Pierre Elliott Trudeau — La vie en rose

A chronology of the life and times of Pierre Elliott Trudeau in 80 wood engravings

Pierre Elliott Trudeau was prime minister of Canada 1968–79 and 1980–84. A politician, writer and constitutional lawyer, he held center stage in Canadian politics in the 1970s and 1980s. (born 18 October 1919 in Montréal; died 28 September 2000 in Montréal). He invoked the War Measures Act in 1970 in response to the terrorism of the FLQ. He introduced the Official Languages Act and began to improve the position of francophones in Ottawa. In 1980 the defeat of the Parti Québécois's proposition was a milestone in the crusade against Québec separatism. In the wake of this victory Trudeau pushed strongly for an accord on a new Canadian constitution. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which Trudeau helped to usher in, brought our Canadian Constitution in line with other liberal democracies. This compendium of engravings celebrates the life of one of the makers of modern culture and the times that changed a country. The images are to be read without captions, to celebrate the multilingual nature of Canada as they can be read in any language.

“We wish nothing more, but we will accept nothing less. Masters in our own house we must be, but our house is the whole of Canada.” Pierre Trudeau