Surf’s up! – Justin ditches ceremonies for the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

PM Justin Trudeau giving a thumbs up to a vacation in Tofino, and a big middle finger to Canada’s Indigenous people. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.

October 2021

So Justin “Surfin’ Safari” Trudeau decided it to mark the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation by taking his family on another one of Justin & Sophie’s Excellent Adventures, to Canada’s surfing capital in Tofino, B.C.

Justin, there is no other way to say this, but what the f–k is wrong with you?! This is yet another example of your pathological disrespect for your office.

Are there no adults in the PMO right now; one who could have told how bad and disrespectful all this would look?! Were you dropped on your head as a baby? Have you been smoking too much pot over the past year, while you were lounging around at Rideau Cottage, popping out once a day for your very scripted briefings?

There is no reason why you couldn’t have attended a ceremony in Ottawa on the actual day (I know you were at a ceremony the night before), and THEN hopped on a plane to Tofino. Although it would have been better to spend the entire day attending several ceremonies, either around the Ottawa-Gatineau area, or even within a quick flight radius from Ottawa, no one could rightfully criticize you if you attended at least one ceremony on the national holiday that you personally established. Disgracefully, you couldn’t even do that much (or little, depending on your perspective).

You received “two heartfelt invitations” from the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, the B.C. First Nation that uncovered the remains of 215 children the former Kamloops Residential School site earlier this year, but you reportedly never responded. This is despite a pledge made during an interview with Global News on 13 September, that “I will go to Kamloops as soon as it is right and possible for me to go there.”

In case you didn’t know, your plane flew right past Kamloops on its way to Tofino.

I had made plans to attend the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ceremony in my hometown of Barrie, Ontario, but regrettably, a personal issue suddenly came up that I needed to attend to that day. Regardless, I still made the effort to attend the ceremony site for about 30 minutes. I’m very disappointed that I couldn’t stay for the walk through the downtown, and to hear a speech by a residential school survivor, but at least I did attend for a short period. I was able to reflect on this horrible tragedy, while standing near the sacred fire that had been lit. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

I did return later that day, unfortunately after the ceremony had ended, and my daughter placed a small toy at the make-shift memorial that sprung-up last May, at the foot of Barrie’s iconic Spirit Catcher.

I know your office said that you were speaking with residential school survivors while on your flight out to Tofino, so maybe you would be willing to inform the public the names of the people with whom you were speaking?

Oh, and another thing, why did your itinerary state that you were in “private meetings” in Ottawa all day, when clearly you weren’t? Was this another, “experiencing things differently” situation for you?

Now, I would like to ask the voters from the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area who voted for Justin: Are you happy now? What would you say if it was a Conservative Prime Minister who pulled this stunt? Be honest! What exactly does Justin have to do that would cause you to conclude that you couldn’t vote for him?

“No public official goes skiing on November 11, because we show respect for veterans,” New Democrat Member of Parliament Charlie Angus stated.

Stewart Phillips, the Grand Chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs: “If this event was before the election, Trudeau would have be there on both knees!”