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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a public apology Wednesday for his decision to fly to Tofino for a family vacation on Canada’s first ever, nationally recognized Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
After making an announcement about mandatory vaccination Wednesday, and before taking questions from reporters, he said he wanted to address the issue which arose last week, saying, “Traveling on September 30th was a mistake and I regret it. The first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation is a time for Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people alike to reflect and connect, think about the past but also focus on the future.”
He adds he has committed to visiting in the Tk’emlúps First Nation community in BC in the next few weeks.
It is one of the communities in which over 200 unmarked children’s graves have been found near a former residential school.
Trudeau was twice invited to the First Nation for that day, but did not choose to appear. His itinerary had initially said he had private meetings in Ottawa that day, but it later became apparent he had flown to Tofino, BC. The Prime Minister’s Office has noted Trudeau did spend time on the 30th speaking with eight residential school survivors by phone.
He said today, “I want to thank Chief Casimir of Tk’emlúps for the conversation we had over the weekend in which I apologized for not being there with her and her community for this important day.”
Trudeau said, “I was in error to choose to travel on that day, and I apologized directly to Chief Casimir for not having attended the event that she invited me to which is why I’m looking forward to going to the community and sitting down with them in the coming weeks.”
The PM’s office stated over the weekend he had apologized to Chief Casimir, but today’s apology is the first public one spoken before the media.