Canadians were at first surprised and then entranced when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau introduced his hippie-styled young bride.
Margaret Sinclair Trudeau was the youngest spouse of a Canadian prime minister in history and she dazzled the country. But life wasn’t necessarily rosy at 24 Sussex Drive.
Plagued by mood swings, she became isolated while suffering bouts of depression and mania. Her behaviour running off to party in New York with the Rolling Stones was puzzling and finally her marriage broke down.
Although she remarried and bore two more children, a fragility always surrounded her. The tragic loss of her 23-year-old son Michel in a skiing accident sent her over the edge.
After struggling for years to find the right doctors and the right medication, Margaret has once again rebuilt her life and uses her high-profile celebrity to help erase the stigma surrounding mental health issues.
Now in her sixties, Margaret has written four books and will appear at the Arden Theatre on Friday, Feb. 3 to speak about her best selling title, Changing My Mind.
The evening starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $56. Call 780-459-1542 or at ticketmaster.ca.
Playwright Josh Languedoc, who developed a passion for theatre as one of St. Albert Children’s Theatre leading lights, is doing a play reading of Starlight Tours at the Rubaboo Arts Festival on Wednesday, Feb. 1
Starlight Tours is inspired by the brutal, unsanctioned treatment some Saskatoon police officers carried out against the native population. They targeted aboriginals drunk on alcohol or high on drugs and drove them to out-of-the-way points to sober up. During Saskatoon’s bone-chilling winter temperatures, two bodies were found.
Testimony from other aboriginals handcuffed and dumped out of town revealed widespread, unauthorized scenic tours that eventually led to an RCMP investigation.
Languedoc, who is a proud Métis, first heard of the Starlight Tours while studying sociology at MacEwan University.
“They were basically murdered without being murdered,” said Languedoc in a previous interview. “A lot of people don’t know the story and when they hear it, they are appalled and disgusted. It’s such a defamation of humanity. They (police) were basically saying, ‘You are not worthy of life.’ It’s an important story that needs to be told and it will resonate with people.”
The reading takes place at 8 p.m., La CitĂ© Francophone, 8627 – 91 St.
