This week, Jagmeet Singh was in Ladysmith to meet with NDP supporters at Transfer Beach.
Initially, Singh was told that 50 people had RSVP’d to the event, so he was surprised to see more than 100 in attendance, all masked up and practising physical distancing.
“It was way more people than we expected, and we were overwhelmed with the support,” said Singh in a phone call on Tuesday.
I tried to get an interview with Singh in October 2019 after seeing a clip that went viral of him speaking about the importance of Indigenous communities having clean drinking water.
In the clip, a reporter asked an off-the-cuff question about how much it would cost to accomplish.
Singh replied: “If Toronto had a drinking-water problem, if Montreal had a drinking-water problem, would you be asking the same question?”
The clip was filmed at Grassy Narrows First Nation in Ontario, where community members were being poisoned by mercury in the water, Singh said.
In my work in Indigenous relations, I always say that it should not only be Indigenous people speaking up on Indigenous issues. When I saw this video of Singh, I saw a display of courage.
“It hit me in my heart, because people ask how much it will cost when it is for Indigenous people. I don’t think they mean to, but in that moment, I knew they wouldn’t ask if it was for a city,” Singh said.
A lot has changed since 2019. With the discovery of unmarked graves at residential-school sites across Canada, many allies and supporters have been speaking up for Indigenous issues and in support of Indigenous people.
I’ve written before that people in Indigenous communities have known for decades that there were missing children, and it’s now becoming mainstream news.
“This is something that shouldn’t be a surprise,” said Singh. “I’ve spoken with people who attended these residential institutions, and they remember areas that were off limits.
“There are settlers who knew residential schools were bad, but didn’t know how bad. Now they are all forced to confront what happened at residential schools.”
As someone who walks in two worlds, I take pride in my work bringing different groups together in hopes of strengthening our community.
I’ve always been intrigued by Singh — he has a different background and culture than most political leaders, and I’ve felt that he used his humility to share who he is, as in the commercial where he had his hair down and was explaining his turban.
I’d never heard that point of view before.
Singh told me that he was bullied and assaulted as a child by his peers because he looked different.
I’ve heard similar stories from other leaders of colour.
“I found that defending myself wasn’t enough. I learned that people had misconceptions about me because they didn’t know about me, so I learned to share who I am. I believe in radical empathy and that means that we are all one.”
When I heard him say “we are all one,” my brain jumped to the Lekwungen word Nétsamaát, which also means “we are all one.”
Singh’s mother taught him the phrase “Ek Onkar” in Punjabi, which he said means “we are all a part of one energy.”
It’s interesting the commonalities we can find with people of different cultures and backgrounds when we stop to have a conversation.
