‘I promise you, I’ll be different’
‘I’ve lived a different life,’ NDP leader says on stop at residential school
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh takes aim at Liberal record on reconciliation, pledging to deliver justice for Indigenous communities,
OTTAWA—It was perhaps the first unscripted moment of humanity in the first week of the 2021 federal election campaign as three federal leaders swung out West in the hunt for votes.
At Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, where NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh made an impassioned pledge to fight for “justice” for Indigenous people, the soon-to-be parent was asked how he felt when he saw the 751 unmarked burial sites of school children who had attended residential schools.
With his pregnant wife, Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu, behind him, Singh appeared caught off guard, choked up, bowed his head. And stopped talking.
For several moments, the 42year-old Singh tried to compose himself. When he spoke, Singh’s voice shook. “I don’t want it to be about me; that’s the important thing.” Another long pause. “So of course, it hit differently and hit differently being a parent for sure. I don’t want it to be about me. It’s about Indigenous communities and what we have to do for them.”
Scripted and unscripted moments on the campaign trail are why campaigns matter.
Singh said he wanted to make a campaign stop there to focus the national media’s attention back on the shocking stories that had riveted Canadians just a few months ago. When reporters noted many politicians have passed through, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who signed a child welfare deal this summer with the Cowessess First Nation, Singh drew a sharp contrast.
“I’m not Justin Trudeau. I’m not like him. I’ve lived a different life,” Singh said. “I understand the pain of being someone that’s not valued, not worth anything. And Indigenous people have been made to feel that way for so long. And I promise you, I’ll be different.”
That promise — to be different than Trudeau — is at the core of Singh’s pitch to voters. In the first week he talked about vaccinations, health care and affordability issues for ordinary Canadians. The NDP wants to hive off left-leaning voters disappointed with Trudeau’s record by persuading them Singh is the real deal.
It’s a theme that rookie Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is also using, painting Trudeau, the incumbent prime minister, as caring but unwilling to take action.
But Singh, who has had years to introduce himself to voters, may be the beneficiary of any doubts about Trudeau, with polls showing the NDP gained a bit of ground this week.
The Liberal campaign has appeared unready for the first week, with its platform still in development, its headquarters team members still being shuffled and handed cellphones, and no campaign song to set the mood or theme of Trudeau’s third bid for power.
And despite the Liberals’ attempts to jam O’Toole on issues like vaccinations and social conservative issues like medical assistance in dying and abortion, the Conservative insider said the campaign feels it has had a good week with a smooth
platform launch, and the chance to introduce O’Toole to Canadians who are paying attention for the first time. The party has had its campaign plan mapped out for months, and is following it “almost to the minute,” said the official.
But campaigns are centred on promises.
And at Cowessess before travelling to Regina, Singh made specific promises: the NDP would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate crimes associated with residential schools, implement all the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls for action, and give Indigenous communities the resources to obtain all records, locate unmarked graves, and treat intergenerational trauma.
In a private meeting the NDP leader offered Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme his kirpan — a Sikh article of faith — that he’d worn after becoming party leader and an MP in Parliament. Singh said it signifies “grace and honour. And it
means our commitment to fight for justice.”
With that, Singh lit into Trudeau, the Liberal leader, for promising Friday to introduce 10 days of paid sick leave for all federally regulated workers if re-elected.
“This is something that should have happened 18 months ago,” said Singh. “It is cynical politics at its worst, and it’s frankly disgusting that he did not do this earlier and waited to an election to now announce it.”
Trudeau announced the plan in Winnipeg, where the Liberal and Conservative campaigns crossed on an airport tarmac on Day 6. Although the Liberals lost all seats in Alberta and Saskatchewan in 2019, the party is seeking to regain a handful.
After promising new money for schools and a new tax credit for small businesses to buy or upgrade ventilation equipment, Trudeau, too, sharpened his own political attack lines, targeting the Conservative for rejection of mandatory vaccinations for air and rail passengers
and Conservative candidates who are going door-todoor. He called it “totally irresponsible” and “dangerous.”
O’Toole was on the defensive. He denied ever suggesting he would allow doctors and nurses to refuse referrals to patients seeking medical assistance in dying or abortion services on the basis of moral objections — “conscience rights” as he has called it. In fact, that was what he stated during his leadership bid. But O’Toole made clear where he stands today.
“There has to be a referral to services because the rights to access those services exist across the country,” O’Toole told reporters. “We can balance those concerns off, but not deny services … I think Canadians want a reasonable approach. It’s upsetting that in a fourth wave pandemic (election) called by Mr. Trudeau, almost every day he’s tried to divide and mislead Canadians.”
O’Toole was also heading to Saskatchewan after his Winnipeg stop and said his party’s economic recovery plan aims to help Indigenous communities develop their own resources.
“Wouldn’t it be great if for the first time we could have intergenerational opportunity and wealth transfer, not trauma. So we will have a path to reconciliation that will make sure that we respect Indigenous communities and their ability to provide jobs and opportunity for their people.”
O’Toole accused Trudeau of failing to deliver on his promise of reconciliation. Trudeau defended his efforts. “What took generations and in some cases even centuries to break will take more than a few years to fix,” he said.