Reverse Racism. It is a term that gets tossed around in the North on a regular basis. I'm not proud to say I've used it myself. Of course reverse racism doesn't exist. It is just racism. The intolerance from one race to another.

In the North the white people feel they are being targeted by racism. In Southern Canada I have heard a few people speak of it as well. It came up today at work and I felt sick to my stomach at some of the comments and well, it bothered me.

We were discussing respect. And how we need to respect the rights and culture of the Inuit we work with. Fair enough I thought. I've been doing it, or at least trying to do it the past couple of years and hope to continue. A few people disagreed with the statement of respect of culture. They felt that their culture and ways are not being respected and made a part of the workplace. I sat back and didn't say anything. I'm not Ms Popular at this office at the moment so thought it best to hold my tongue...at least for now.

One person wanted to know when we would put her culture/history/background/beliefs into the office and I wondered what she felt wasn't already there? She is a middle class white Canadian.

Certainly we can't expect to have each person’s beliefs and culture into a workplace culture. That doesn't mean we should respect each individuals beliefs. Or should we? Is there room? Can everyone define their own culture and beliefs? I can't.

When I moved to Nunavut people asked me what a traditional PEI meal was. I said turkey dinner. Apparently I was wrong. A number of other people spoke up and said they felt it should be lobster or a seafood dish of some kind. Fair enough. But my belief was that turkey dinner says PEI. I have a belief system. And I'm not necessarily talking religious beliefs...just the day to day things we feel make us us. Of course for me, food is part of culture.

Outside of my diet, what makes up my cultural beliefs? Do I have a unique system of things that I could pass down to the next generation? I don’t think so. I believe in trying to do the right thing. I believe that there is good and evil in the world. I don’t think stealing is right or cheating or lying (though I tell white lies...you look great in that dress!), and things like that...but I don’t consider them to be culture.

I’m not complaining, I’m just thinking out loud.

So, I didn’t make it to Nunavut today. We boarded on time and then say on the tarmac for an hour before we got off the plane. Some sort of mechanical issue. Hold tight they said and we will try again. The mechanical issue got fixed, but because we were going to miss our connecting flight we could either over night in Yellowknife or stay in Edmonton. We opted to stay in Edmonton...there is a lack of hotel rooms in YK the next few days due to a conference. The lovely lady at the counter then had to deplane us (there were 3 of us from the office there), deplane our bags and then book us for Tuesday. It took about 10 minutes. “Your bags will be at conveyor 12” We got there before 10am. At 11am we were still waiting for our bags. Finally at 11:30am we got to leave. ...and go back to the office. I spent most of the afternoon trying to stay awake. I didn’t sleep well the night before and getting up at 5am for my flight was UGH. I’m sure there were a few 30 second naps taken...but I can’t be sure. It is now 7:40pm, I’m trying to stay awake long enough to get a good nights sleep and not fall asleep too early so that I wake up at 2am and can’t get back to sleep.
Here’s to hoping that the flight on Tuesday arrives. I took full blame for the issues with the plane. My colleagues were joking and blaming it on the new girl...I didn’t tell them about my previous flight issues...best not to I think.