Joel Goldenberg – The Suburban LJI Reporter
The Suburban was barred Friday afternoon from any proximity to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was at the Sylvan Adams YM-YWHA. We were told Trudeau was at the Y to meet with Jewish students from local universities, who were there to tell him about their experiences on campus amidst the tensions arising from the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which began after the terrorist group Hamas slaughtered 1,400 people in Israel, wounded thousands more and kidnapped more than 200 people.
Before Trudeau arrived, we saw MPs Anthony Housefather and Rachel Bendayan, former federal Minister and Sephardic community leader Jacques Saada and Côte St. Luc Mayor Mitchell Brownstein, Snowdon councillor Sonny Moroz, Eta Yudin of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), amongst others. The media was not informed of the Y event— we heard about it through community information.
The Suburban was given to understand on Friday that while we could not attend Trudeau’s meeting with students, we could possibly speak to him afterwards as he circulated in a Y hall. Several members of the public had heard of Trudeau’s visit, and were waiting to see him as well. Trudeau arrived at 1:30 p.m., and was greeted by representatives from Federation CJA and CIJA. We took a picture of Trudeau being greeted by Federation CJA CEO Yair Szlak.
Szlak then seemed to indicate he wanted to pass on a community message to Trudeau. As I moved in a little closer to hear what was being said for a possible quote, Trudeau’s lead media advance person Terry Guillon asked what I was doing and said I could not move from where I was standing.
“I’m from the media,” I said. Gullian, agitated, said the media was not invited to be on hand, I was not supposed to be there and that I could not even publish the picture I took. “Not even for a picture and caption?” I asked. “Not even after the fact?” No, was the answer.
“You can either stand here,” Guillon said, referring to the area near the Y’s entrance, “or go outside.” “I was told Trudeau would possibly be able to speak to me,” I said. Guillon said that would not be the case, and demanded to know who invited us to be at the Y. I said we had just heard about the visit.
I then put him on the phone with Suburban editor-in-chief Beryl Wajsman to whom he confirmed that media was barred from the event. Guillon then had to rush off, dropping my phone in the process, for which he apologized, all the while insisting we could not publish anything from the event.
We just did.