Ever since his explosive response to a journalist during the October Crisis of 1970, the fanaticism surrounding one of Canada’s most influential political figures can be encapsulated in three simple words: “Just watch me.”
Sunday Oct. 13 marked the 43rd anniversary of Pierre Trudeau’s famous quote and provided Elise Chenier, associate professor of history at SFU, the perfect opportunity to launch her newest campaign: the Trudeaumania Project.
An energetic, nonconforming politician during the 1970s counterculture movement, Trudeau was treated like a pop star by the Canadian public, who avidly followed his private and political life.
“He had charisma, I don’t think there’s any question about that,” explained Chenier. “No matter where you stood on the political spectrum, his charisma as well as his intellect was undeniable.”
The Trudeaumania Project —put in motion via a Trudeaumania Facebook page last Sunday — aims to reinvigorate the excitement surrounding Trudeau by collecting memorabilia from the era.
Chenier, who teaches a course on the Trudeau era, explained her interest in the subject to The Peak. “I’m of course interested in the politics of the era, which is probably what initially attracted me to that topic. I’m also a child of that era . . . I have memories of his image being everywhere, memories of one of the elections in the 1970s, and my own parents’ and grandmother’s excitement about him being elected to office. I grew up surrounded by that,” said Chenier.
With Pierre Trudeau’s son, Justin Trudeau, now involved in politics and an early front-runner for the next federal election, Chenier feels the “inevitable” comparisons being made between father and son will spur a renewed interest in the issue. Additionally, with the amount of time that has passed since Trudeau’s Prime Ministership, Chenier sees this moment as an important time to collect these artifacts before they are lost.
He had charisma, I don’t think there’s any question about that.”
– Elise Chenier, SFU associate professor of history
“This generation of people who were Trudeaumaniacs, they’re all downsizing in their life right now, and I was thinking ‘What’s going to happen to all of these really cool artifacts?’ They’re probably, a lot of them, going to get thrown out,” said Chenier. “So I thought, why not let’s put the word out and say, ‘Hey we’re interested in them, we’re interested in your stories, your memories . . . let’s collect them and see what we come up with.’”
Chenier hopes that beyond “just watching,” the public will search their old attics and albums for any memorabilia related to the Trudeau phenomenon. She has already received a photograph of a friend’s aunt, smiling in front of a huge poster of Trudeau, and a portrait of the former Prime Minister. Initially, the portrait had been of Pierre and his wife, Margaret, but after their divorce the owner of the piece had Margaret painted out.
Although Chenier has no clue as to what she might discover during this project, there are several objects she is hoping — but not expecting — to acquire.
“I will tell you one of the things I would really love to get my hands on, but I doubt I will because they’re so rare,” said Chenier. “During the 1968 convention when [Trudeau] first was elected the leader of the Liberal party, somebody came up with the idea to print his image on these paper dresses and hand them out to women who were convention hostesses . . . if one of those dresses came into our hands that would be just spectacular.”
These paper dresses were launched as novelty frocks in 1966, but became political propaganda as photo-print portraits.
Although initially spurred by curiosity, Chenier hopes to ultimately use the material she collects to produce a coffee book and perhaps to host some kind of exhibit, “I would really love to bring this to the public and share it with [them]. I think it’s an incredibly fascinating era in Canadian history.”
Looking back at this era, questions arise as to whether Trudeaumania, like Beatlemania, might have simply been a facet of a time when society was less fragmented. When asked whether or not a similar phenomenon could happen again today, Chenier answered, firmly:
“[Trudeau] is a unique person and he’s a unique type, but it certainly could happen again. There’s no reason why it couldn’t happen again.”
