Ex-wife of the late Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau
Margaret Trudeau
|
---|
Trudeau in 2014
|
Born
| Margaret Joan Sinclair
(
1948-09-10
)
September 10, 1948
(age 75)
|
---|
Nationality
| Canadian
|
---|
Spouses
|
(
m.
1971;
div.
1984)
Fried Kemper
(
m.
1984;
div.
1999)
|
---|
Children
| 5, including
Justin
,
Alexandre
, and
Michel Trudeau
|
---|
Parent(s)
| James Sinclair
Kathleen Bernard
|
---|
Margaret Joan Trudeau
(
nee
Sinclair
, formerly
Kemper
; born September 10, 1948) is a Canadian activist.
[1]
She married
Pierre Trudeau
, the 15th
prime minister of Canada
, in 1971, three years after he became prime minister. They divorced in 1984, during his final months in office. She is the mother of
Justin Trudeau
, the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada, of the journalist and author
Alexandre "Sacha" Trudeau
,
[2]
and of
Michel Trudeau
(now deceased). She is the first woman in Canadian history to have been both the wife and the mother of prime ministers. Trudeau is an advocate for people with
bipolar disorder
, with which she has been diagnosed.
Early years
[
edit
]
Trudeau was born in
Vancouver
, British Columbia, Canada, the daughter of Scottish-born
James "Jimmy" Sinclair
, a former Liberal member of the
Parliament of Canada
and
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
, and Doris Kathleen (Bernard) Sinclair.
[3]
Her grandmother, Rose Edith (Ivens) Bernard, with whom she had an especially close relationship, lived in
Roberts Creek, British Columbia
, in later life, and was from
Virden, Manitoba
.
[4]
Her grandfather, Thomas Kirkpatrick Bernard, was born in
Makassar
,
Dutch Celebes
, now in Sulawesi, Indonesia, and immigrated in 1906 at age 15 with his family to
Penticton, British Columbia
, eventually working as a payroll clerk for
Canadian Pacific Railway
.
[5]
The Bernards were the descendants of colonists in the
Straits Settlements
, the
Dutch East Indies
, and
British Malaya
, nowadays respectively
Singapore
, Indonesia, and Malaysia, including
Francis James Bernard
, a
London
, England-born
Anglo-Irishman
whose great-grandfather, Arthur Bernard, was a member of the
Irish House of Commons
for
Bandonbridge
, and brother of
Francis Bernard
,
Solicitor-General for Ireland
, and ancestor of the
Earls of Bandon
.
[6]
[7]
Francis James Bernard was the founder of the
Singapore Police Force
in 1819,
The Singapore Chronicle
, the first newspaper in Singapore, was established with Bernard as owner, publisher, and editor in 1824
[8]
and he opened up
Katong
, now a densely populated-residential enclave, the first to cultivate a
coconut
estate there in 1823. In 1818, Bernard married Margaret Trudeau's 3rd great-grandmother, Esther Farquhar. She was the eldest daughter of Scotsman
William Farquhar
, a colonial leader in the
founding of modern Singapore
, by Farquhar's first wife, Antoinette "Nonio" Clement, who was the daughter of a French father and an
ethnic Malaccan
mother.
[9]
[10]
Another great-grandmother, Cornelia Louisa Intveld, married in 1822 to
Royal Navy
officer and merchant, William Purvis, from
Dalgety Bay, Scotland
, and a first cousin of American abolitionist
Robert Purvis
; a noted fine
soprano
and a beauty of her era.
[11]
Upon glimpsing her across the auditorium at the opera in
London
, England,
British King William IV
sent his equerry to invite her to his box. After she refused, the King sent the equerry back just to ask her name.
[12]
Intveld was born in
Padang
, present-day West Sumatra, Indonesia. At the time of Intveld's birth, Padang was in the territory of the
Pagaruyung Kingdom
, where her father, who came from humble beginnings in
Hellevoetsluis, South Holland
, rose up through the
Dutch East India Company
to become the Dutch Resident of Padang. Her maternal grandmother was an
Ono Niha
ranee
(a term covering every rank from chieftain's daughter to princess) married a prominent Dutch colonial official and merchant.
[13]
Acclaimed British
harpsichordist
,
Violet Gordon-Woodhouse
, and Hawaiian settler,
Edward William Purvis
, according to popular belief, was the namesake of the
ukulele
, are Margaret Trudeau's first cousins, three times-removed.
[12]
Trudeau explored her mother's family's roots in
Singapore
during an episode of
Who Do You Think You Are?
.
