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By
Moira Warburton
TORONTO (Reuters) - The man who
gave Time magazine the photo of Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau wearing brownface at a school event said on Friday he
had no political affiliation nor did he receive any payment for
releasing the image.
Vancouver businessman Michael Adamson said in a statement he was
motivated solely by the belief that "Canadian public had a
right" to see the photo.
The photo was taken at a gala dinner of British Columbia private
school West Point Grey Academy (WPGA) in 2001, when Trudeau was
a 29-year-old teacher at the school, showing him in a Middle
East-inspired costume, skin darkened by makeup.
Trudeau repeatedly apologized for the embarrassing photo, which
came to light less than five weeks before the federal elections,
in which he was already facing a tough fight.
Adamson was part of the WPGA community at that time and provided
a copy of the photo, which he had in a school yearbook, to Time,
the magazine said when it published the story last week.
"I am not and have never been a member of a political party. I
received no payment for releasing this photograph," Adamson
said.
Trudeau also explicitly acknowledged his mistakes, going so far
as to call Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party and
the first person of color to lead a federal political party, to
apologize directly.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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