Northern Musings from Whitehorse

Before arriving in the North for the first time, I expected  there to be a lot of personal and professional overlaps due to the size of the city (or a lack thereof). I was not wrong: the potential for conflicts of interest is high at the Human Rights Commission and so the staff members make sure not to get involved with a case where there may be a perception of bias. What I didn't expect, however, was the flip side of such proximity: the important decision-makers are people who shop at the same grocery store as me, which allows for greater accessibility.
 

Street art in downtown Whitehorse

I saw no clearer example of this than when a lesbian couple living in my neighbourhood publicized the territorial government's demand that the non-birth mother go through the adoption process in order to appear on the birth certificate of her child. The news spread like wildfire and the legislature acted quickly. Throughout the process, the couple was directly in touch with the Minister of Health and Social Services. In the past couple of months, the Vital Statistics Act was amended to avoid having other same-sex couples fall through the cracks. This was due in large part to the efforts of two frustrated women. I draw great inspiration from them and I look forward to using that accessibility as a stepping stone for the rectification of other sources of discrimination in law and policy in the future.
 

A peek inside the workshop of Tlingit wood carver Keith Wolfe Smarch

I also draw inspiration from my coworkers, who have offered me an incredible amount of support. Although it seems self-evident that the employees at a human rights commission would have to be empathetic in order to deal with complaints and hear both sides of every story, it only recently occurred to me how important it is to have that kind of patience and compassion within the office. Complaints often contain graphic details and generally showcase a less-than-flattering portrait of humanity, and it is invaluable to be working on a team where debriefing is encouraged. I am by no means expected to go home at the end of the day with that burden on my shoulders alone.
 

A moose print on Bove Island

In the same vein, I feel welcome to bounce ideas off of my colleagues, even if I am the one who has been formally assigned a certain legal question to research, for example. Although not everyone is working on every case, this presents a good opportunity to get valuable input and to approach issues from different angles that may not have occurred to me. This also means that my contributions are valued during case meetings, irrespective of whether I personally interviewed the parties or drafted that particular complaint or settlement agreement. There isn't an attitude of "that's not my case, therefore it doesn't concern me" and I believe that this contributes to a better overall handling of complaints. The Commission takes the meaning of the word "team" very seriously, and I am glad to be a part of it.
 

A view of Whitehorse from north of downtown

Since the work allocation at the Commission is flexible, I am able do a little bit of everything. Over the past few weeks, I've worked on amending company policy to prevent future discrimination and retooled the resources that are available to the public on our webpage, in addition to the usual memorandum-drafting. I will soon have the opportunity to conduct my own interviews on files, and develop education materials on workplace harassment for high school students in collaboration with the Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Board.
 

Emerald Lake from above

At the start of my internship, I said that I anticipated wielding education as a tool to effect social change.  However, it didn't occur to me that I might be made uncomfortably aware of my own knowledge gaps and implicit biases while attending a workshop on Yukon First Nations. I realize that treating openly prejudiced individuals as "the Other" is still very much the kind of distancing behaviour that frustrates the pursuit of equality. Categorizing individual people as bigots is both counterproductive and wholly irrelevant, as the presence of discrimination says more about the history and power structures of the society we live in than about a particular person's strength of character. I hope to personally deal with discrimination in the future with a collaborative attitude instead of a judgemental one.