Trudeau's family moved to a large house in
Rockcliffe Park, Ontario
, in 1952 after her father was appointed to the Cabinet, and she attended
Rockcliffe Park Public School
[14]
although they returned to North Vancouver after he lost his re-election bid in 1958. She attended Hamilton Junior Secondary School and
Delbrook Senior Secondary School
in North Vancouver. Trudeau graduated in 1969 from
Simon Fraser University
in
Burnaby, British Columbia
with a
Bachelor of Arts
in
Sociology
.
[15]
[
better source needed
]
Marriage to Pierre Trudeau
[
edit
]
Sinclair met
Pierre Trudeau
, who was then Minister of Justice, while vacationing in
Tahiti
with her family when she was 18. Sinclair did not recognize him, and she in fact thought little of their encounter, but Trudeau, then 47, was captivated by the carefree "
flower child
" and began to pursue her.
[
citation needed
]
Pierre Trudeau was a bachelor before he became Prime Minister in 1968. They kept their romance private, so Canadians were shocked after the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
led its morning radio broadcast
[16]
about Prime Minister Trudeau
honeymooning
at
Alta Lake, British Columbia
, at the foot of
Whistler Blackcomb
Ski Resort
[17]
[18]
the day after a surprise wedding in
North Vancouver, British Columbia
, on March 4, 1971.
[19]
Although she had accompanied Pierre Trudeau in public a year before to
ice skate
and dance at an event at
Rideau Hall
, official residence of
Canada's Governor General
,
[16]
it was a complete secret except to immediate family members and close friends that she was in a romantic relationship, then in a six-month engagement to the Prime Minister.
[16]
[19]
As Pierre Trudeau was a
Catholic
, she converted to the
Catholic Church
for their marriage. When asked about her role in a marriage to the prime minister, Trudeau said, "I want to be more than a rose in my husband's lapel."
[
citation needed
]
In 1971, the Trudeaus took a
second honeymoon
in the
Caribbean
to
Barbados
and an unidentified nearby island
[20]
then
Tobago
, then to
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
(including both
Bequia
and
St. Vincent
) with Pierre taking a side-trip to
Trinidad
while Margaret stayed in Tobago.
[21]
After Pierre Trudeau's government's near
defeat in 1972
(Margaret herself was uninvolved in the campaign), she decided to become much more active for the
1974 federal election
.[citation needed] At a rally in Vancouver, she told a crowd of 2,000 her husband taught her "a lot about loving."[citation needed] The remark was wildly mocked and dismissed in public during the campaign by members of the press gallery as well as by her husband's main political rivals
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
leader
Robert Stanfield
and
New Democratic Party
leader
David Lewis
.[citations needed]
Liberal party organizers considered her a top campaign asset, and sent her off alone to help local candidates in hotly contested ridings while, as critics noted, the wives of Stanfield and Lewis were on the campaign trail but rarely spoke and stood behind their husbands at events.[citations needed] Political observers also found Pierre Trudeau noticeably more relaxed at events while Margaret came along. Initially, she brought her six-month-old son Sasha on the trail with her, and one veteran reporter said, "It's the first campaign plane for the first thing off is a crib and a diaper bag."[citations needed] Later, she left her sons with her parents in
North Vancouver
while campaigning. Asked at the time if she thought her campaigning was helping Pierre Trudeau pick up votes, she replied, "I won't know until July 8th. But 52 per cent of the voters in this country are women...an awful lot ..."
[22]
Her husband's party returned to a majority-government.
"From the day I became Mrs. Pierre Elliott Trudeau," she writes in her memoirs, "a glass panel was gently lowered into place around me, like a patient in a mental hospital no longer considered able to make decisions and cannot be exposed to a harsh light."
[23]
The couple had three children:
Justin
(born December 25, 1971),
Alexandre
(Sacha) (born December 25, 1973), and
Michel
(October 2, 1975 ? November 13, 1998).
Trudeau tore apart a quilt made by Canadian conceptual artist
Joyce Wieland
[24]
on the wall in the prime-minister's official residence in Ottawa because it celebrated "reason over passion".
[25]
(Her husband's personal motto was "Reason before passion".)
[26]
Over time, the marriage disintegrated
[27]
to the point where, as recounted in her 1982 book
Consequences
, Trudeau had affairs with
Jack Nicholson
,
Ryan O'Neal
,
Lou Rawls
, and a friendship with
US Senator
Ted Kennedy
. She was also associated with members of the
Rolling Stones
, including
Ronnie Wood
[28]
and, according to
Keith Richards
' autobiography,
Life
,
Mick Jagger
.
[28]
[29]
She separated from her husband in 1977.
