Contents Reflections on the Public Outpouring of Grief Following Jack

a journal of theology, culture, and society Vol. 49 No. 2 • Spring 2012 Reflections on the Public Outpouring of Grief Following Jack Layton’s Death Bill Blaikie, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Don Schweitzer, St. Andrew’s College, Saskatoon or eight years, Jack Layton was leader of the federal The depth and breadth of the public outpouring of FNew Democratic Party (NDP), a national political grief following Layton’s death surprised all who wit- party dedicated to creating a socially democratic Canada. nessed it. What can be learned or gleaned from this Layton led the party to the surprising and unprecedented public reaction? Were the Canadians who reacted so achievement of becoming the Official Opposition in the strongly and sympathetically to Layton’s death moved May 2011 election. A mere three and a half months later, early on the morning of Monday, August 22, he died of cancer. He was 61 years old. Just after noon that same Contents day, his family released a farewell letter he had written to Canadians two days before he died. Reflections on the Public Outpouring of Grief The news of his death quickly spread across the coun- Following Jack Layton’s Death try, prompting a remarkable public outpouring of grief BY BILL BLAIKIE AND DON SCHWEITZER ............... 1 from Canadians across the political spectrum. Hundreds Postcolonial Suggestions and hundreds of people gathered on that Monday eve- for Intercultural Ministries ning in August on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and in cities BY HYERAN KIM-CRAGG ...................................... 6 across Canada to remember him. In front of his Toronto Religion and Caste as Dangerous Portent: riding office and at the Centennial Flame in Ottawa, Changing Terms of Discourse of people left flowers, notes and cans of Orange Crush, the Dalit Struggles in Public Theology which had become a symbol of the NDP’s success BY DR. INDUKURI JOHN MOHAN RAZU .................. 12 in the recent federal election, orange being one of its theme colours. Public expressions of grief and tributes Deep Protest, High Hope, and Wide Embrace: to Jack (Canadians were on a first-name basis with him) Dalit Theology’s Multiplicity of Inspirations continued throughout the week following his death, BY SUNDER JOHN BOOPALAN .................................. 19 culminating in his state funeral on Saturday, August 27, Theology That Attends to the Pain of the World in Toronto. Layton’s person and relationships, political BY DON SCHWEITZER ............................................. 21 achievements, views and style, his farewell letter and the Third World Christian Feminism public reaction to his death dominated the national news BY JANE DOULL ..................................................... 23 for an entire week. The Ecumenist, Vol. 49, No. 2 Spring 2012 / 1 Ecumenist SPRING 2012.indd 1 12-05-04 15:51 by its tragic timing, coming as it did only months after election, as new Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff proved an electoral breakthrough that saw him become the even less popular than his predecessors. And still there Official Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, and was no breakthrough in English Canada. furthermore, the first NDP leader to assume this role? Quebec was a different story, and a neglected one, Were they moved by a personal affection for Layton, for Canadians had come to take it for granted that the an affection that accumulated over the eight years he province belonged to the separatist party, the Bloc was on the national stage, and was that affection re- Québécois. But Jack Layton had reasoned otherwise, lated to his generally positive and constructive way recruiting dissident former provincial Liberal cabinet of being an opposition party leader? Was the level of minister Thomas Mulcair, and inspiring New Democrats reaction stimulated and magnified in some way by the in Quebec to greater levels of organization and out- extra media attention that came with the honour of a reach. Caught between fatigue with the Bloc and the state funeral, which Prime Minister Harper offered to whole debate about sovereignty, bad memories of the Layton’s widow, Olivia Chow? Were people moved by Liberals, and an ambiguity shared by many of their fel- admiration of Layton for his energy, cheerfulness, and low Canadians towards the Conservatives, the voters of genuine optimism, cane waving in his hand, that he Quebec did what New Democrats had always hoped all displayed throughout the spring 2011 election campaign Canadians would do someday. They took a leap of faith that culminated on May 2? Or was it all of these things, and gave someone else a chance. They freed themselves plus the rare opportunity that Layton’s death provided from captivity to the usual choices, and