Ghetto Dude

Well it's been a while since I've posted, but nothing's really caught my eye until this. I've worked in the public service for roughly two and a half years now, and I quite often think of how there are people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds who could do an equal or superior job to some of the people I've encountered on the job, but due to life circumstances, societal barriers, or lack of belief they haven't been able to pursue such opportunities.

Then reading this story about some applicant being referred to as "ghetto dude" just underscores my perspective. First of all, if this so called ghetto dude were employed in a similar position as the offender, I'm quite sure he would have had the common sense and proffesionalism to appropriately discuss a job candidate and not prejudge someone in a way that would likely minimize that individual's chance of success. I can't say the same for Ms. Siu.

Another thing that irked me about this story is John Tory's ridiculous suggestion that McGuinty should apologize. Why, so that this story can be pinned to McgGuinty when it's not a political issue? The issue here has nothing to do with the administration from the top. This is more about societal attitudes. This could have, and likely has, happened in the private sector, but thankfully this time it occurred in the public sector where these kinds of attitudes can be exposed a bit more easily. A McGuinty apology is not going to make anything better, rather it would be almost a one off answer withouth tackling the actual problem that does exist. In fact, it would be patronizing.

Let's hope there's a lesson learned here. And no, I'm not referring to email etiquette. While an overnight improvement is naive, at least there should be some kind of introspection on how people approach candidates when it comes to diversity in the job market. Not everyone comes from Trinity College, and not everyone needs to.

This incident saddens me because I believe in Canada very much, but in a sense, I feel that Canadians are naively content. We preach multiculturalism and acceptance, but too this diversity and acceptance is merely superficial. Don't get me wrong, there's nowhere else I'd rather live, but I think Canadians need to be more honest with each other about some attitudes. Otherwise, Canada will always be great, with an asterisk.