NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Canada’s Justin Trudeau invited United States President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka to attend a Broadway musical celebrating Canadian hospitality toward foreigners following the 9/11 attacks.
Ivanka Trump and the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, were guests of honor of the prime minister for the Wednesday night performance of “Come From Away,” a Trudeau spokesperson told AFP.
The Canadian Consulate had booked some 600 seats at Broadway’s Schoenfeld Theater for the show, which made its official Broadway debut March 12.
“Come From Away” is set in a small Newfoundland town that welcomed some 7,000 anguished airline passengers following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Their planes had been rerouted when US airspace closed after the Al-Qaeda strikes on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
The story highlights “being there for each other, being open, being engaged and knowing that drawing together through dark times is what is very best about the human spirit,” said Trudeau in a brief speech prior to the performance, footage of which was published online by US media outlets.
Afterwards the Canadian prime minister praised a “wonderful and moving show,” and paid tribute to the cast and crew.
Since Trump took office, Trudeau has worked to forge links with the new US administration while dissociating himself from the Republican leader’s most controversial positions — notably his hard line on immigration.