COLUMN: Viewpoint – Conversation is more important than condemnation

Since the Honourable Murray Sinclair passed away we have heard many people from all walks of life share stories about the way the Indigenous leader inspired and supported them. I thought one of the most interesting came from Erin O Toole the former leader of the Conservative Party. I find Mr. O’Toole an articulate and thought-provoking writer so I subscribe to his blog Blue Skies.

In November of 2020 a video clip went viral of Mr. O’Toole, at the time the leader of the Conservative Party, suggesting that the original purpose of residential schools was not genocidal but educational. Mr. O’Toole says in his Nov. 9, 2024, blog post that he was mortified when he watched himself making the comment.

Even though the clip was a sound bite taken out of context from a Zoom call with some Ryerson University students, Mr. O’Toole said he instantly regretted both his comment and the tone in which he spoke delivering it. Mr. O’Toole writes in his blog post “The news clip made me look arrogant, inconsiderate and out of touch. I agreed with that impression and was very disappointed in myself. While I retracted what I said in the clip and apologized for the tone and callous nature of my remarks, it was a very low point for me personally.”

Mr. O’Toole felt a need to apologize to Indigenous leaders for his remarks and one of the first people he called was the Honorable Murray Sinclair. He knew Mr. Sinclair had led the Truth and Reconciliation hearings where he had listened to the tragic stories of countless residential school survivors.

Mr. O’Toole says his talk with Mr. Sinclair is something he will never forget. Instead of offering him condemnation, the Senator simply launched into a meaningful conversation with Mr. O’Toole. When Mr. O’Toole tried to apologize Mr. Sinclair asked when the Conservative leader had first heard about residential schools for Indigenous children and wondered how it had had made him feel.

When Mr. O’Toole admitted he had been in law school before he’d learned about residential schools. Mr. Sinclair used examples from his own life and from stories he’d heard while leading the Truth and Reconciliation commission to engage in a discussion about how the current understanding of the history of Canada might need to be viewed from an alternative perspective. He expressed interest in Mr. O’ Toole’s two children Molly and Jack and asked whether they knew about residential schools. Mr. Sinclair offered to pay a visit to their classrooms to talk about Indigenous history in Canada with the students.

Mr. Sinclair wished Mr. O’Toole success in his job as the leader of the opposition, saying he would be happy to lend a listening ear, offer advice, or engage in conversation with Mr. O’Toole at any time. He said, “Conversation is more important than condemnation.”

Mr. O’Toole points out that given the history of the treatment of Indigenous people in Canada he might have expected to find Mr. Sinclair bitter or resentful. He was not.

Mr. O’Toole ends his blog post by saying the true legacy of Murray Sinclair was the way he treated other people with respect. He had an eternal optimism about the future of Canada and the potential of its citizens to build a better future. In this era of tribalism and polarization Mr. O’Toole encourages us all to try and be a little more like the Honourable Murray Sinclair who believed conversation was more important than condemnation.