Friday, September 13, 2024

Back to School—Already!?

Even though Canadians come from many different backgrounds, we share something in common: the value of caring for and supporting our families

By Jeffrey Pickles, CLAC Training, Ontario, Program Instructor

As the trailer rounds the corner in front of me, a tomato rolls off the pile—the trailer overflowing with shades of scarlet and crimson from this year’s harvest. I smile a little, reminded that even here, in Chatham, Ontario, there are little glimpses into other lives, other cultures.

The ripening harvest, the shortening days, the chill in the air—all of it is a signal to this farmer of a shift, a signal that autumn is just on the horizon. Among his own shifting roles and responsibilities as he tends to his fields, his children are likely preparing for the same thing as mine—the first day of the new school year.

As I watch, I imagine the farmer’s upbringing. He comes from a vastly different background than me—he grew up on a farm in rural Ontario and was taught the skills and beliefs passed down through generations from father to son in the field. A good work ethic and pride in a bountiful harvest—these are the things that are central to providing for his family.

Me? I grew up in the suburbs and my own skills and beliefs were passed on to me by my father on the job site as an electrician. Connection and individual support walk alongside my need to provide as a husband and a father, my own harvest being financial security, rides to school, backpacks, socks, and shoes.

And yet, even if we do have different backgrounds, the farmer and I share something: the value of caring for and supporting our families. We may choose to uphold this in different ways, shaped by the cultures we were reared in and live by, but the root is the same.

We may name this value differently, we may enact it in various ways, but at the end of the day, the farmer and I both love and care for our families the same. It is simply our lived experiences and our sets of beliefs that shape our individual ways of enacting this same value.

These are certainly deep thoughts to be having at a red traffic light with a Walmart billboard on my right and a farm field full of tomatoes on my left.

For the last few months, I’ve been working diligently alongside the Ontario Apprenticeship and Ontario Training teams to develop a webinar experience that engages with this exact idea: that despite where we come from, despite when we were raised, we all have values and perspectives to contribute to our world.

The webinar will focus on a collection of experiences from CLAC members, staff, and participants of our Supervisor Micro Certification Program from all different cultures, ages, and backgrounds. I’ve spent a lot of time collecting these experiences, learning from others, watching recordings and asking questions—it's no wonder that a fallen tomato had my mind turning to this.

As we shift into autumn, and the world changes a little bit each day, we want to bring this conversation directly to you. We would love to have you join us on Thursday, September 26, when we present our next webinar, A Generation Gap. In this session, we will address the diversity of our workplaces today, and how to navigate the common concerns that arise from generational differences and experiences.

Our goal is to start a conversation that can benefit your team and provide you with the skills you need to address issues and understand your team members’ values and perspectives.

Back to School—Already!?

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