Pierre Elliot Trudeau and Me
Note for readers: This article has been narrated on the Best Hang Podcast by Max Kerman of the band Arkells. He is a close family friend and has included a short introduction about my recent writings and his views on political activism.
The above picture tells part of the story but more than a thousand words are required to complete it.
That’s me, behind the lectern, pointing. To my right, looking up at me, is a man named John Roberts. To his right is Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, facing downwards and holding his hand to his forehead.
Here’s what was going on.
It was in Toronto, on the evening of February 17, 1977, in an enormous ballroom at the Sheraton Centre Hotel.
The Liberal Party had organized a huge gathering to celebrate a new immigration bill. The Prime Minister and many members of his cabinet (some of whom are shown in the picture, sitting behind the Prime Minister) were in attendance, as were a number of other Members of Parliament.
The organizers had sent invitations to thousands of people and to hundreds of organizations; each invitation would admit two people. I do not remember what the invitations said, but they were phrased in a way that suggested that there would be a relatively small gathering with the Prime Minister.
At the time, I was a member of an organization called the Committee Against Racism. We felt that aspects of the immigration bill were very unfair to immigrants. In particular, the bill contained provisions that allowed immigrants who were not citizens to be deported if they were merely found to “be likely to commit a criminal offence”.
Surprisingly, the Committee Against Racism received an invitation to attend the gathering. (That illustrates the fact that the organizers of the event cast the net very widely to ensure that there would be a very large turnout.) We decided that two of our members would use the invitation to enter the ballroom.
Someone in our group made a banner that was about six feet long and about three feet high that said, in two rows written in very large letters, “Kill Immigration Bill, Committee Against Racism”.
The plan was to unfurl the banner at some point while Trudeau was speaking. We expected that police officers and/or security guards would quickly grab the banner and escort the banner-holders out of the ballroom. We realized that there was a possibility of criminal charges being laid but we felt that that was very unlikely.
We hoped that reporters would interview the banner-holders and give them the opportunity to publicize our concerns about the immigration bill. Two of our members were lawyers with expertise in immigration law, Charley Roach and Mike Smith; they agreed to unfurl the banner.
The Committee Against Racism also organized a demonstration in front of the entrance to the hotel that people with invitations were directed to. About fifty of us (including me) marched in a circle, waving placards and handing out leaflets to people who were attending the event.
At first, people with invitations entered without any difficulty. Fairly quickly, however, the line of people waiting for admission became quite long and slow-moving. After about half an hour, the line was at a standstill. Shortly after that, several police officers came out to announce that the ballroom was full and no one else would be admitted.
A number of the people waiting in line became very angry. They waived their invitations and shouted. Some of them were dressed in suits, and I even saw a couple of people who were wearing tuxedos. I think that at least a few of them had expected to meet the Prime Minister.
Fortunately, Charley and Mike had arrived at the hotel very early and had gotten in without any problem. The banner was folded on Charley’s chest, under his vest.
It was cold outside. A little after the time when no more people were being admitted, we ended our demonstration.
I decided that I would see if I could talk myself in; why not give it a try?
I got through the disgruntled people who were still standing sort of in line by saying (many times) “Sorry, but my wife is in there, I have to get to her.” When I got to the officers who were blocking the entrance, I said “Sorry, but my wife is in there, I have to find her. She has our invitation.” They let me in.
When I entered the ballroom, I saw a huge crowd (media reports later said “thousands”), standing packed together. Straight in front of me, I saw a stage with many people sitting on it. (The stage in the above picture.) I was able to recognize Prime Minister Trudeau but not anyone else. Someone was giving a speech.
I wasn’t going to look for my wife (she wasn’t there) but I wanted to find Charley and Mike. I stood looking around for several minutes. Then I saw them. They were on another stage, a stage that was against the side wall to my left. That stage was packed with people who were standing very close together. Mike and Charley were on the front of that stage.
I slowly made my way through the crowd and got to Mike and Charley. After another speaker finished, John Roberts introduced Prime Minister Trudeau. Trudeau was loudly applauded as he went to the lectern. He began his speech.
