Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s underage accuser was much younger at the time of their relationship than was first thought, her father tells The Chronicle. Some in the public discourse pegged the accusor at 17 years old. That is inaccurate.
“She was much, much younger than that,” the wealthy Canadian businessman told The Chronicle yesterday. He was not a party to the $2.25 million mutual non-disclosure non-disparagement agreement that she signed, in exchange for her continued silence, on the Wednesday evening of October 9th.
The terms of that agreement prevent both the accuser and Trudeau from acknowledging “any aspect” of that relationship, without triggering a six-to-seven-figure liquidated damages clause. That penalty starts at $500,000 and scales up, depending on the magnitude of the breach.
The accusor’s father shared with The Chronicle a password-protected digital copy of that agreement, giving us limited access to it for several hours on the condition we would make no copies and not distribute. Doing so could have jeopardized the terms of the agreement, which imposes damages on either party in the event they acknowledge or discuss the relationship publicly.
He does not believe his discussion of that agreement’s existence is a violation of its terms since he was not a party to it. He did not acquire the document from his daughter; it was incorrectly CC’d to him on an email between the negotiating parties.
The two engaged in a long and steamy affair on- and off-campus while Trudeau taught drama and French at Vancouver’s prestigious West Point Grey Academy. He was discovered by his accusor’s father at their family home, which prompted private demands to school administrators that he be removed from his position immediately.
“There was a ‘small settlement’ at the time,” he says, but declined to elaborate.
The relationship was discovered several months after Pierre Trudeau‘s death. He died on September 28th, and was eulogized by his son on October 3rd — an event that made him a rising political star, around whom much of Canada would swoon. His students were particularly fawning, friends say.
At the time, the family was told that the school’s standard employment agreement included confidentiality terms that would be binding on Trudeau after his departure. As a matter of policy, the school does not comment on personnel matters.
Trudeau’s friends at the time say that the typically outgoing and exuberant young man was suffering through a bout of depression following his father’s death in 2000, and his brother’s death in 1997. They postulate that anything improper was likely a result of his fragile emotional state at the time, not because of any nefarious character trait.
“He was lonely and depressed for months,” one friend told The Chronicle.
At the time, Canada’s age of consent was 14 years old.
In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had that law changed, raising the age to 16, where the law sits today. Still, Canada outlaws sex between adults and people younger than 18 when the adult is in a position of responsibility for the wellbeing of that child.
Trudeau’s behavior would have been illegal at the time.
To date, Trudeau has not offered a public denial of The Buffalo Chronicle’s reporting. Instead, he has instructed his communications staffers to decline to answer those questions and to attack the credibility of this publication.
The Buffalo Chronicle has never — in our entire operating history — been sued for defamation or any other matter. We have never once received a cease and desist letter from the subjects of any article since we began publishing in 2014.
We have not received such a cease and desist letter from Mr. Trudeau.
