They stood together in the twilight holding hands, grief etched on their faces — the prime minister, the leader of the Opposition and the Governor General of Canada.

Two are fathers, one a great-grandmother.

They were in a small town called Tumbler Ridge to mourn with its 2,400 residents the murders of six of the town’s children and two of its adults, and to pray for the survival of a young child fighting for her life in hospital. The children were 12- and 13-years-old. Bright, beautiful kids, full of promise, with a lifetime ahead of them when they left for school on a Tuesday morning. One of the adults was a teaching assistant at the school where the murders took place. The other, the mother of the troubled teen who pulled the trigger.

What do you do, what do you say to a community suffering such grief and trauma?

First of all, if you are a leader in this country, you show up. Secondly, you try to find the right words.

Our leaders showed up, and somehow, each of them found the right words. The three pictured in a remarkable photograph taken that Friday night were not the only national leaders present. Prime Minister Mark Carney invited them all — Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, leaders of the Bloc Québécois, the Green Party, and the interim leader of the NDP — to fly with him to Tumbler Ridge.

Poilievre thanked him for that.

“Indeed, prime minister, you have shown tremendous grace in bringing together the leaders of all political parties and flying us together as one.”

In this was a clear appreciation of the fact that they were, despite their political differences, there “as one.”

Carney also spoke of grace, quietly and eloquently.

“Canada is a community that relies on each other’s grace, and may that grace bless us all.”

There were more words of course from each. And from the Governor General, the premier, the mayor. You can listen to them online and perhaps find solace in them.

What struck me, as I searched out the reaction to their words in the press and on social media, was how that reaction revealed a deep appreciation of the unity the leaders displayed in this dreadful moment.

Not everyone, of course. There was the odd yahoo on social media (I only follow Facebook) who wanted to play politics with the tragedy. But overwhelmingly, people expressed a yearning that the unity of that night would carry beyond this one tragic event.

That despite honest differences of opinion, civility and grace could somehow be found across our political landscape.

Meanwhile, it is left to Tumbler Ridge to heal. A place few in Canada had heard of before a recent Tuesday afternoon is now etched in everyone’s consciousness.

It was founded 40 years ago in the woods and mountains of northern B.C. as a mining town to supply coal to Japanese steel makers.

The mine’s owners wanted to make it a model town, with neat little homes, paved streets, churches, schools, parks and a downtown.

It became that. A true community, with all the closeness that small towns engender.

That closeness will help hold its residents together now in face of the unbelievable.

And perhaps, just perhaps, the politicians will have learned a lesson from the reaction to the grace and unity they displayed there on a recent Friday night.

If they do, that lesson may help hold this country together.

© Peterborough Examiner