Michel Trudeau

Michel Trudeau
Born	(1975-10-02)October 2, 1975 Ottawa, Ontario
Died	Kokanee Lake, British Columbia
Citizenship	Canadian
Alma mater	Dalhousie University
Parent(s)	Pierre Trudeau (father) Margaret Trudeau (mother)
Relatives	Justin Trudeau (brother) Alexandre Trudeau (brother) Sarah Coyne (half-sister)

Michel Charles-Émile Trudeau (October 2, 1975 – November 13, 1998) was the youngest son of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Trudeau.

Born at the Ottawa Civic Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario and named after his paternal grandfather, Trudeau was known to family and friends as Miche, a nickname given to him as a four-month-old by Fidel Castro when he accompanied his father and mother to Cuba in 1976, and later starting going by the name Mike. Trudeau lived his early life in Ottawa and later Montreal upon his father's retirement from politics in 1984. During the summers his father would send him and his brothers to Camp Ahmek on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park where he would later work as a camp counsellor. He studied at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf before attending Dalhousie University to study microbiology. When talking about her sons each having distinctly different personalities in an interview in 1977, Margaret Trudeau said, "Justin, 6, is a prince – a very good little boy. Sasha, born Christmas Day, 1973, is a bit of a revolutionary, very determined and strong willed. Miche (Michel) is a happy, well-adjusted child, who combined the best traits of both brothers."

Trudeau was working at Red Mountain Resort and living in Rossland, British Columbia for a year when he took a backcountry skiing trip with some friends in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park. He died as the result of an avalanche on November 13, 1998; he was 23 years old. He was swept into Kokanee Lake and unable to reach the shore. His companions were unable to effect a rescue, and Trudeau drowned. An extensive search was launched, but his body has never been found. The lake's high altitude and limited days of open waters each year prevented divers from completing the search. The Trudeau family called off the recovery and later created a chalet nearby as a memorial to their youngest son.

A varietal of rose discovered by Betsy Dening, a British Columbia horticulturalist and Trudeau's aunt, debuted at the World Rose Festival in 2010 as the "Michel Trudeau Memorial Rosebush". Sales of the rosebush benefit the Canadian Avalanche Foundation.