indicated that I am open to having a private conversation. If it’s a private conversation, I’m open to it.”
Soon after the first photo was released by TIME Magazine, Singh gave a public response, intended for Canadians who have faced racial discrimination and bullying. “I want to talk to all of the kids out there, all the folks who lived this and are now grown up and still feeling the pain of racism,” Singh had stated to the media this week.
“I want you to know that you might feel like giving up on Canada ... I want you to know that you have value, you have worth, and you are loved."