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The Trudeau Years: Behind the Lens of Jean-Marc Carisse

OTTAWA, Ontario (djc) – He was there when then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau shared a quiet father-son moment, lifting little Sacha on his shoulders while taking in the quaint scenery of Harrington Lake on August 1978. And when Trudeau made a passionate stand for a united Canada at a Liberal Party Convention in the same year. Another time he was invited with his wife to meet Trudeau at his law firm in Montreal—the last time Trudeau would set foot in his office and just eight weeks before he passed away.

These are just some of the intimate and historical moments of prime ministers and dignitaries like Trudeau, captured by Jean-Marc Carisse, former Official Photographer for the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada. He had last seen Trudeau at his 80th birthday party at 24 Sussex Dr. on October, 1999, before he met a “calm and slightly frail” Trudeau that summer’s day of 2000.

Impromptu photo with three PMs

Carisse, now an independent photographer, was later told by Trudeau’s personal assistant that it was probably a gesture of appreciation when Trudeau allowed him to take those photos.

“In retrospect, it was a gift to me… I felt very welcome to meet him with my wife (and) it was like magic,” he said, of the 20 minutes he spent after lunch chatting and taking photos of Trudeau. “It wasn’t unusual for him to do that… to make me welcome.”

Although he was always behind-the-scenes, Carisse remembers when Trudeau struck up a conversation with him, and suggested John Turner and Jean Chrétien pose together with Carisse and him in a photograph, at a National Archives of Canada event in 1994.

“Contrary to popular opinion, I find him truly down to earth and he always acknowledges my presence, either with a smile or a ‘Salut, Jean-Marc.’ During our photo sessions, a certain boyish charm would surface occasionally,” Carisse said of Trudeau in his coffee-table book, Privileged Access with Trudeau, Turner & Chrétien (Warwick Publishing, 2000), which features hundreds of his photographs over a quarter century. “One could sense that you were in the presence of greatness, in the presence of a major player on a world stage.”

Exhibit showcases unpublished photographs of Trudeau



Carisse’s latest photo exhibit, “My Trudeau Years”, showcases a selection of 57 mostly unpublished photographs of Trudeau. – © 1978, Jean-Marc Carisse

Carisse’s latest photo exhibit, “My Trudeau Years”, opened in Ottawa at the Library and Archives of Canada on Oct. 25, 2002, and runs until March 30, 2003. The exhibit showcases a selection of 57 mostly unpublished photographs of Trudeau as a public figure and private citizen over a 25-year period, including Carisse’s final sitting with Trudeau.

When Carisse was a visual arts student at the University of Ottawa in the late 1960s, he had no clue he would later experience “Trudeaumania” up close through his photographic lens.

He was hired as official photographer for the National Liberal Caucus in the mid-1970s. He served three prime ministers, including 10 years with Chrétien until November 2000.
When a prime minister leaves public life, most official photographers move on. But in 1984, Carisse felt his work was incomplete and therefore was there “for the record”, attending various Trudeau events, such as his Meech Lake address.

”He felt an innate need to finish his journey – and Trudeau let him in,” said Carisse’s wife, Patricia Penzin. “ ‘My Trudeau Years’ solidifies their longstanding and professional relationship and mutual respect. This is most noticeable in their final sitting – a goodbye really, when they indulge in one last pose.”

Carisse’s work has appeared in history books, political biographies and magazines worldwide including Paris Match, Time and Macleans.

Pierre Trudeau

Jean Chrétien

John Turner

National Archives of Canada

For more on Canada’s former prime ministers

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