A group of Vancouver high school graduates say a chance encounter with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during their prom photoshoot made their graduation that much more memorable.
“You look at your grad night and you hope for a memorable time, but I don’t think we could’ve dreamt up a more memorable experience than that,” graduate Alex Horner told CTV Vancouver. “It was really nice.”
The prime minister was in Surrey on Friday before going for a jog along the Stanley Park seawall. That’s when Adam Scotti, Trudeau’s official photographer, snapped a photo of the prime minister running past a group of unsuspecting teens.
The boys in the photo are from Vancouver College, an all-boys university preparatory Catholic school in the city’s Shaughnessy neighbourhood. The girls are their prom guests, according to Dante Luciani, a teacher at the school.
Scotti posted the image to Twitter on Friday evening with the caption “Prom season in #Vancouver.”
Prom season in #Vancouver pic.twitter.com/pgLUqdkgjd
— Adam Scotti (@AdamScotti) May 20, 2017
Most of the teens, who were gathered along the Stanley Park seawall for prom photos, seemed unaware of Trudeau’s presence.
But a photo taken by prom photographer Cam Corrado confirmed that the prime minister did stop for a group shot with the students.
“He kind of like saw us, looped around and was like, ‘Who’s the bride? Who’s the bride?’ ” Sofia Kalil, one of the people in the photo, told CTV Vancouver. “He thought it was a wedding.”
After a quick explanation, the teens got a group shot with the prime minister.
Within hours, dozens of people reacted to Scotti's tweet.
@AdamScotti @almuirSI Is this the most Canadian thing ever?
— SoCalAvsFan (@SoCalAvsFan) May 20, 2017
@AdamScotti None the wiser :) Awesome pic !
— khumbu2015 (@khumbu2015) May 20, 2017
@AdamScotti @socialnerdia Excellent, Adam—the nice city background & water behind the kids, as well as the @JustinTrudeau #photobomb! Did any of them realize? #prom
— Ian Gertler ☕️ (@IanGertler) May 20, 2017
Trudeau missed out on a B.C. prom in 2015 when a Kamloops teen’s offer for a date went viral, but unanswered.
Everyone share this so I can get @JustinTrudeau as my prom date. #prom #trudeauforprom2016 pic.twitter.com/vbKjifgaQc
— Lee Proulx (@lleeproulx) November 20, 2015
And this isn’t the first time the prime minister’s photobombing has made headlines.
Last summer, a shirtless Trudeau made an appearance at a wedding in Tofino.
Trudeau was in Metro Vancouver this week to promote Canada’s growing technology industry and the Liberals’ Canada Child Benefit.