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02:16 - 24.10.05
Travails
I was surprised when I opened my email this morning. It was after midnight when I wrote that survey last evening, yet two people had already responded to it. I knew when I put it together that the degree of thought required to answer some of the questions might be more effort than some readers would want to invest. I really enjoyed the opportunity to get to "know" some of my co-bloggers better and I appreciated their willingness to share their thoughts and experiences with me. Good answers!

Today was mostly focused on election work. Practiced my French, did stats, sent and received email, met staff, had stuff couriered, sent reports. Bleagh. I met briefly with one of the women I used to volunteer with and who now works for a charity in the city. We will be collaborating on one of the initiatives I hope to have in place around getting younger people involved in the democratic process. Much Music and a lot of actors and musicians have really raised the profile and done a great job explaining why it is important, but there is this little thing called follow through. The statistics just aren't climbing yet. Hopefully they will be better this time round.

We got to talking about diversity issues too. At the farewell get together on Friday, some of the coworkers started in on the "problems" that come from people from other cultures and races. Three of our newest coworkers are from Asian backgrounds and they are great workers. They were sitting in the room and it was really discouraging that they were being singled out for the "jokes" about their heritage. I believe the term is backlash even though the quality of their work suggests they got their jobs on merit just like everyone else. The worst of it was the supervisors present did nothing to stop it or to counteract the comments and one even started in really harshly on our one male co-worker. He actually could have grounds for a human rights complaint, because the one supervisors comments were very mean.

Later, when I was in the kitchen which is very near two of the three new workers' desks, one of the culprits continued her rant quite loudly. Talking about bad manners this time. She didn't seem to hear me when I tried to explain that she was out of line. I didn't attack, just pointed out that one of my daughters-in-law was of that background and is a delightful young woman. I also pointed out that there are good and bad apples in every community and that it isn't a matter of ethnicity or culture. Again, if the attackers would just concentrate on doing their work properly instead of blaming the good workers for "making them look bad", they wouldn't have anything to be afraid of. I was discussing it with my friend today because that was one of her responsibilities at her last job. Sensitivity training. The problem with responding to such behaviour is that it can increase rather than decrease the xenophobia if it isn't handled properly. Oh well, deal with that one tomorrow.

Right now though I better get to bed - the other full time job tomorrow. Good night dear diary.

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