Justin Trudeau Family History

Justin Pierre James Trudeau was born on December 25th, 1971 to Pierre and Margaret Trudeau in Ottawa.  His father was Prime Minister of Canada at that time and Justin had his first public exposure when he delivered a eulogy at his father’s state funeral in 2000.

He subsequently got involved in politics and entered Parliament as  a Liberal Party candidate in 2008.  Five years later he was leader of the party and in 2015, when the Liberals won the federal election, became Prime Minister of Canada.

The Trudeaus in Montreal

Etienne Pierre Trudeau, a soldier from La Rochelle in France, arrived in Montreal in 1659.  He was just eighteen at the time.  Etienne was the forebear of most Trudeaus in Canada, including the Trudeau line that extended to Justin Trudeau.

Etienne’s descendants remained in and around Montreal, firstly at Longueuil and later at Sainte Jolie.  But one impoverished line – descended from Etienne’s son Pierre – moved in the early 1800’s to the small village of St. Remi de Napierville, some fifty kilometres south of Montreal.  Joseph Louis Trudeau, born there in 1848, was a barely literate farmer.  However, his wife Malvina was a strong woman who insisted that their sons be well-educated.

The Trudeau Family Rebounds

Charles-Emile, born in 1887, was trained as a lawyer and grew rich in the 1920’s by building up a chain of gas stations in the Montreal area.  He acquired profitable mines, the Belmont amusement park in Montreal and the Montreal Royals, the city’s minor-league baseball team.  He was known everywhere as Charley.  He was considered gregarious, boisterous and extravagant.  After a ten year courtship he had married Grace Elliott from a prosperous Anglo-Catholic family in Montreal in 1915.  He died in Florida in 1935.

His offspring did even better than him.  His son Pierre Trudeau served as the 15th Prime Minister of Canada, from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984; and his grandson Justin Trudeau became the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada in 2015.

Pierre was sixteen when his father died.  But he received an inheritance and the support of his mother Grace.  From this priveleged position he chose politics as a career and rose to prominence as a lawyer, intellectual, and activist in Quebec politics.  Trudeau’s outgoing personality and charismatic nature caused a media sensation, inspiring “Trudeaumania.”  It helped him to win the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1968, the year  he was appointed Prime Minister of Canada.

In 1971 he married Margaret Sinclair, almost thirty years younger than him, when he met this “flower child” in Tahiti and was captivated by her.  But the marriage did not last.  They separated in 1977 and divorced in 1984.  Pierre Trudeau died in 2000.

Father Pierre and His Twin Sons 

Pierre Trudeau was described as a “swinging young bachelor” when he became Prime Minister in 1968.  Three years later he quietly married Margaret Sinclaiir in Vancouver.  Their two eldest sons, Justin and Alexandre, were both born on Christmas Day.

In July 1971 the Prime Minister’s office announced that Trudeau’s wife was expecting their first child and that it was due in December.  Informal betting pools began for the delivery date.  On Christmas Day Justin Trudeau was born at the Ottawa Civic Hospital, followed by his twin brother Alexandre.

The family was attending the 1973 Christmas midnight mass at Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church when Margaret Trudeau went into labor and was rushed to Ottawa Civic Hospital.

Justin Trudeau’s Family Tree

• Etienne Pierre Trudeau (1641-1712) from France m. Marie Barbier (1652-1716) in Montreal
• – Etienne Trudeau (1667-1748) m. Marie-Elisabeth Bleau
• – Pierre Trudeau (1669-1740)
• – Marie Trudeau (1672-1744) m. Jean Arnaud
• – Francois Jean Trudeau (1673-1739) m. Marie Barbier; departed for Louisiana around 1700
• – Toussaint Trudeau (1676-1753) m. Barbe Goyau

• Pierre Trudeau from Montreal m. Marie Charlotte Menard (1682-1753)
• – Charlotte Trudeau (1703-1737) m. Louis Gervaise
• – Jean Baptiste Trudeau (1706-1750) m. Charlotte Amchambault
• – Etienne Trudeau (1707-1767) m. Agnes Canepy
• – Pierre Joseph Trudeau (1712-1773)

• Pierre Joseph Trudeau from Montreal m. Marie Baudreau (1710-1794)
• – Julie Trudeau (1741-1817) m. Joseph Trudel
• – Jean-Louis Trudeau (1745-1815)

• Jean-Louis Trudeau from Montreal m. Marie-Anne Larcheveque (b, 1740)
• – Louis Michel Trudeau (1777-1856)

• Louis Michel Trudeau from Quebec m. Marguerite Gagne (1791-1872)
• – Louis Michel Trudeau (1809-1881)
• – Marguerite Trudeau (1810-1846)
• – Adelaide Trudeau (1814-1888) m. Charles Laplante
• – Francois Trudeau (1816-1883) m. Catherine Toupin

• Louis Michel Trudeau from Quebec m. Marie Louise Dupuis (1817-1884)
• – Joseph-Louis Trudeau (1848-1919)

• Joseph-Louis Trudeau from Quebec m. Malvina Cardinal (1849-1931)
• – Loranzo Trudeau (1876 -1896)
• – Charles Emile Trudeau (1887-1935)

• Charles Emile Trudeau from Quebec m. Grace Elliott (1890-1973) in Montreal in 1915 and died in Florida
• – Suzette Trudeau (1918-2008) m. Pierre Rouleau (a Montreal dentist)
• – Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1919-2000)
• – Charles Trudeau (1922-1994)

• Pierre Trudeau from Montreal m. Margaret Sinclair (b. 1948) in Vancouver in 1968
• – Justin Trudeau (b. 1971)
• – Alexandre Trudeau (b. 1971)
• – Michel Trudeau (1975-1998)