Ottawa — After the controversial Prince Harry and Meghan Markle interview earlier this week, several Canadians are calling for the severing of ties with the royal family due to accusations of institutional racism.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that “now is not the time” to discuss scrapping the monarchy, adding that he has “never personally faced any racism from the royals.”
“I’ve met with the Queen on several occasions, and never once did I experience even the slightest inkling of racism,” he explained during a press conference on Tuesday. “Remember, this is coming from somebody who has publicly presented as a black man on several occasions. Like, a startling number of times.”
He detailed several exchanges that he had with the Queen that indicate her open-minded approach to race relations.
“Funnily enough — and you wouldn’t expect this from the woman who epitomizes British culture — she’s quite the connoisseur of African-American pop culture,” he said. “She’s an older woman, you understand, so her tastes run pretty old-school. Still, we chewed the fat about Al Jolson, Amos & Andy, Uncle Tom’s Cabin…the classics.”
He told the press that, during a recent phone call, she reiterated the family’s commitment to ending violence against black and brown people.
How did she express this?
“I was talking about the recent race-related protests across the world, and celebrating the notion that black lives matter,” he explained. “As soon as I’d said this, she put up her hand, gave a wry smile, and said ‘All lives matter, Justin.’”
He looked across the room, taking a moment to admire the profundity of this statement.
“All lives matter.”