The true meaning of inclusion

Do you ever revisit what you have written either on your resume, biography or on social media?  If the answer is yes, have you felt as if the description that you were reading felt disconnected from your true-self somehow or that the content was no longer relevant? If you can relate to these feelings, please keep on reading as I will do my best to describe my self-discovery journey. (if the answer is no, then this blog is not for you today :) )

I have plunged into this exercise over the last few days and not as part of a quest to update my promotional material, but rather as an attempt to find meaning and understanding for my own sake. You see, I am just coming back from the Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference which took me to Newfoundland, Nunavut and Ottawa. The key word in the prior sentence is of course Nunavut.  I have seen, heard and experienced things while in that beautiful territory that has impacted me greatly- in ways that I am just discovering and that will keep on manifesting themselves in months and years to come I am sure.  That being said, as I read over what I had posted about myself in recent years, I noted that I often used the term "champion of inclusiveness" . 

Being a champion of inclusiveness for me at the time meant that I was  a person that had both the ability and experience of working with private, public and community sectors that led to impact for the greater good (can you tell I am an avid Harry Potter fan?). On some instances, it also meant that I liked to seek social justice for wrongdoings. 

The meaning of inclusiveness is defined as thus by the world wide web (first entry on Google):  "Conduct all deliberations and make all decisions by bodies and methods which reasonably represent all relevant and affected parties.".  Not quite the same meaning when you truly consider the definition.

Without wanting to be too harsh on myself as being a tri-sector champion is a foot in the right direction,  I have learned that to be truly inclusive, one must think of the following two aspects (at the very least): The first lesson, I have learned from my new friends who work for labour movements. While I admit that I had little patience in the beginning for long debriefs that ensured that everybody shared their opinions, I have come to the realization that this lack of patience was directed at myself! Over the years, I have come to censure myself way too often, in both my personal and professional lives (we will save the psychoanalysis for my close circle of friends as to why that was). Along the way, I must have determined that my voice did not matter or that people's opinions were far more important than mine. My labour friends picked up on that of course, and would always give me an opportunity to either share my thoughts in a group setting or speak to me privately to ensure that I was doing well in my silence.  Thank you to Philippe, Siobhan and Billy for the gifts of reclaiming my voice and the importance of consensus-building.  The second lesson was grasped in a myriad of ways. From the discussions in my study group as well as the experiences in Nunavut. How can I call myself inclusive when I did not ensure that our indigenous nations were always at the table? (in retrospect, my feeble attempts are pretty pale in comparison of what I can do). 

How can I call myself a champion when I do not factor in the needs of the LGBTQ+ community? How can I call myself a champion when my entrepreneurial spirit takes over and does not pause to consider all sides? The list goes on and on and on and I am doing my best to reconcile my thoughts with future actions. 

One of those actions is to determine whether or not I will leave the term "champion of inclusiveness" and attempt to truly honour its meaning or leave it out until I feel worthy of being called as such.  I am leaning towards the latter but that is how I am feeling today. Another action is certainly to seek further understanding of the society I live in as the image that I had of Canada has been forever shattered. I am hopeful however that I will come to a place of reconciliation in due time. 

One thing is for sure however as Joanne would surely agree:  when our hearts travel to places where there are no maps, it is not easy to capture such a life-altering experience on a resume, social media or even here, on this post. 

Suggestions, anyone?