Harper’s silence speaks volumes
What’s not said sometimes is more noteworthy than the things he says
The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, always a disciplined communicator, is becoming positively sphinxlike as he heads to the election that will make or break his legacy.
Stephen Harper is increasingly declining to engage on subjects that don’t advance his electoral interests, to the point that his silences are sometimes more noteworthy than the things he says.
Harper has failed, for example, to comment on the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Report into crimes committed against aboriginals at residential schools. Harper did not say anything at the closing ceremonies he attended at Rideau Hall. He did not hold a news conference, as most leaders would do as a matter of course when their government has received a $50-million report that took six years to put together.
But this leader doesn’t do that kind of thing. The last time he held a real news conference in Ottawa was in December 2012.
Not only has he not held a news conference, he made no statement and did no interviews. He did comment during question period, but only by ritualistically parrying questions and attacking his opponents.
He missed an opportunity to play a helpful role in a national conversation that is taking place without him.
Harper’s silence seems especially noteworthy since Justice Murray Sinclair’s report calls for exactly the opposite: dialogue.
Many of Sinclair’s recommendations have to do with making Canadians aware of the gaps in our history books where aboriginal stories should be, asking that law schools and journalism schools, for instance, add subjects to their curricula.
“To the commission, reconciliation is about establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between aboriginal and nonaboriginal peoples in this country,” Sinclair writes.
In order for that to happen, there has to be awareness of the past, acknowledgment of the harm that has been inflicted, atonement for the causes, and action to change behaviour.
“Too many Canadians know little or nothing about the deep historical roots of these conflicts. This lack of historical knowledge has serious consequences for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, and for Canada as a whole.”
Harper knows this history. He spoke movingly about it in 2008 when he apologized on behalf of the government.
“You have been working on recovering from this experience for a long time and in a very real sense, we are now joining you on this journey,” he said then.
Now that the journey is ending, Harper is walking off without saying a word.
He had the opportunity to say something helpful, to show leadership, as other party leaders, and provincial and municipal leaders have done.
When he released his report, Sinclair said “words are not enough” to address the legacy of suffering. But Harper has not even offered words.
After saying nothing in Ottawa, he went to the Toronto riding of Finance Minister Joe Oliver to warn television viewers about the threat from jihadi terrorists, delivering his tough lines in front of a backdrop of mute supporters and a huge flag, as he recently did in Montreal.
On Thursday, Harper took four questions; none about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Nor did he say anything about the OPP report this week that found RCMP failings left the force ill-prepared for the Oct. 22 shooting.
Harper has the right to hold his tongue, to only discuss subjects that might help him in the coming election.
And the rest of us have the right to take note of his silences and carry on conversations without him.