Systemic Discrimination or Not

So yesterday I attended a NCCP course on a document called the Aboriginal Coaching Manual. The document was originally developed for aboriginals that coach aboriginal athletes, but it later broadened to include non-aboriginal coaches that coach aboriginal athletes (that's me!). Considering the large aboriginal population in Riverton I thought it would be a good course to take.

On the whole I enjoyed the course. I was the only non-aboriginal there, but my opinion was valued just as much as everyone else's. I learned some cool stuff about aboriginal culture, like the significance of the feather (which is prominent in aboriginal art and symbolism) in their teachings. Some pretty cool stuff.

I will admit, when we did the module on racism I was a little bit nervous. I considered pretty carefully when and what I would contribute to the conversation, and most of it was really good. I was a little worried it would degenerate into an "everybody against the aboriginals" discussion, but it really didn't. We talked about non-aboriginals being racist against aboriginals, yes, but we also talked about the reverse and even aboriginal-on-aboriginal racism, so I thought it was a good discussion.

Here is the one thing I opened my yap about that may have rubbed one or two people the wrong way.

We had just discussed systemic racism, loosely defined (since I don't feel like pulling the book out) as seeming neutral rules or procedures that lead to discrimination. And after that, we were talking about positive ways to deal with a situation in which a racial slur/action is used against an athlete. The final step was worded roughly as "Build up the self-esteem of the Aboriginal young person."

This was where I felt I had to voice an opinion. I argued that the statement should simply be "Build up the self-esteem of the young person", why do we need to specify Aboriginal? Is this not a mild form of systemic discrimination?

A woman in the group said to me "Because this is the Aboriginal coaching manual."

I responded to that with something like "Yes, but we can also be in situations where we coach a mix of aboriginal and non-aboriginal athletes. If we want to eliminate racism, shouldn't we remove that distinction from the process of dealing with it?"

She didn't really respond, but a guy sitting next to me said I raised a really good point. Part of the reason I spoke up was the latter part of the definition of systemic discrimination also said that sometimes it needs to be pointed out by an outside party because an organization might not even realize they are doing it.

So what do you think? Was I way off base or on the right track?

Extra Tidbit: I did have the thought during this module that competitions that only aboriginal athletes can enter might also be a form of systemic discrimination but I didn't want to push it!

PATH Facilitation

Last week I took part in a PATH Facilitator training course. PATH stands for "Planning Alternatives for Tomorrow with Hope", and is planning tool that can be used for individuals or groups to help define goals and map out the way to achieve those goals.

I thought I'd write a little on the subject, and to give you a visual, I'm going to use this PATH done by a group of Interlake recreation, health, and sport professionals done in March of 2009 (that I participated in) as my example.



Looking at that image, I'm sure it is pretty difficult to discern what is going on. Let me break it down for you.

The first thing you do is title your PATH, to give some focus. We were discussing physical activity in the Interlake, which our title reflects. After that you being to "dream", and that is the images at the bottom of the image. Normally the dream would be on the right-hand side of the PATH, but for space reasons when I redid this on the computer I put it on the bottom.

The next step is to then create some Goals, which are in the circle on the end (which I like to call the Pac-Man section). Any goals that are listed need to be "Positive and Possible"; we don't want to set goals that cannot be achieved (eg. "We will build a multi-use facility in Geysir in 2 months!"), and we want our goals to be phrased positively.

We then jump to the "Now" section on the far left. The Now is just some quick facts about the current situation, but they don't necessarily have to be directly related to the Goals.

We then go to the "Enroll" section; this is where we list the people we need to get on board to make these Goals happen. When I did this on the computer I colour-coded everything, so that if you read the blue text, it is all for that one Goal.

"Stronger" can basically be divided into three sub-categories: Communication, Information, Celebrate. Basically, who do we need to communicate with and how will we do so, what information needs to be gathered, and how are we going to celebrate our successes.

