Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s theory: inclusivity. His praxis: interrupting women. At a town hall in MacEwan University in Edmonton, the self-described feminist cut off a woman after she used the word “mankind,” as the gendered term isn’t to his liking. He, instead, prefers the more progressive term “peoplekind.”
According to the Washington Times, Trudeau was faced with multiple questions from people in religious organizations at this particular town hall. In particular, the woman he interrupted was with the World Mission Society Church of God, a South Korea–based religious organization that believes in “God the Mother” and is often described as a “cult.”
In a question about volunteer policies within religious organizations, she said: “Unfortunately in Canada, our volunteering as a religious charitable organization is extremely difficult, extremely … So that’s why we came here today to ask you to also look into the policies that religious charitable organizations have in our legislations so that it can also be changed, because maternal love is the love that’s going to change the future of mankind, so we’d like you to — ”
It was at this point Trudeau interjected, saying, “We like to say peoplekind, not necessarily mankind ‘cause it’s more inclusive.”
“There you go,” the woman responded enthusiastically. “Yes, thank you!”
“We can all learn from each other,” Mr. Trudeau replied, eliciting loud cheers from the audience.
While the clip is easy to mock — and has been, especially by right-wing media — Vice Canada argues that the interaction was “less a snuff film of ‘common sense’ than it is the prime minister doing a reasonably good job of handling an intensely religious Christian-adjacent heretic.” The interrupted woman later interrupted Trudeau to share the message of “God the Mother.”
