Conflict in my neighbourhood and on the high seas

This picture below is from a feature article in (UK’s) The Guardian last July. This is where I live. The breakwater walkway on the left side of the picture is a 10 minute walk from my James Bay neighbourhood residence in Victoria.  Across the waters rise up the Olympic Mountains. A beautiful landscape, except… The […]

Reflections on virtual co-facilitation of MERIT workshops in Mongolia

I was suppose to spend the month of March this year on assignment in Mongolia, with the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO), as part of the MERIT (Mongolia: Enhancing Resource Management through Institutional Transformation) project. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, it never happened. Fortunately, though, the assignment turned into a virtual one, getting done in June and […]

Perspectives on Refugees

Listening to this weekend’s Sunday Edition show on CBC radio, I heard the host, Michael Enright interview Brian Bilston, the “Bansky of poetry”. One of Bilston’s best known poems in ‘Refugees’, in which he uses an unusual literary device, one in which the poem can either be read front to back, as is usual, or […]

Political Conflict Walking Tour in Belfast

I’ve been thinking of tribalism a fair bit lately, given ongoing public conversations among my American neighbours. It reminds me of another tribal conflict that I recently visited. Last month, I had the good fortune of travelling in Ireland. I’d never been to Ireland, before. My wife’s ancestry stems from there. Over the years, I’ve […]

Upcoming Victoria workshop to help you embrace and implement a culture of “speaking up”

It seems to me that every workplace employer I’ve interacted with over the last couple of years has mentioned how challenging it can sometimes be for their employees (and sometimes, themselves!) to authentically “speak up”. Speaking Up Speaking up is more than just “speaking truth to power”. It’s about improving team performance by engaging in […]