Two protesters, who interrupted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s press conference in Vancouver this morning, posed as reporters from the Burnaby Now newspaper to get past security.
The pair held signs reading: “Protect Our Future, Stop Kinder Morgan.” One spoke briefly before security escorted both of them out.
Pat Tracy, editor of the Burnaby Now, a sister paper to the Vancouver Courier, called posing as reporters “clearly wrong on several counts.”
“Not only is it dishonest, but impersonating our reporters, or any reporters for that matter, will make it more difficult for the real journalists to do their jobs and get accreditation,” she wrote in an email to the Courier.
(VIDEO: Watch Trudeau respond to protesters in the first few minutes of this footage)
Trudeau was in Vancouver to attend the opening plenary of the UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial Conference. A media availability was held at the Vancouver Convention Centre at 10:15 a.m.
The invitation called for reporters to arrive early in order to get through security. Members of the media were also told to bring a passport or a piece of government-issued identification. Upon arrival, they were asked for a business card and photo identification.
But the protesters managed to slip by.
One of them told Trudeau, in part: “We are here to say that we voted for you. It was our first election and we were so excited to vote you as our Prime Minister based on the promise of real action on climate change and reconciliation. But then you went and approved the Kinder Morgan pipeline.”
Trudeau listened, then thanked them for their activism.
“Thank you for your questions, for your activism. Keep up the activism please. It’s great to see young people stepping forward and sharing their concerns and views. We certainly take them very seriously," he said.
