The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation (), commonly called the Trudeau Foundation (), is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

charity founded in 2001 named after former Canadian prime minister

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

. Donations to the charity increased when Justin Trudeau became the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and again in 2015 when the party won the federal election. In early 2023, most of the board of directors resigned, in light of a $200,000 donation from Chinese political strategist and billionaire Zhang Bin. The donation was reported in the context of allegations of Chinese government interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections.

Organization

The foundation has a board of directors appointed by members. Membership control the bylaws of the organization and the board supervise charitable activities. Members include Denise Chong, Thomas Axworthy and Alexandre Trudeau, the brother of Canadian Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

. Previous board members have included Pierre Trudeau's daughter Sarah Coyne, Chuck Strahl,

Megan Leslie Megan Anissa Leslie (born September 29, 1973) is a Canadian politician and environmental advocate. She is the president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund Canada, World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWFC) and on the advisory board of the Leaders' Debates C ...

Peter Lougheed Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth. ...

and

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Behind Oliver Mowat, Davis was the List of premiers of Ontario by time in office, second-longes ...

. Previous presidents have included Pierre-Gerlier Forest.

Activities

The foundation funds research and education, including granting twenty doctoral scholarships annually. In additional to financial support, the organisation links academics up with mentors. Mentors affiliated with the foundation have included Beverly McLachlin,

Louise Arbour Louise Arbour, (born February 10, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer, prosecutor and jurist. Arbour was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Pr ...

Anne McLellan A. Anne McLellan (born August 31, 1950) is a Canadian politician and academic who served as the ninth deputy prime minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006. She was a cabinet minister in the Liberal governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin ...

Pierre Pettigrew Pierre Stewart Pettigrew (born April 18, 1951) is a Canadian politician and businessman. Early life and career Born in Quebec City, Pettigrew has a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (197 ...

, Marie Deschamps,

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; – 28 July 1540) was an English statesman and lawyer who served as List of English chief ministers, chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false cha ...

, Tony Penikett, Michael Harcourt,

Elizabeth May Elizabeth Evans May (born June 9, 1954) is a Canadian politician, environmentalist, lawyer, activist, and author. She has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Saanich—Gulf Islands since 2011. May is the leader of the Green Party ...

, Michael Fortier,

Ed Broadbent John Edward Broadbent (March 21, 1936 – January 11, 2024) was a Canadian social democracy, social-democratic politician and political scientist. He was leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 1975 to 1989, and a Member of Parliament (Ca ...

and

Frank Iacobucci Frank Iacobucci (born June 29, 1937) is a former Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1991 until he retires from the bench in 2004. He was the first Italian-Canadian judge on the court. Iacobucci was also the first judge on the ...

History

The foundation was founded in 2001, one year after the death of Pierre Elliot Trudeau. In 2002, the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

endowed the foundation with $125 million. The organization is obliged to not spend the endowment, but instead invest the money and use income from the investments to fund its activities. Justin Trudeau divested his interest in the foundation in 2013 when he entered federal politics. However, the independence of the foundation from the Prime Minister has been questioned after

Le Devoir (, ) is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. is one of few independent large-circulation newspapers in Quebec ...

reported that the foundation held round table meetings in the

Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council The Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council () building, formerly known as the Langevin Block (, ), is an office building facing Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. As the home of the Privy Council Office and Office of the Pr ...

in 2016 following Trudeau's election. Justin Trudeau claimed to not have known of the 2016 foundation meeting held in the Prime Minister's office. Donations to the foundation increased after 2013 when Justin Trudeau became the leader of the Liberal Party and again in 2016, after the Liberal Party won the

2015 Canadian federal election The 2015 Canadian federal election was held on October 19, 2015, to elect the 338 members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons of the 42nd Canadian Parliament, 42nd Parliament of Canada. In accordance with the Fixed election date ...

. The percentage of foreign donors has increased since 2013.

Directed donation from Chinese government and aftermath

In 2015 Chinese billionaire and

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

advisor Zhang Bin attended a

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

fundraising event before pledging a $200,000 donation to the foundation. An additional $750,000 was donated to Pierre Trudeau's

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

, the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

’s Faculty of Law, while $50,000 was allegedly pledged for the construction of a statue at the University of Montreal. Zhang had originally requested that the statue be of both Pierre Trudeau and

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

, but the University rebuffed this proposal and a statue of only Pierre Trudeau was ultimately planned. The deal to accept the donation was signed by Sacha Trudeau, Justin Trudeau's brother, who also attended the event commemorating the combined $1-million donation as a director and member of the foundation, with Zhang and Chinese consulate staff in attendance. In March 2023, former chief executive Morris Rosenberg defended media criticism of the donation by saying that Canada and China had had a better relationship at time. Allegations regarding the role of the

in directing and funding the donation were revealed as part of a series of leaks claiming to be from the CSIS regarding Chinese political interference in Canada. On March 1, 2023, the foundation announced that it would return the $140,000 that it has thus far received from Zhang. The remainder of Zhang's $200,000 donation was never received. On April 11, 2023, all but three of the board of directors, including president Pascale Fournier resigned citing controversy over the Zhang's donation. Three directors remained in post on a temporary basis in order to meet legal minimums. On April 12, day ''La Presse'' reported that other governance concerns had led to the resignations, including record keeping issues that prevented returning the $140,000 donation. As a result, the board concluded that it would be "unlawful" to return the donation as they had committed to do. On April 12, the foundation's board chair Edward Johnson said that it would commission an independent review of Zhang's donation. The foundation also requested that the

Auditor General of Canada The Auditor General of Canada (French: La vérificatrice générale du Canada) is a Supreme audit institution which acts as an officer to the Parliament of Canada tasked with highlighting accountability and oversight by conducting independent f ...

conduct a review, however, the office declined because its mandate is limited to reviews of federal government departments, agencies,

Crown corporations Crown corporation () is the term used in Canada for organizations that are structured like private companies, but are directly and wholly owned by the government. Crown corporations have a long-standing presence in the country, and have a sign ...

, and those of territorial governments. On April 28, 2023, former chair Pascale Fournier testified at a parliamentary ethics committee. Fournier said that she did not know who was behind the $140,000 donation to the foundation and that while the money was formally received from Millennium Golden Eagle International (Canada), the company provided an address in Beijing rather than the address in Hong Kong that matched the website address of the company's parent company. The

Canadian Security Intelligence Service The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; , ''SCRS'') is a Intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service and security agency of the Government of Canada, federal government of Canada. It is responsible for gathering, processing, a ...

intercepted the telecommunications of Millennium Golden Eagle International leader Zhang Bin and heard promises that the donation would be reimbursed by the Government of China. In testimony before the House of Commons ethics committee on May 3, 2023, Sacha Trudeau called Zhang Bin "honorable", insisting that the foundation was never the target of foreign interference and that he "had seen no trace of it".

References

External links