University and early career
Trudeau, then 28, emerged as a prominent figure in October 2000, after delivering a eulogy at his father's state funeral.[65][66][67] The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) received numerous calls to rebroadcast the speech after its initial transmission, and leading Quebec politician Claude Ryan described it as "perhaps [...] the first manifestation of a dynasty."[68] A book issued by the CBC in 2003 included the speech in its list of significant Canadian events from the past fifty years.[69]
Trudeau has a bachelor of arts degree in literature from McGill University and a bachelor of education degree from the University of British Columbia. In his first year at McGill, Trudeau became acquainted with his future Principal Secretary Gerald Butts, through their mutual friend, Jonathan Ablett[70] and Butts invited Trudeau to join the McGill Debating Union.[71] They bonded while driving back to Montreal after a debate tournament at Princeton University[70] in which the Princeton team included Ted Cruz, a candidate for the U.S. Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2016.[72] After graduation, he stayed in Vancouver and he found substitute work at several local schools and permanent work as a French and math teacher at the private West Point Grey Academy and was roommates at the Douglas Lodge[73] with fellow West Point Grey Academy faculty member and friend Christopher Ingvaldson.[70][74] From 2002 to 2004, he studied engineering at the École Polytechnique de Montréal, a part of the Université de Montréal.[75] He also started a master's degree in environmental geography at McGill University, before suspending his program to seek public office.[76]
In 2007, Trudeau starred in the two-part CBC Television miniseries The Great War, which gave an account of Canada's participation in the First World War. He portrayed Talbot Mercer Papineau, who was killed on October 30, 1917, during the Battle of Passchendaele.[77] Trudeau is one of several children of former prime ministers who have become Canadian media personalities. The others are Ben Mulroney (son of Brian Mulroney), Catherine Clark (daughter of Joe Clark), and Trudeau's younger brother, Alexandre.[78] Ben Mulroney was a guest at Trudeau's wedding.[79]
Advocacy
Trudeau has used his public status to promote various causes. He and his family started the Kokanee Glacier Alpine Campaign for winter sports safety in 2000, two years after his brother Michel Trudeau died in an avalanche during a ski trip.[80] In 2002, Trudeau criticized the British Columbia government's decision to stop its funding for a public avalanche warning system.[81]
(left to right) Trudeau, Darfurian refugee Tragi Mustafa, an unidentified woman, and Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire (2006)
Trudeau chaired the Katimavik youth program, a project started by longtime family friend Jacques Hébert, from 2002 to 2006.[82][83]
In 2002–03, Trudeau was a panelist on CBC Radio's Canada Reads series, where he championed The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston.[84][85] Trudeau and his brother Alexandre inaugurated the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto in April 2004; the centre later became a part of the Munk School of Global Affairs.[86] In 2006, he hosted the Giller Prize for literature.[87][88]
In 2005, Trudeau fought against a proposed $100-million zinc mine that he argued would poison the Nahanni River, a United Nations World Heritage Site located in the Northwest Territories. He was quoted as saying, "The river is an absolutely magnificent, magical place. I'm not saying mining is wrong [...] but that is not the place for it. It's just the wrong thing to be doing."[89][90]
On September 17, 2006, Trudeau was the master of ceremonies at a Toronto rally organized by Roméo Dallaire that called for Canadian participation in resolving the Darfur crisis.[91][92][93]
