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Trudeau attends Good Friday service at Hamilton church

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent Good Friday in Hamilton where he helped serve lunch at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church before attending the Good Friday service.

PM served lunch before attending service at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church

Laura Clementson · CBC News ·
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent Good Friday in Hamilton where he helped serve lunch at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church before attending the Good Friday service. (Laura Clementson/CBC)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Hamilton Friday afternoon to help prepare and serve lunch at a local church before attending a service.

Trudeau arrived at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, located at 440 King Street East, around 2 p.m. where he joined volunteers in preparing meals for people in need.

Keeping with Good Friday tradition, fish and chips were on the menu. 

Trudeau stood in an assembly line with students from Hamilton and plated the fish before passing the food down the line.

The prime minister even sampled a french fry between passing food containers. 

Alongside Trudeau and the students preparing the meals was MP for Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas and Minister of Seniors, Filomena Tassi as well as MP for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, Bob Bratina.

Sienna Ford, 12, from Hamilton was volunteering on Friday and helped with the food. She was standing next to Trudeau.

"It really does show that he does care about a lot of people and he is a good prime minister I guess," said Ford about Trudeau stopping in Hamilton.

'Let's do something for the homeless'

After the food was plated and ready to go, Trudeau went outside to help hand out some of the 375 meals.

George Elliot, 74, was one of the people partaking in the lunch. 

He told CBC News that when Trudeau shook his hand, Elliot took the opportunity to tell the prime minister a few things that he wants to see improved.

"I just told him let's do something for the homeless people, the seniors and the health care," said Elliot, who has lived in Hamilton his entire life and frequents the meal service provided by De Mazenod Door Outreach.

"He [Trudeau] seems to be serious, so I'll take the man for his word." 

Prime minister Justin Trudeau handed out hot cross buns to people on Good Friday outside of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Hamilton. (Laura Clementson/CBC)
Once Trudeau handed out the food he mingled with people in the churchyard before heading into the church for a 3 p.m. service. 

While outside, about 10 people could be heard yelling in protest about varying topics from the sidewalk, and the prime minister only encountered a few people who were not pleased to meet him while he was handing out food. 

Trudeau did not take any questions from the media during his visit. 

George Elliot, 74, has lived in Hamilton his entire life. He met the prime minister Friday and says he took the opportunity to tell Trudeau what he wants to see improved in Hamilton. (Laura Clementson/CBC)

The food on Friday was provided by De Mazenod Door Outreach — a non-profit ministry of St. Patrick Catholic Church that offers two meals a day, seven days a week to those in need.

"That door opens every day without fail," Outreach Coordinator Sherri Ramirez told CBC News. 

The service runs out of an office in the parish pastoral centre and currently serves over 400 meals a day.

The program relies solely on donations.

"We have over 120 volunteers and they make this happen every single day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We are open to serve the poor in our community," said Ramirez.

After leaving Hamilton, Trudeau was heading to North York for another event.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Clementson

Laura Clementson is a producer for CBC's The National. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow Laura on Twitter @LauraClementson.

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