Death and state funeral of Pierre Trudeau

Trudeau died on Thursday, September 28 at 3:00 p.m. at his home in Montréal with his surviving sons, Justin (who became the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada in 2015) and Sacha, and his former wife, Margaret at his side.

Cuban President Fidel Castro announced three days of national mourning with flags half-masted as a sign of respect.

Governor General Adrienne Clarkson and her husband, John Ralston Saul, and Chrétien and his wife, Aline, then paid their respects.

A constant stream of people, some waiting as long as seven hours, passed Trudeau's casket as it lay in the Hall of Honour.

The rail lines that had brought Trudeau to Ottawa 35 years earlier as a politician now took his body back home to Montreal.

Trudeau's sons asked that the train be slowed along its route through the towns and farmlands of eastern Ontario so that citizens would have the opportunity to pay their respects.

Trudeau's family spent some moments alone with his casket before it was removed and driven to the Basilica, surrounded by an escort of ten RCMP officers.

Along the route, some clapped, while others wept, waved Canadian flags or simply stood silently as Trudeau made his final journey through his native Montreal.

Foreign dignitaries included: Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, and the Aga Khan, were honorary pallbearers together with Leonard Cohen and Trudeau's cabinet colleague Marc Lalonde.

Justin's eulogy, in English and French, concluded with the words, "Je t'aime, papa ("I love you, dad"), followed by spontaneous applause from the audience before he laid his head on his father's casket and wept.

[3] After the service, which concluded with the singing of the national anthem, the casket was brought out of the Basilica and placed in the hearse for the trip to St-Rémi-de-Napierville Cemetery in Saint-Rémi, Quebec.

Like their father after he was named "Newsmaker of the 20th Century" a year earlier, the Trudeau sons declined to give interviews with the CP, but they said that they were "very honoured" by the choice.