[30]
Pierre Trudeau won custody of the children and did not pay spousal support. Margaret Trudeau had a difficult time earning a living after her marriage. She wrote the 1979 book
Beyond Reason
about her marriage.[citations needed]
On the eve of the
1979 election
, in which Pierre Trudeau's party lost the majority of seats in the House of Commons, she was dancing at
Studio 54
nightclub in
New York City
. A photo of her at the disco was featured on many front pages across Canada.
[31]
Divorce and second marriage
[
edit
]
Margaret Trudeau filed for a
no-fault divorce
at the
Ontario Supreme Court
on November 16, 1983,
[32]
which was finalized on April 2, 1984. On April 18, 1984, with her three sons attending, she married Ottawa real-estate developer Fried Kemper in a civil ceremony in the chambers of Judge
Hugh Poulin
. She had two children with him: son Kyle (born 1984), and daughter Alicia (born 1988).
[33]
[34]
[30]
Later life
[
edit
]
In November 1998, the Trudeaus' youngest son,
Michel
, an avid outdoorsman, was killed when an avalanche swept him to the bottom of
British Columbia
's
Kokanee Lake
. The loss of her son was devastating.
[35]
When Pierre Trudeau died in 2000, Margaret was at his bedside with their surviving sons Justin and Alexandre.
[36]
Speaking in 2010 about her marriage to Trudeau, she said: "Just because our marriage ended didn't mean the love stopped."
[37]
On October 19, 2015, her eldest son,
Justin Trudeau
,
led the Liberal Party to a majority government
, becoming the 23rd
Prime Minister of Canada
. During the campaign, she was involved, but avoided campaigning in public as the Conservative campaign's main attack line against Justin was "Just Not Ready" and feared they would suggest her son was "so unready he needs his mummy."
[38]
On April 27, 2020, Trudeau was hospitalized with
smoke inhalation
after a fire broke out in her apartment building.
[39]
Work, advocacy and writing
[
edit
]
From 2002 to 2017, Trudeau was the honorary president of
WaterAid Canada
, an Ottawa-based organization dedicated to helping the poorest communities in
developing countries
build
sustainable
water supply and
sanitation
services.
[40]
[41]
In 2014, she visited
Mali
as an ambassador of WaterAid Canada.
[42]
On May 5, 2006, Trudeau announced she has
bipolar disorder
.
[30]
Since then, she advocated for reducing the social-stigma of mental illness—bipolar disorder in particular—with speaking engagements across North America.
[34]
[43]
In May 2019, she presented the one-woman-show
Certain Woman of an Age
in Chicago as part of the city's
Wellness Week
.
[44]
She is an honorary patron of the
Canadian Mental Health Association
.
[45]
In July 2019, she attended an opening ceremony of WE College in
Narok County
(
Kenya
) with former Prime Minister of Canada
Kim Campbell
, Kenyan First Lady
Margaret Kenyatta
and
Craig Kielburger
, a co-founder of
WE Charity
organization.
[46]
In 2010, she authored
Changing My Mind
, a book about her personal experience with bipolar disorder.
[47]
Award
[
edit
]
In 2013, Trudeau received an
honorary degree
of
Doctor of Laws
from the
University of Western Ontario
in recognition of her work to combat mental illness.
[48]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Trudeau, Margaret (1979),
Beyond Reason
, Grosset & Dunlap,
ISBN
0-448-23037-2
- Trudeau, Margaret (1982),
Consequences
, Bantam,
ISBN
0-553-01712-8
.
- Trudeau, Margaret (2010),
Changing My Mind
, HarperCollins,
ISBN
978-1-55468-538-7
.
- Trudeau, Margaret (2015),
The Time of Your Life: Choosing a Vibrant, Joyful Future
, HarperCollins,
ISBN
978-1-443-43183-5
.
Filmography
[
edit
]
While still married to Pierre Trudeau, Margaret Trudeau had a brief acting career, appearing in two Canadian-produced films:
Television
[
edit
]
- Morning Magazine
(1981?1983)
- Margaret
(1983?1984)
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Washington, District of Columbia 1800 I. Street NW.
"PolitiFact - These political families are fake"
.
Politifact.com
. Retrieved
September 19,
2022
.
Trudeau's mother, Margaret Trudeau, was an activist
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Christoper Curtis (October 22, 2012).
"The other brother: Sacha, the 'apolitical' one, joins Justin Trudeau's campaign team"
.
National Post
.
- ^
Johnson, J. Keith; Public Archives of Canada (1968).
The Canadian directory of Parliament, 1867?1967
. Queen's Printer. p. 532.
