Justin Trudeau denies groping reporter at a music fest 18 years ago
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has denied allegations that he groped a reporter at a music festival 18 years ago, reports The Guardian. He says he "does not remember any negative interactions that day at all."
The allegations, which first appeared in an unsigned editorial in a local paper called Creston Valley Advance in 2000, resurfaced in early June when a picture of the editorial was tweeted out by law professor/author Warren Kinsella, who is a critic of the Prime Minister.
Um, what? #cdnpoli #loc #MeToo pic.twitter.com/6P7iiPQRZA
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) June 6, 2018
According to the editorial, Trudeau, who was then a 28-year-old teacher, groped a young reporter at the Kokanee Summit Festival as she tried to interview him. The editorial also says that Trudeau apologised to the young reporter a day later, saying, “If I had known you were reporting for a national paper, I never would have been so forward.”
However, at a Canada Day event for steel and aluminum workers in Regina on Sunday, Trudeau denied the groping allegations:
Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau addresses allegations from 2000 about groping a reporter, weighs in on the Justice for our Stolen Children camp in front of the #Sask. Legislature and comments on steel while visiting @evrazna workers and their families in Regina. #yqr #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/Bx1NzhfV6q
— Jessie Anton (@jessieanton_) July 1, 2018
“I remember that day in Creston well,” he told reporters. “It was an Avalanche Foundation event to support avalanche safety. I had a good day that day. I don’t remember any negative interactions that day at all.”
According to the Canada Broadcasting Corporation, the reporting of the groping incident has been confirmed by multiple people who worked at the Creston Valley Advance, including the then publisher Valerie Bourne who shared: "My recollections of the conversation were that she came to me because she was unsettled by it. She didn’t like what had happened. She wasn’t sure how she should proceed with it because of course we’re talking somebody who was known to the Canadian community.”
Brian Bell, the Advance editor at the time, also confirmed the reporter spoke to him about it, saying “whatever physical touch or whatever had occurred in that moment was definitely not welcome and definitely inappropriate.”
“I certainly believe that it happened, this reporter was of a high character in my opinion and was professional in the way she conducted herself and there’s no question in my mind that what was alluded to, written about in that editorial, did happen,” he told the CBC.