Former Liberal MP calls out Trudeau for 'dehumanizing' tokenism
‘I froze because at that moment, I knew that this person [Prime Minister Trudeau] could make or break the rest of my life,’ said Celina Caesar-Chavannes, a former Liberal MP and parliamentary secretary to Trudeau.
Amid continued uncertainty surrounding Prime Minister Trudeau’s leadership, a former Liberal MP accused the charismatic figure of using her as his token person of colour.
Celina Caesar-Chavannes sat down last week with Jordan Peterson, a psychologist turned media personality, where she says Trudeau’s “sunny ways” persona is just a façade.
First elected in 2015, Caesar-Chavannes was appointed as Trudeau’s parliamentary secretary within months of her election win. Though inexperienced, she was determined to prove herself, Peterson heard.
However, the former member of Parliament conveyed her enthusiasm for public office was short-lived after telling the prime minister she did not blindly trust his judgment, reported the National Post.
“No. I have no reason to. I just met you,” Caesar-Chavannes said she told the prime minister a decade ago. Trudeau immediately took offence and made note of the “awkward” tension in the room.
“We both worked hard. But I had to appreciate him for whatever reason. He raked me over the coals for that,” she said.
Admittedly, Caesar-Chavannes says she comes across as unnecessarily combative at times, but argued that Trudeau, as Canada's head of state, should not be so easily triggered.
“I wasn’t going to complain too much. But … something wasn’t right,” she said.
In addition, Caesar-Chavannes called out the prime minister for his “dehumanizing” tokenism, noting Canadians deserve better.
“Between 2015-2019 I was the only black female Canadian elected,” she told Peterson, explaining a creeping uneasiness quickly swept over her.
To commemorate black history month, the former MP was given marching orders to show up for photo-ops at “three events that were Black-focused.”
“After that, I was done,” she said.
“Tokenism is very disenfranchising, very dehumanizing … I’m not allowed to speak to [the] media, I’m not allowed to speak in the house.”
Caesar-Chavannes purports to have been “duped and betrayed” by the Liberal government.
At one point she told the prime minister: “If I’m here to fill any gender or racial gap within your cabinet, then I don’t want this role.”
After some time, an attempted apology to Trudeau fell on deaf ears. According to Caesar-Chavannes, Trudeau gave her an intense glare and left the room as soon as she uttered the words.
“I froze because, at that moment, I knew that this person actually could make or break the rest of my life,” she told Peterson.
When asked by Peterson why the one-term MP did not blow the lid on Trudeau’s behaviour earlier, she suggested the media wouldn’t be interested.
“The Canadian media has still managed to glorify this individual and not hold him to account,” she claimed, noting the mainstream media has allowed Trudeau to evade consequences for his repeated bad behaviour.
Alex Dhaliwal
Calgary Based Journalist
Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