- ^
"Item GR-1490.16.13.44 ? Rose Edith Bernard, Roberts Creek"
.
BC Archives
. Retrieved
May 11,
2017
.
- ^
"Passenger lists of the AORANGI arriving in Vancouver, British Columbia on 1906-06"
.
Canada.ca
. Government of Canada. March 10, 2017
. Retrieved
March 10,
2017
.
- ^
Johnston-Liik, Edith Mary (2006).
MPs in Dublin: Companion to History of the Irish Parliament, 1692-1800
. Ulster Historical Foundation.
ISBN
9781903688601
. Retrieved
July 24,
2016
.
- ^
"The Bernards of Palace Anne"
.
Bandon Cork Ancestors and Genealogy Heritage Roots Ireland
. Retrieved
July 24,
2016
.
- ^
C. A. Gibson-Hill (July 1953). "The Singapore Chronicle (1824?37)".
Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
.
26
(1 (161)): 175?199.
JSTOR
41502912
.
- ^
"
Stamford Raffles
was not-above sneering at Farquhar's Malay wife and the children by her he acknowledged. 'The Maya Connexion', he termed them archly.
"
Barley, Nigel (1991).
The Duke of Puddle Dock: Travels in the Footsteps of Stamford Raffles
. Great Britain: Viking. p. 242.
ISBN
9780670836420
.
- ^
Ford, D. (December 31, 2005).
The World of Antoinette Clement: Colonial Mistress
. Australia: University of Queensland.
- ^
Hedemann, Nancy Oakley (1994).
A Scottish-Hawaiian story: the Purvis family in the Sandwich Islands
. Book Crafters.
ISBN
9780964402003
. Retrieved
July 20,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
Douglas-Home, Jessica (1996).
Violet: The Life and Loves of Violet Gordon Woodhouse
. Harvill Press.
ISBN
9781860462696
. Retrieved
July 20,
2016
.
- ^
Cooper, Artemis (2011).
Writing at the Kitchen Table: The Authorized Biography of Elizabeth David
. Faber & Faber.
ISBN
9780571279777
. Retrieved
July 20,
2016
.
- ^
Coyle, Jim (October 17, 2015).
"Growing Up in the Public Eye"
.
Toronto Star
. Retrieved
August 26,
2016
.
- ^
"SFU Alumni Appreciation"
. Archived from
the original
on August 11, 2020.
- ^
a
b
c
Griffin, Eugene (March 6, 1971).
"Trudeau's Bride Takes All by Surprise"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Chicago Tribune Press Services
. Retrieved
August 27,
2016
.
- ^
"Trudeaus on ski holiday at honeymoon residence"
.
Ottawa Citizen
.
Canadian Press
. February 4, 1972
. Retrieved
August 27,
2016
.
...staying in their honeymoon residence – a condominium owned by Mrs. Trudeau's parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Sinclair of North Vancouver. The Trudeaus spent three days skiing Whistler last March after their surprise wedding
- ^
"A Prime Minister in love"
.
Whistorical: Official Blog of the Whistler Museum
. March 1, 2015
. Retrieved
August 27,
2016
.
They surprised the media with their secret wedding in Vancouver, and, afterward, drove directly to Whistler for a three-day stay.
- ^
a
b
"Colleagues, family discuss secret Trudeau wedding"
.
CBC Digital Archives
. March 5, 1971
. Retrieved
November 13,
2015
.
- ^
"Trudeaus' Privacy Respected"
.
The Ottawa Journal
. April 13, 1971. p. 5.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (UPI) ? Prime Minister Trudeau and his wife left here Monday by chartered plane on a quick sidetrip to an unidentified nearby-island. They arrived here Thursday on a brief "second honeymoon," and reportedly stayed at a private residence on the island's posh west coast.
- ^
"Trudeau Meets Williams"
.
The Ottawa Journal
. April 16, 1971. p. 9.
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (Reuter) ? Prime Minister Trudeau lunched privately-Thursday with Trinidad and Tobago's prime minister, Dr. Eric Williams. Trudeau flew in from Tobago, the sister island of Trinidad, where he was holidaying with his wife since Tuesday. Shortly after his luncheon engagement, Trudeau took a return plane to Tobago to rejoin his wife, Margaret. The Canadian high-commission said it was in not in a position to say when the prime minister and his wife would leave Tobago. "We know he has to be back in Ottawa on April 18," a commission spokesman said. The Trudeaus visited Barbados, and spent a day swimming off Bequia, a tiny island in the Grenadines, and nearby islets while they visited St. Vincent Monday.
- ^
Lederer, Edith M. (July 2, 1974).