A few minutes later, Charley and Mike nodded to each other. Then Charley produced the banner and passed one end of it to Mike and they unfurled it.
The three of us were very anxious wondering what would happen.
Nothing much happened! A few people behind or near us tried to see what was on the banner. But Trudeau continued speaking and only perhaps a dozen of the thousands of people in the ballroom were even aware that anything was going on.
About five minutes later, I said to Charley and Mike “I’m going to shout out something, okay?” They nodded their acquiescence.
Trudeau said something positive about immigrants. When he paused for a second, I shouted, as loudly as I could (and I could shout quite loudly in those days), “Then why are you increasing deportations?”
Virtually everyone in the ballroom looked towards our banner, including Trudeau. He said something like “There’s somebody who has a problem with the government. He shouts from the sidelines but is afraid to come up here and face us.”
I yelled back “Okay, I’ll come up there.”
It took quite a while for me to make my way through the dense crowd. Trudeau continued his speech. Most of those members of the audience that I passed seemed to be amused.
When I arrived next to the stage on which Trudeau was speaking, an RCMP officer told me “wait here”. A few minutes later, the officer said “Okay” and I walked up the stairs onto the stage. As I was doing so, the officer said “We’re watching you, Peter.” (I conjecture that I was known to the RCMP because of my participation in a number of left-wing activities and, in particular, because of my having been arrested while protesting the U. S. war against Vietnam. I also conjecture that the officer used my name because he felt that I might somehow be restrained by the knowledge that they knew who I was.)
I stood at the corner of the stage while Trudeau kept speaking. He glanced over at me a few times; I think he wanted to make sure I wouldn’t attack him. I looked out at the large crowd. They were looking at me and smiling in anticipation of some bizarre happening. (In retrospect, I find it hard to understand why I was not thinking at all about what I would say when I got to the podium. I just kept scanning the crowd, enjoying their amusement. Strangely, I did not feel at all nervous; I was just determined.)
After a few more minutes, Trudeau gestured in my direction and said to the crowd “Oh yes, we have somebody who has some problem with the government. Maybe he has an immigration problem.”
Trudeau pointed towards someone sitting on the stage as he said “If so, the Minister of Immigration is right here to deal with it.”
Trudeau continued, as he indicated someone else in a chair on the stage, “Maybe he has a transportation problem. If so, the Minister of Transportation is also here.”
The Prime Minister then said “Maybe he has a legal problem. Unfortunately, the Attorney General is not here this evening. But we do have the RCMP.”
I laughed along with most of the crowd.
Trudeau then returned to his seat and I walked to the lectern. As I arrived there, John Roberts came up to me and said “How much time do you want?”
I replied “Give me five minutes.”
Mr. Roberts scowled and went back to his seat.
I pointed towards our banner.
That is the instant that was immortalized in the above picture.
I said, into the microphone, “Do you see that sign over there? It says ‘Kill Immigration Bill. Committee Against Racism’. I want to tell you why we are carrying that sign.”
(When I reconstruct the events, I realize that my only plan had been that my shouting would draw attention to the banner. That’s why I began by pointing to it.)
I then described some of the aspects of the Immigration Bill. I do not remember the exact words that I said but the essence was the following.
“The new immigration bill allows the deportation of non-citizen residents of Canada if they appear likely to commit a crime. They need not have been found guilty of any crime. They do not have to have even been charged with a crime. Or to be a suspect in an investigation of a crime. In fact, it is not even necessary that any crime had been committed. The person being deported need only be found to ‘appear to be likely to commit a crime’.”
Some hundreds of the thousands of spectators booed. Most people just seemed to be enjoying the show that I was performing.
I continued “How do you determine whether a person appears to be likely to commit a crime? For someone to be found guilty of a criminal offence requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the person committed the offence. What is required to establish that a person is likely to commit a crime?”
Some people booed.
I said “You may like that kind of repression, but I don’t.”
There were some more boos and a little applause.
I continued “This Immigration Bill allows immigration officers to randomly follow and photograph permanent residents of Canada to try to discover some support for a finding that the resident appears to be likely to commit an offence.”
