Almost every time misfortune hits their community very hard, politicians go to the scene of the tragedy. A month ago, they were in Laval, in front of a daycare. Thursday morning, they met in Amqui.
Each time, there is someone, somewhere, to accuse them of making “political capital” out of people’s misfortune, of only wanting visibility and even of disturbing people. It’s almost always wrong. The presence of politicians on the scene of a tragedy does good, a lot of good.
First of all, the presence of the prime minister, of a minister, of a mayor, is reassuring. The state is there. Decision makers are on the scene. Because they directly see the impacts of the disaster, the citizen thinks, with good reason, that they will understand them better.
On the scene of the tragedy, elected officials can also embody solidarity. They talk to each other, thank the volunteers, underline the successes, note the actions that are urgent. People also see their mayor, municipal managers, police, firefighters explain the issues to the premier or the minister. The latter give an account to the journalists of what they have seen, of what they think of doing. All this reassures a lot and soothes a little.
The elected officials also sometimes serve as an outlet. The person who suffers needs to express his anger and the leaders also serve to welcome him. It relieves people to be able to say, “I said it to my face. “Often, we get yelled at for good reasons, other times for a problem that we already know and that is already being solved or for something that does not even depend on us. In all the scenarios, when the problem is solved, the citizen will have been able to express himself and he will sometimes even be able to say to himself that he has had a positive impact on the management of the crisis. It’s positive, too.
Presence on the premises near people does not only have a symbolic effect. This is essential to manage a crisis well.
To see the scene of the drama, to feel the state of mind of the people, to judge the effectiveness of the teams on the ground, to listen directly to the people who need help: there is nothing better to take good decisions. There is also nothing better to be able to communicate in the right tone, with the right content. This is what reassures the most: people feel that the chef knows what he’s talking about, he knows how they feel.
Crying in the arms of the mayor. Explain to him our sufferings. Share a hug, put a hand on a shoulder, exchange a look. To be told by the Prime Minister: “All of Quebec is thinking of you. Standing shoulder to shoulder, together, the citizens and their elected officials, in front of the apartment with the roof torn off, in front of the family home that will have to be demolished, in front of the place where someone lost their life. Being silent there, saying nothing, together, is also good.
To be united in pain is the “us” that heals.
An elected official is, almost by definition, a person who has leadership, who wants to help his community, who responds when misfortune strikes. When a crisis occurs, it is not the media that attract them to the scene, but the desire to help, the sense of responsibility, the desire to fully understand the situation in order to try, if possible, to avoid a repetition of the tragedy. If they took the easy way, they would stay in their office and do press releases. Yet they choose to go to people who are suffering, to look them in the eye, to reach out to them. There is a form of courage in that.
Because of all the disasters that Gatineau has experienced, elected officials have learned the meaning of the term “empathy wound” or “compassion fatigue”. By dint of sharing the pain of others, we hurt ourselves. The term exists, elected officials live it, it gives an idea of their role and the intensity of the emotional charge they sometimes receive. They do it for the greater good of their citizens, it’s part of their job, but it’s not easy.
To say of a politician that he goes to the scene of a tragedy to appear on TV is to have no idea what it is to be a leader in the midst of a crisis.