After more than nine years in power, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned on January 6, 2025. But a photo of him wiping his tears, shared in multiple posts that falsely linked it to his resignation, was taken almost eight years ago. It showed him at a funeral service for victims of a mosque shooting in Quebec in 2017.
“Had enough! Canada’s leader announced he will resign,” read a Thai-language Facebook post shared on January 7, 2025.
The post links to a Thai social media platform, Blockdit, which shows a thumbnail of Trudeau wiping his tears.
Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on January 13, 2024
The photo was shared alongside similar claims here and here and also in English.
The post emerged after Trudeau announced his resignation as prime minister on January 6 (archived link).
He stated he would remain in office until his party selects a new leader, while his decision stemmed from slumping polls and divisions within his party.
His resignation followed months of political turbulence, including the surprise departure of his finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland in December 2024.
AFP covered Trudeau’s resignation speech and distributed photos and videos such as here and here (archived links here and here).
While the prime minister did appear misty-eyed during his announcement, the photo showed Trudeau at a funeral service in 2017.
Quebec mosque shooting
A reverse image search on Google traced the photo to a Reuters article, “Funeral for victims of Quebec mosque shooting,” published on February 4, 2017 (archived link).
The photo’s caption read: “Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wipes a tear during funeral services for three of the victims in Quebec City, February 3, 2017.”
Below is a screenshot comparison between the false post (left) and the photo on Reuters’ website (right):
Screenshot comparison between the false post (left) and the photo on Reuters’ website (right)
On January 29, 2017, a gunman opened fire at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City, killing six people and injuring eight others, in an incident Trudeau condemned as a “terrorist attack” (archived link).
A similar photo was also distributed by AFP dated February 3, 2017.
Mathieu Belanger/POOL/AFP
Mathieu Belanger/POOL/AFP
AFP has previously debunked misinformation about Trudeau’s resignation here.