Then we move to "First Steps" and "Half-Way" (Half-Way is the arrow head, I forgot to label that when I made this graphic over a year ago). We work backwards from here; we look at our Goal, and figure out what needs to be done by the Half-Way point (if our Goals are to be completed in March 2010, and we did the PATH in March 2009, the Half-Way point would be September 2009). Then, we go back further, and figure out the very first thing we need to do.

After that, participants are asked to express in one word how they feel about the PATH; those are the words along the very bottom of the graphic. All participants in the PATH are then asked to sign the poster (not replicated on the computer graphic), as a way of taking ownership of the plan.

It's a neat process to do, and as I said, it could be done as a personal planning tool, for a business, non-profit organization, whatever! I am now a trained facilitator in the process, so if you find yourself interested, let me know! I'm hoping to do a PATH or two in the community shortly; 2 facilitators are required to do a PATH, but fortunately for me 3 other people who work in Riverton also took the training!

Winter Games

I'm off to the Manitoba Winter Games for the rest of the week, so don't expect any more blogging until next week!

Old Friends, Good Times

I'm in Winnipeg for a conference right now, and while I was in I thought it would be a good time to reconnect with some of my old Olive Garden friends. While I don't miss serving tables, I really did work with some great people.

I started a tradition at the Olive Garden (it lasted a few years, don't know if it still happens now) of a karaoke party to celebrate the ending of the Never Ending Pasta Bowl promotion. After that a group of us started going karaoke somewhat regularly, and we kept at it until the karaoke bar we frequented (which was really close to work) closed.

So, I thought doing a karaoke party as a way to catch up would be fun, and man was I right! We went to a place called Muz Karaoke; unlike a bar, you rent a private room so it's just you and your friends. If you want to talk, you can talk, and if you want to karaoke, you don't have to wait through 2 hours of people you don't know before you get your turn! The facility definitely caters to Asian customers, since English was the second language in the song books (and there was about 1/3 English songs to whatever the Asian language was), but it was a lot of fun.

We thought there were going to be about 10 of us, but in the end there was only 4 of us. Still, we took turns singing individually, doing some duets; sometimes someone would grab up the second microphone and join you on the chorus or harmony, it was a ton of fun. We booked the room for 3 hours, but were having so much fun we stayed for an extra hour and a half. The room rates were very reasonable as well; on a weekday, you can get a room for an hour and a half for $25 (including taxes).

I really loved getting together with my old friends again, and hope to do so again too. Thanks Colleen, Pasith, and Penni!

Manitoba Winter Games

There are some definite perks to working in the Recreation field. Recently I was asked to be a part of the Mission Staff for Team Interlake at the Manitoba Winter Games, being held in March in Portage la Prairie. Basically, as Mission Staff, I am support staff for the coach(es), allowing them to deal solely with the coaching aspect. So if a kid hurts them self and we need to get the medical people over to have a look, I deal with that so the coach can concentrate on the games. I'd say it's like being the team manager except there is a team manager too!

I'm looking forward to going to the Games. I'd like to go sometime as a coach (I had signed up to be an assistant coach for the volleyball team but, long story short, I ended up choosing not to do so), but having that experience as Mission Staff will be great. My board has agreed (unofficially, it'll be official in February) to my suggestion that I go to the Games, but I would not claim overtime after my 8 hour day is up (because I'm sure I'll be 'on' more than 8 hours a day). If I could afford to take the time off I'd happily go as a volunteer, but getting my regular pay cheque while attending is pretty nice.

The Games is job related, and as one of my board members put it, it's a great professional development opportunity for me that will cost no money aside from my time. I get to see how such a large event is run, and will actively be troubleshooting some of the problems/situations that arise during such an event. I'm also glad that I'm going to be a part of the badminton team; I was asked before if I'd consider being Mission Staff for cross country skiing, but I would rather work with a sport I'm actually familiar with.

I'm looking forward to a fun few days at the Games, though I will miss the wife while I'm away. I also learned my plan to sleep at my parents won't work; I'll be on an air mattress in a school classroom (or something like that).

Still, being a part of an event like this is a pretty sweet part of my job!