'This is how we are going to move forward': Social experiment humanizes political discourse

The lead-up to an election can be a polarizing time, with people operating in echo chambers amplified by social media.

With that in mind, CBC designed an event to bring people with different perspectives together.

Table Matters was a social experiment involving 30 people from all different walks of life: new Canadians, farmers, Indigenous social workers, Pastors, theatre folks, small business owners and more.

It examined the question, "How have your life experiences shaped your political views?"

One of the participants, a Regina mother and birth doula, was so moved by the event that she went home and immediately wrote about it.

Here are her thoughts. 

A climate economist, a Roman Catholic social justice organizer, an Indigenous tradesman, a farmer, an advertising organizer and a birth doula sit down at a table together.  Everyone enjoys the spring rolls. 

It sounds like the beginning of a joke.  What would the punch line be?

On Tuesday evening, I was the birth doula in this list of unlikely dinner partners. I sat down and found myself wondering what on earth I was doing here. 

The invitation, received via email, had seemed innocuous. Table Matters, an evening of munchies and political discourse put on by CBC. I was invited as someone who had written an opinion piece for CBC Saskatchewan about zipper merging a few months back. Finger foods and politics are two of my favourite things. I happily signed up. 

As my tablemates and I introduced ourselves, I felt jolts of surprise and unease.  We were such a wide spectrum of individuals, with so many varying interests and levels of education and political involvement and beliefs. Were we actually supposed to discuss highly controversial political topics with each other? Would anyone be left standing at the end?

As we made small talk and waited for the event to begin, I saw and felt us surveying each other, looking for hints at political leanings.

The event started with a panel of one reporter and four other people, each from completely different backgrounds, sitting around the table at the front of the room.

The facilitator explained that the gathering was essentially a large social experiment, to bring people with different stories and political views together to talk about issues facing Canadian voters. The seating had been arranged so that different viewpoints and life experiences were represented at each table.

Each panel representative was asked to talk about how their political views had formed.  At the end of the discussion, we had insight into the families, history, life, beliefs and needs of each of them. All were vastly different but none were less valid than the others.

The panel talked about how social media influences their opinions, what sort of political discussion they engage in during day-to-day life and whether they seek out other viewpoints to avoid the echo chamber. When the discussion ended, the room was quiet and thoughtful.

Then each table had its own discussion. We had a facilitator at each table, encouraging each person to share their viewpoints.  Our table didn't need much help keeping discussion going.  

We each spoke about ourselves before moving to hot-button political issues of the day.  Over time I lost my sense of nervousness and I saw the rest of the table do the same. Here were the same discussions we were having every day on social media, but with respect.

Everyone leaned forward, intrigued rather than defensive, listening rather than arguing.  The discussion evolved rather than devolved. Every person at the table had something to offer. It was humbling and humanizing. 

When the event was over we hovered, hesitant to leave. 

I stuck around, talking to people from other tables, eager for a bit more of this refreshing experience.

This is what is missing in our modern political discourse. Consideration of the life experiences and perspectives of those at the other end of the political spectrum. A face and story to put with the viewpoint.

I left the event with the words of one of the panellists, Noela Crowe-Salazar, echoing inside my head.  

"Behind every person voting for a party or a platform, is a human need. People vote based on their human needs, the needs of themselves, their families, their communities. See the person. See the need."

In an age of social media, it is easy to forget about the humans behind the comments. 

Table Matters brought empathy, curiosity and, most of all, humanity to political discourse. 

One of the other attendees, Joey Tremblay, summed it up well in a comment made on Facebook after the event.

"It was a great equalizer to start from a point of an essential human condition...a story. Our table came to the conclusion that the most important way to be political was to place all the values that make a democracy great at the forefront of discussion - as the goal," he said. 

"To honour our shared experience of being human and functioning as a society. This felt not only like a political act, but actually revolutionary in a current climate that prioritizes binary, divisive and partisan politics."

This Thanksgiving weekend, if you engage in political discussion at the supper table, remember to engage with curiosity and to humanize the person behind the opposing viewpoint. This is how we are going to move forward into political change in Canada.  

I would do it again in a heartbeat. 

After all, the spring rolls were delicious.

This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read this editor's blog and our FAQ.

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