"Mrs. Trudeau Hits Campaign Trail"
.
Reading Eagle
.
Associated Press
. Retrieved
August 26,
2016
.
- ^
Trudeau, Margaret (1980).
Beyond Reason
. New York, New York: Pocket Books. p. 193.
ISBN
9780671827786
.
- ^
"Joyce Wieland, Reason over Passion, 1968"
.
Art Canada Institute - Institut de l’art canadien
. Retrieved
June 1,
2019
.
- ^
Frum, David
(2000).
How We Got Here: The '70s
. New York, New York: Basic Books. p.
115
.
ISBN
0-465-04195-7
.
- ^
Kaufman, Michael
(2009).
Pierre Trudeau Is Dead at 80; Dashing Fighter for Canada
. online.
- ^
"Margaret Trudeau writes of affair with Jack Nicholson, cocaine"
.
UPI
. January 11, 1982
. Retrieved
June 1,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Day, Elizabeth (November 13, 2011).
"The Rolling Stones: that 50-year itch"
.
The Guardian
. London.
- ^
Richards, Keith (2010).
Life
. Little, Brown and Company.
ISBN
978-0-316-03438-8
.
OCLC
548642133
.
: Page 393
- ^
a
b
c
Hampson, Sarah (May 8, 2009).
"Margaret Trudeau is solo, sane, 60 ? and irrepressible as ever"
.
The Globe and Mail
. Retrieved
October 19,
2014
.
- ^
Kuczynski, Alex (March 17, 2016).
"First Lady Wild Child: Margaret Trudeau"
.
Harper's Bazaar
. Retrieved
August 26,
2016
.
- ^
"Margaret Trudeau files for divorce"
.
Ottawa Citizen
. November 17, 1983
. Retrieved
July 14,
2017
.
- ^
"Margaret Trudeau remarries"
.
The New York Times
.
Reuters
. April 20, 1984
. Retrieved
July 14,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
Anzalone, Charles (Winter 2008).
"Margaret Trudeau: Forgiveness. Gratitude. Wisdom"
.
Bp
.
3
(2): 22?26. Archived from
the original
on March 21, 2008.
- ^
"Justin Trudeau's mother, Margaret, was like the Princess Diana of Canada ? with a happy ending - The Washington Post"
.
The Washington Post
. October 22, 2015
. Retrieved
October 23,
2015
.
- ^
Cleroux, Richard (September 30, 2000).
Ex-wife at Trudeau's deathbed
.
Irish Independent
. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
- ^
"Margaret Trudeau's last breakdown"
.
Macleans.ca
. Retrieved
June 1,
2019
.
- ^
Payle, Elizabeth (October 23, 2015).
"Margaret Trudeau stayed out of campaign to avoid attack ads saying Justin 'needs his mummy'
"
.
National Post
.
Postmedia News
. Retrieved
August 26,
2016
.
- ^
"Margaret Trudeau in hospital after fire at Montreal apartment building"
.
CBC News
Montreal, April 28, 2020.
- ^
"Margaret Trudeau"
.
HuffPost
Canada
. Retrieved
July 30,
2019
.
- ^
Campbell, Meagan (April 21, 2017).
"Margaret Trudeau's last job"
.
Maclean's
. Retrieved
July 30,
2019
.
- ^
Payne, Elizabeth (October 12, 2014).
"Margaret Trudeau makes her mark in Mali"
.
Ottawa Citizen
. Retrieved
July 30,
2019
.
- ^
Harrold, Max (November 17, 2007). "A plea for more aid, less ignorance: Margaret Trudeau at mental health forum describes long struggle with bipolar disorder".
The Gazette
. p. A7.
- ^
Smith, Marie-Danielle (May 10, 2019).
"
'My life has been extreme': Margaret Trudeau speaks with candour in new one-woman show | National Post"
.
National Post
. Retrieved
May 11,
2019
.
- ^
"Honorary Patrons | Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division"
. Archived from
the original
on January 16, 2014
. Retrieved
January 15,
2014
.
.
- ^
Trudeau, Margaret; Campbell, Kim (July 19, 2019).
"When barriers are lifted, women flourish. The growth in Kenya's communities prove it"
.
The Globe and Mail
. Retrieved
July 29,
2019
.
- ^
Coletta, Amanda (July 25, 2019).
"Months before Canada's election, Justin Trudeau's colorful mother takes the stage to tell all"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
July 30,
2019
.
- ^
"The University of Western Ontario : Honorary Degrees Awarded, 1881?present"
(PDF)
.
Uwo.ca
. Retrieved
June 1,
2019
.
External links
[
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]
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