Justin Trudeau delivers eulogy for his father Pierre
CBC Archives | Posted: June 21, 2018 4:01 PM | Last Updated: June 21, 2018
'He loved us with the passion and the devotion that encompassed his life'
Thousands gathered in Montreal on Oct. 3, 2000, to mourn the loss of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
Crowds started streaming in to the Notre-Dame Basilica before dawn, filling the church to capacity and leaving hundreds beyond its doors.
Trudeau's eldest son Justin, 28, gave a eulogy that captured his father's wisdom and grace, calling on all Canadians to carry on his legacy.
"He loved us with the passion and the devotion that encompassed his life," said Trudeau.
At the end of the eulogy, he paraphrased Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost. He changed the poem's last words from "And miles to go before I sleep" to "he has kept his promises and earned his sleep."
The eulogy sparked speculation over Justin Trudeau's future in politics, despite his being a drama and French teacher in Vancouver. (And eventually, he would follow his father's path and become a politician and then a prime minister himself.)
The two other eulogies heard at the funeral were given by Roy Heenan, Pierre Trudeau's family friend and business partner, and former senator Jacques Hébert.
Pierre Trudeau died of prostate cancer on Sept. 28, 2000, in his Montreal home. His two sons and his former wife, Margaret, were at his side. Trudeau also had Parkinson's disease and, earlier that year had battled pneumonia. He suffered a terrible loss in 1998 when his youngest son, Michel, was killed in an avalanche.