Justin Trudeau admits apologising to female report who accused him of groping

Justin Trudeau told reporters in Toronto that he had apologised to a woman who had accused him of groping when the alleged incident took place. Photo / AP

Justin Trudeau revealed for the first time that he did apologise to a female reporter who accused him of groping but insisted he did nothing wrong.

The Canadian Prime Minister has faced media scrutiny in recent weeks about what happened at a charity fundraiser in Creston, British Columbia nearly 20 years ago.

In his first direct comments on the incident on Canada Day last Sunday, the prime minister said he "didn't remember any negative interactions that day at all", but today he said, "I apologised in the moment" without giving details, according the Daily Mail.
According to an unsigned editorial in 2000 in the local newspaper, the Creston Valley Advance, Trudeau apologised to a local female reporter for inappropriately 'handling' her.

The allegation resurfaced last month after Canadian political commentator Warren Kinsella tweeted a picture of the 20 year old editorial and used the Twitter #MeToo hashtag.

TWO TALES OF #METOO The first tale goes back six months. In January, in the same week that CTV News unleashed its...

Posted by Warren Kinsella on Thursday, 7 June 2018

Many women in the United States and other countries have publicly accused men in business, government and entertainment of sexual harassment and abuse, giving rising to the #MeToo social media movement.

Trudeau is a prominent advocate for women's rights whose government is working on new legislation against workplace harassment.

"I've been reflecting very carefully on what I remember from that incident almost 20 years ago and, again, I feel, I am confident, I did not act inappropriately," Trudeau, 46, told reporters in Toronto in televised remarks on Thursday.

Trudeau, citing the increasingly open discussion in society about sexual assault, conceded the woman in question could have come away from the encounter in August 2000 with a very different interpretation of what had happened.

"I do not feel that I acted inappropriately in any way but I respect the fact that someone else might have experienced that differently," he said.

The snapshot of the editorial that has led to some uncomfortable questions for Justin Trudeau.

"If I apologised later then it would be because I sensed that she was not entirely comfortable with the interaction we had."

Trudeau said no one on his team had reached out to the women because they did not feel it was appropriate.

The woman told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp earlier this year that she was not interested in being associated with any further coverage of the story, and asked that her name not be used, and that she not be contacted about the story again.

At the time of the original complaint Trudeau had not yet become involved in politics but was widely known to Canadians as the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

He attended the fundraiser in Creston to support avalanche safety. His brother, Michel Trudeau, was killed in an avalanche in 1998.