I then said “Prime Minister Trudeau speaks with a forked tongue when …“
In the middle of my sentence, John Roberts appeared next to me and said “Your five minutes are up. “ (The next day, a reporter who had recorded my speech told me that I had spoken for three minutes and 37 seconds.)
I said to Mr. Roberts “You have to let me finish my sentence.”
He replied “Your five minutes are up.”
I said “I’m going to finish my sentence.”
But then I paused for a few seconds to think of what I should say. How should I finish my sentence? I had said “Trudeau speaks with a forked tongue.” I had never before used the expression “forked tongue” and I had no idea why it occurred to me at that moment. I felt uncomfortable with that phrase. But I also felt stuck with it; I had to finish my sentence.
I then continued “Prime Minister Trudeau speaks with a forked tongue when he tells you that this immigration bill provides fairer treatment of immigrants. I urge you to review it and then try to convince your Member of Parliament to oppose some of its provisions.”
Thousands of people booed and hundreds of people applauded; most of the crowd just smiled at the spectacle that they were witnessing.
I made my way back towards the stairs that I had climbed to get on the stage. As I did so, the Prime Minister returned to the lectern and said “The fact that that man was allowed to make his points shows that Canada is a free country. You might wonder if someone in the government arranged it, but it was unplanned.”
I started climbing down the stairs as the Prime Minister began to speak of other things. When I reached the bottom, an RCMP officer pointed as he said to me “Go this way, there’s an exit behind the stage.”
I said “I want to go back the way I came.”
The officer said “It is too dangerous. Some people out there might try to kill you.”
I replied “Don’t be ridiculous” and I walked into the crowd.
I headed back towards the place where Charley and Mike were holding the banner. The people in the audience were packed together but they moved a little out of the way so I could proceed. No one in the crowd expressed any hostility to me. A few people told me that they agreed with me. Many people asked for my autograph. Most of them asked me to sign on their copy of the invitation. As I very slowly made my way, I signed about a hundred autographs. I wrote “Kill Immigration Bill. Peter Rosenthal.”
I eventually reached Charley and Mike. They were still holding the banner. I said “Tough crowd to work”.
We stayed there until the end of the gathering. A number of other people asked for my autograph.
It was about eleven p.m. before I got home. I lay in bed but did not sleep very much or very well. I replayed the event over and over. It seemed fantastic; did it really happen? Why did I say “forked tongue”?
The morning news made it very clear that it certainly had happened: It was widely reported in the media.
That morning, I went to my office in the Department of Mathematics of the University of Toronto. Many of the people who I ran into had heard the news and wanted to chat about it.
My fifteen minutes of fame is illustrated by the following.
That day, a mathematician from Europe was visiting our department to give a seminar talk. He received a cheque to cover his travel expenses. He wanted to cash the cheque, so he and I walked to a nearby bank.
The cheque was from the University of Toronto; I assumed that there would not be a problem cashing it. I was wrong. The teller said that she could not cash the cheque because the visitor did not have an account with the bank.
I didn’t have an account at that bank either. But I told the teller that I was a University of Toronto Professor, and I suggested that that fact should make her comfortable in cashing the University of Toronto cheque. When she indicated that she could not cash it nonetheless, I asked if I could speak to her supervisor.
Her supervisor came over and I explained the situation to him. He listened patiently, and then asked “Are you the guy who interrupted Prime Minister Trudeau last night?”
When I acknowledged that I was, he laughed and asked me a few questions about the incident. He cashed the cheque. My European colleague was very impressed.
I have told this story dozens of times over the years since 1977. Each time I do, including during the writing of this article, I feel somewhat anxious. I cannot understand why I felt no anxiety whatsoever during the time that I was confronting the Prime Minister. I guess adrenaline is very powerful.
Could an incident like this happen today? Not likely. We do have a Prime Minister Trudeau. But Justin is not Pierre. Pierre was quite unorthodox in many ways. It is not so surprising that he would do something like allowing a heckler to come to the podium; it would be very surprising if any other Prime Minister did the same.
In fact, even Pierre Trudeau might be very reluctant to allow a heckler to take the stage at the present time. In the current climate of concern about terrorism, he (and his bodyguards) would be very worried about the possibility that a heckler might become an assassin.
