Whether or not you voted Liberal on Monday, many Canadians across all political stripes were mesmerized by the image of a proud mother celebrating her son’s historic victory.
Margaret Trudeau visited Woodstock, New Brunswick Thursday evening, not to talk politics, rather past personal struggles.
The mother of Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau was one of the first high-profile Canadians to go public with her experiences living with mental illness.
She spoke openly before a sold out crowd of about five-hundred.
“Because people know my story, I have a brand, and there’s a curiosity, I’ve been able to bring in a lot more people to listen to me, because people know my story,” Trudeau explains. “To tell them about the extraordinary advances being made in correcting mental health, correcting brain health issues.”
Her very public life has meant public tragedies, the death of her son Michel and the death of her husband Pierre Trudeau.
“Parts of it people are familiar with,” she adds, “but they certainly wouldn’t know the extent of the pain I used to suffer by being alone, and not accepting that I needed to get help.”
Trudeau’s message resonated at the event, which was hosted by the Hayward House Recovery Centre.
“To have somebody like Margaret Trudeau be so open about her life and her experience with mental illness,” says event attendee Mary Young, “makes it so real to people.”
Trudeau says mental health will be getting new attention from the new federal government.
“Oh yeah, all the social issues that we have not paid attention too,” she says. “We have not put the funds in, we have not paid the attention to, now have to be addressed before it’s too late.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore.
