World

Son Remembers Trudeau

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 28, 2000 / 7:19 PM EDT / CBS

Pierre Trudeau was like a towering tree providing sustenance and shade for all Canadians, one of his sons told an international crowd at a state funeral Tuesday for the former Prime Minister.

The tree has been cut down, "but leave the stump and roots in the ground, bound with hoops of iron and bronze," a composed Sacha Trudeau said as he read from the Bible in Notre-Dame Basilica.

Sacha and Trudeau's other son, Justin, both wore red roses, in silent tribute to their father's trademark. Trudeau's daughter, Sarah, whom he fathered at the age of 71, made a rare appearance with her mother, constitutional lawyer Deborah Coyne.

The funeral was held after a single-engine plane trailing a giant Canadian flag flew overhead in tribute as Trudeau's coffin was carried into the 2,700-seat Roman Catholic church.

Castro's last-minute tribute Monday night to the first NATO leader to visit Cuba, capped five days of emotional outpouring from British Columbia to Newfoundland for the Canadian prime minister who instilled pride in his people and left a living legacy of a modern, bilingual, multicultural nation.

Reuters

Fidel Castro bowed to Trudeau one last time.

Foreign dignitaries attending the service included Cuban President Fidel Castro, former president Jimmy Carter, Britain's Prince Andrew, and the Aga Khan.

Thousands of Canadians who couldn't get in applauded as the bells of the ornate 19th century basilica pealed for the man the current prime minister, Jean Chretien, called the greatest Canadian of the 20th century. They then watched the funeral service on a giant screen set up outside the church.

The funeral, broadcast live across Canada, capped five days of emotional outpouring by Canadians and world leaders for Trudeau, who left a living legacy of a modern, bilingual, multicultural nation.

It was a difficult day for Trudeau's former wife, Margaret, who made no effort to mask her tears. She embraced one of her sons before they followed Trudeau's body into the basilica.

Among the more recognizable figures at the funeral was Castro, who on Monday hailed Trudeau the first NATO leader to visit Cuba as a "world-class statesman."

When Castro entered the basilica, crowds shouted "Viva Fidel!"

Mr. Carter, who often sparred with Trudeau while both were in power, arrived at the church before Castro. "He was the first person I invited to the White House after I was elected," the former president has said of Trudeau. "He gave me some good advice."

Paula Van Den Bosch, 27, who grew up in the 1970s and 0s when Trudeau led the country, said simply, "he's an icon for me."

Trudeau, who suffered from Parkinson's disease and died of prostate cancer last Thursday at age 80, was to be buried privately after the state funeral presided over by Montreal's Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte.

Trudeau swept to power in 1968, the height of the so-called Swinging Sixties, on a wave of support nicknamed "Trudeaumania." His charisma was reminiscent of another young, dashing politician who had captivated the United States when he became president eight years earlier in 1960 — John F. Kennedy.

What made Trudeau such a sensation was that he completely shattered the Canadian image at the time, which was stodgy and understated. The new prime minister liked sports cars and action sports - last winter was the first since his childhood that he didn't go skiing. He dated stars like Barbra Streisand and Margot Kidder. And at age 51, he married Margaret Sinclair, a "flower child" who was just 21.

Reuters

Canadians lined up to pay their final respects to former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in Montreal City Hall.

"It's almost impossible I think for Americans to appreciate just how much Trudeau meant to Canada," said CBSNews.com Legal Consultant Andrew Cohen, a Canadian, "both while he was Prime Minister and then in his later years. Simply put, he was a political and social and cultural poster-child for a country that usually is lacking for one.

"Imagine how Americans would feel if before dying John Kennedy had lived to be an old man, and if he had achieved tremendous political and social deeds, and you can begin to understand what Canadians are going through since last Thursday when Pierre Trudeau died," said Cohen, now a resident of Denver who lived in Canada during Trudeau's tenure. "He was Canada's answer to JFK and Robert Kennedy combined."

Trudeau had been a leftist lawyer and professor of constitutional law before becoming prime minister, and when he took power he pushed through major social changes - making divorce easier, relaxing laws on abortion and homosexuality, tightening gun control and expanding social welfare.

But his two greatest legacies, according to most commentators, were his successful campaign against Quebec separatism — and his successful fight to give Canada, not Britain, total responsibility for the country's constitution. The new constitution included a new Canadian charter of rights and freedoms.

"If Canada stays together in the 21st Century, it will be in large part duto Trudeau's hard work and enormous political resolve," said Cohen.

Internationally, Trudeau adopted a foreign policy independent of the United States and Britain, which was called the "Third Way." He recognized communist China long before the United States did. He supported nuclear disarmament and aligned himself with socialist leaders, including Germany's Willy Brandt and Sweden's Olof Palme.

Trudeau and Castro took to each other from their first meeting in Cuba in 1976, which broke Castro's isolation and ruffled U.S. feathers. The two leaders saw each other regularly until well after Trudeau had left politics. Castro said he brought photos of "those dearly cherished days" to leave with the family.

Mark Entwistle, Canadian ambassador to Cuba from 1993 to 1997, remembered sitting at the dinner table with the two men as they talked the nights away - "intellectual soul mates, definitely."