I am an Indigenous person and I have a question for the editor of Time magazine. Do you think releasing this "party" photo during an election was responsible? Should Time be called upon to answer in a court of law and not the court of public opinion to justify the release of this photo where intent was to be damaging, malicious and slanderous to a campaigning political party leader.
I am not voting Liberal, not because of a malicious photo, but I think there are much more important issues.
I hope Canadians are smart enough to judge Justin Trudeau for his actions as prime minister these past four years and not as an immature 20-something dressing up as a Disney character at a theme gala.
When our media reporting outlets grab on to slanderous, malicious, damaging reporting, this will have future consequences for brilliant young people raised with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram because they behaved like many young people without worldly experiences.
Time is guilty of raising the sensitivity bar on racism and diminishing or excusing acts of racism which is certainly not immature young people dressing up in costume.
We have a changing workplace with the generation of people raised with social media and I think it is their judgment that should be questioned.
Resurrecting 20 year old party pictures is going to impact whether people enter into public life, distract from important issue, and harm unintended victims.
Stick to fact and not fantasy in costume. Did Time give any consideration how Trudeau's children would view the photo, whether they will have endure the fallout of the irresponsibility of an adult, and if he is re-elected what will the global damage be, where it wasn't hashed out in our country, on our streets, call-in shows, letters to editors of papers, and of course the gossip thread of Facebook, Twitter and other unfiltered damaging platforms.
Reporting today seems to be measured by the Facebook and President Trump Twitter feeds and a new generation of workers with a limited viewing platform and lack of context.
You're approving this as the editor so you must have known this would be damaging publicly but more importantly to use no sensitivity to a man with a young family by resurrecting the actions of young immature youth who was at a party is negligent and potentially abusive to his children if they are subjected to questioning at school. This kind of reporting should disturb parents of young children who have to insulate children from adults who lack judgment and filters of stories that are not newsworthy, unless you choose to be on social media.
I would love to change the channel and hold legitimate news outlets accountable for the fallout of this type of reporting and have the head of these organizations explain the true intent.
From a person who lived through the worst racism in my ancestors' country through the 1960s, you just diminished what true racism looks like by putting it in a party setting. By the way, next time one of our communities gifts a traditional blanket or dress, don't dare wear it because it could be interpreted as racism.
Jo-Anne Berezanski
Lheidli T'enneh First Nation
