“ PIERRE KEPT THREATENING TO ROW TO CUBA. I TOLD HIM TO CALL ME WHEN YOU DO IT. SO, HE DID.”
I first laid eyes on Don Newlands’s photography when researching images for a Maclean’s feature book about Pierre Trudeau in 2000. Newlands had incredible images of a young Trudeau attempting to row to Cuba in 1960. Trudeau is pictured with two friends in a canoe on the high seas on the Gulf of Mexico wearing a white turban around his head. I started my career at the Canadian Press picture department, where I washed and dried thousands of pictures, many of Trudeau. These Cuba pictures were taken long before he became prime minister. I was curious to meet Newlands and to ask my burning question: “How did you end up on that trip?” When I finally got my chance, I asked the question and Newlands replied, “Pierre kept threatening to row to Cuba. I told him to call me when you do it.”
36 • PhotoEd
A young Pierre Trudeau (in a white turban) on an ill-fated attempt to row to Cuba. The sea was too rough, so his meeting with Fidel Castro would have to wait until he became the Prime Minister of Canada on an official visit. This image was published in John English’s 2006 book: Citizen of the World The Life and Times of Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
Don Newlands was born in 1927 and grew up in the wealthy Westmount neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec. The only child of a beautiful mother and a handsome father who was the president of a typewriter company. He was pampered and well schooled, especially in the arts. During this time, Newlands befriended a racy pack of intellectuals, including Pierre Trudeau, musicians and poets such as Leonard Cohen, artists, writers, and wealthy businesspeople. Montreal was an exciting city fuelled by creativity. As a budding photographer at the time, Newlands was called on by his friend Trudeau to photograph his author’s portrait for his first published book. His talent was obvious. By early 1961, he had moved to Toronto and was shooting freelance for all the big magazines of the day. He was also the only photographer for Black Star in Canada. Black Star, based in New York, specialized in photojournalism and was closely identified with Time, Life, and Paris Match magazines.