produced what to Canadians to show a side of themselves that is rarely came to be known as the “Orange Crush.” Under Jack seen or encouraged in public, the side of themselves that Layton, the NDP won 59 of Quebec’s 75 seats in the wants to, and does, affirm the value of public life and the House of Commons. value of those who lead public lives? “Le Bon Jack” (“a good guy”) had won the hearts and, more crucially, the votes of Quebecers in a way Layton and the NDP’s success that virtually no one had foreseen, reducing the Bloc in the May 2011 election Québécois to from 47 seats to four, and defeating This was Jack Layton’s fourth general election since the party’s leader, Gilles Duceppe, in his own riding. becoming NDP leader in January 2003. Despite steady Coming first in Quebec meant coming second overall progress in the first three elections – 2004, 2006, and and displacing the Liberals as the Official Opposition. 2008 – the hoped-for breakthrough, a hope that had It also meant that Layton and the NDP had finally done animated his leadership campaign, had not materialized. what so many Canadians had hoped for since the federal With 37 out of 308 seats in 2008, the NDP had fallen election of 1993, when the Bloc first established itself as short of its highest number of seats: 44 seats out of 282 a major presence in the House of Commons and as the in 1988. Not even been a breakthrough in Toronto had majority federal party in Quebec. been achieved. Even the NDP’s federalist opponents were com- Although the party had been revitalized, it must have pelled to say how pleased they were that the Bloc had seemed to Jack Layton at times that perhaps he was been almost wiped out electorally. It would not be long destined to join the growing list of federal NDP leaders before these voices began chastising the NDP for hav- who had to go into the political sunset without living ing former sovereigntists in their ranks, as if this could up to their expectations, or the expectations of others. be avoided when successfully arguing that Quebecers After all, three elections in a row had arguably provided should change their minds and vote for a social demo- the ideal objective conditions for an NDP surge. The cratic Canada here and now instead of in an independent Liberals, under Paul Martin, were reduced to a minor- Quebec in some far-off future. Jack Layton and the NDP ity government in 2004, and then defeated in 2006. Led had done a big thing for the unity and future of Canada. by Stéphane Dion, they were not seen as a desirable Jack Layton had made history, and doubly so: for the alternative to Harper, who himself was not seen as a par- NDP and its political universe by becoming the Official ticularly desirable alternative to the discredited Liberals, Opposition, and for Canada, by defeating the separat- as the succession of minority Conservative governments ists. Depending on your politics, you might add a third from 2006 to 2011 amply demonstrated. Such were the dimension to Layton’s history making. He created a conditions that continued to obtain in Layton’s fourth Canada in which it will no longer be possible to argue 2 / The Ecumenist, Vol. 49, No. 2 Spring 2012 Ecumenist SPRING 2012.indd 2 12-05-04 15:51 that Canadians have only two real political choices for derive little direct benefit, and often was more concerned the federal government. Some of us live in places where about getting things done than taking the credit. For ex- that limitation was overcome years ago for certain prov- ample, when Stephen Harper apologized to First Nations inces, and the world did not come to an end. And Jack peoples for the Canadian government’s involvement in Layton did all this while dealing with prostate cancer, the running of residential schools, he acknowledged that a broken hip, and, as it turned out, another cancer that this apology was partly the result of Layton repeatedly would soon take his life. The tremendous public out- urging him to offer it. Many Internet postings spoke of pouring of grief following Layton’s death may have Layton’s service to Canada. Even Christie Blatchford, reflected how much his leading the NDP to become a vi- who condemned his farewell letter as “vainglorious” in able third political option for the Government of Canada her August 23, 2011, column in the National Post, noted meant to many Canadians. that he made a significant contribution to his country.2 While Layton had a reputation, particularly before The loss of a successful and respected left-wing he got to Ottawa, of grandstanding to gain media atten- politician tion, his public discourse and relations with political As might be expected, many public expressions of opponents were characterized by personal civility and grief came from NDP supporters, reflecting sorrow and respect for them, regardless of their views.

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