Shame Face? The Justin Trudeau Blackface Scandal, Multicultural Performativity, Privilege, and Power.

This study probes the Charter's representations and repercussions over time, specifically in relation to section 27, which enshrines Canada's multicultural heritage. Multiculturalism, an oft-cited symbol of Canadian national identity and inclusiveness, is instead shown to be an exercise in performativity, power, and privilege through a careful examination of the disjunctures between Liberal leader and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's public imagery, and a pre-2019 federal election scandal that erupted when grainy photos of a young, costumed Trudeau in "blackface" became public, potentially disrupting his careful and calculated framing as a ground-breaking progressive committed to diversity. A consideration of the Trudeau "brand," a brief history of blackface, and an overview and analysis of select media coverage around the scandal provide a telling tale of Canada's problematic performativity around multiculturalism and epitomize the thinness of its patina of egalitarianism. Rather than representing a reflection on the individual, incidental, or idiosyncratic nature of the incident, the anatomy of this scandal epitomizes the paradoxical and contradictory contemporary evocations of section 27 in which multiculturalism serves as a form of legitimation that is ultimately exclusionary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]