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There is a magical quality in the name Trudeau. For Canadians, it resonates with a fond recollection of a Canada that had announced itself to the world through Expo67 and was about to come of age as a player of importance on the world stage. The man elected to the top job was Pierre Elliott Trudeau, an intellectual and visionary, who with a biting wit, charm, and sometimes outrageous self-confidence carved a place for Canada on that stage. Along the way he made both fast friends and fast enemies with his political counterparts around the world; he dated some of the world's most glamorous single women; led the Liberal Party to victory in 1968, 1972 (with a minority government), 1974 (majority) and again in 1980 when he was lured out of retirement. He immediately embarked on a vigorous campaign to defeat the Quebec referendum on sovereignty-association. Under his watch The Official Languages Act of 1969 was passed, recognizing English and French as official languages. In 1970 he faced the October Crisis, and he invoked the War Measures Act to stem civil unrest and prevent further kidnappings and killings of Canadian and foreign officials.
He implored world leaders to reduce nuclear weapons stocks in his effort to bring peace to a war-stricken world. In 1982, Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed the new Constitution Act, which repatriated the Canadian constitution. In April of 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was passed, entrenching individual and language rights in the fabric of this nation. Trudeau married a beautiful flower child from Vancouver, Margaret Sinclair, and together they had three sons. The youngest, Michel, was killed while on a back-country skiing trip in Kokanee Glacier Park in 1998. The surviving sons, Justin and Alexandre, provide their insights into the photographs that comprise this book-photographs that capture the many sides and dimensions of a man who would not be denied political and social change that he felt would benefit all Canadians in a united country. His vision was grand; his challenges many; his legacy still keenly felt today and for generations to come.
