OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a supporter of feministcauses, on Thursday conceded for the first time that he had apologised in2000 to a woman who accused him of groping her but insisted he did not feelhe had done anything wrong.
Trudeau, whose government is working on new legislation against workplaceharassment, has faced Canadian media scrutiny in recent weeks about whathappened at a charity fundraiser in Creston, British Columbia nearly 20years ago.
In his first direct comments on the incident on Canada Day last Sunday, theprime minister said he “didn’t remember any negative interactions that dayat all”, but on Thursday he said “I apologised in the moment” withoutgiving details.
According to an unsigned editorial in 2000 in the local newspaper, theCreston Valley Advance, Trudeau apologised to a local female reporter forinappropriately “handling” her.
The allegation resurfaced last month after Canadian political commentatorWarren Kinsella tweeted a picture of the 20-year-old editorial and used theTwitter #MeToo hashtag.
Many women in the United States and other countries have publicly accusedmen in business, government and entertainment of sexual harassment andabuse, giving rise to the #MeToo social media movement.
“I’ve been reflecting very carefully on what I remember from that incidentalmost 20 years ago and, again, I feel, I am confident, I did not actinappropriately,” Trudeau, 46, told reporters in Toronto in televisedremarks on Thursday.
Trudeau, citing the increasingly open discussion in society about sexualassault, conceded the woman in question could have come away from theencounter in August 2000 with a very different interpretation of what hadhappened.
“I do not feel that I acted inappropriately in any way but I respect thefact that someone else might have experienced that differently,” he said.“If I apologised later then it would be because I sensed that she was notentirely comfortable with the interaction we had.”
Trudeau said no one on his team had reached out to the women because theydid not feel it was appropriate.
The woman told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp earlier this year that shewas not interested in being associated with any further coverage of thestory, and asked that her name not be used, and that she not be contactedabout the story again. Reuters and other media have attempted to contactthe woman as a result.
At the time of the original complaint Trudeau had not yet become involvedin politics but was widely known to Canadians as the son of former PrimeMinister Pierre Trudeau.
He attended the fundraiser in Creston to support avalanche safety. Hisbrother, Michel Trudeau, was killed in an avalanche in 1998.