Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre leaves after speaking to reporters in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he did not share photos of a ceremony he participated in with Algonquin leaders on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation out of respect for their traditional customs.
Poilievre shared two photos on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday with a post about joining Algonquin elders and leaders at the eternal flame on Parliament Hill to mark the occasion.
The women in the photos were not Algonquin but Inuit, including Manitok Thompson, who was a cabinet minister in the Northwest Territories and then in Nunavut after the territory was created in 1999.
A spokesman for Poilievre said on Saturday that the Tory leader had been at an earlier event led by Algonquin leaders to commemorate the day and that he had also spoken with other Indigenous Peoples there, including the Inuit women in the photos, whom he did not name.
Poilievre told reporters today that it was a “beautiful, touching ceremony” and that his team did not photograph the event out of respect because “based on their traditional custom, photography is not allowed.”
The Conservative leader’s spokesman referred to Poilievre’s statement when asked today whether those participating in the ceremony had requested that photographs not be taken or shared.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2023.
