RANT - Part 2: The 1st indication that there was something fishy about PEI

*WARNING* The contents of this blog post may include profanity, anger and frustration. The opinions presented are solely mine and admittedly are somewhat biased. You are encouraged to come to your own conclusions.

Unexpectedly, the spring of 2013 came and went without an open position being posted with the Charlottetown Police Service. So we called our CPS contact and were reassured once again that positions would open up, but we would have to wait until the fall of 2013. We were living in different provinces at the time and were not excited for this process to be extended any longer, but we were still optimistic that the pay off would be worth the wait.

In the meantime, an open position was posted with the Summerside Police Department. Minimum qualifications listed were: (1) Graduation from Atlantic Police College or equivalent, (2) Valid drivers licence and (3) No prior criminal record. The asset qualifications for the position were: (4) University graduate, (5) Second language training, (6) Prior policing experience and additional police training. In terms of meeting those requirements, Check, check and double CHECK! So although this position would mean a significantly greater commute, we thought that it would be worth applying for considering that a long commute would be better than living in two different provinces. Additionally, we thought it was good experience to interview with a PEI police service, to get accustomed to the types of question which would be asked in preparation of the desired job with CPS.

Considering all of the minimum and asset qualifications were met, we never expected what came next. Weeks came and went, there was no contact from Summerside PD. We were concerned that the application had not been received - this was because the job notice explicitly stated that applications would only be considered if sent electronically to the HR department at a particular E-mail address. But the E-mail address provided on the job notice was not a valid address! We ended up searching out the appropriate E-mail address for the HR department on the City of Summerside web page instead. When we hadn't heard back about an interview, we assumed the application had not been received because it just didn't make any sense that an experienced candidate would not be offered the chance to interview. So we tried calling the HR department to no avail. No one ever answered the phone or returned calls to the messages left. In an act of frustration, an E-mail was sent to a rather high up member of the SPD inquiring about the open position. What was received was a jaw-dropping response: "Only those who qualified for an interview were contacted and we usually let local boys have the first go at these types of jobs". There it was in print, the first evidence of employment bias.  

Spring turned to summer and the RCMP announced that they were reviving the "Lateral Transfer Program for Experienced Constables". Thinking this was an ideal opportunity, an application to the program was submitted. It didn't take long to be contacted and great news! The RCMP wanted to accept the lateral transfer. There was only one little detail of concern - they wanted to post us to Northern Alberta. When we explained that the reason for applying was to try and get a posting in Eastern Canada, close to my job, our concerns were met with laughter. Eastern Canada, eh? The only posting the RCMP send officers to in that part of the country is Labrador. We were told that if we signed on for a 5 year posting to an isolated Northern Labrador community, that there was a chance we could be posted to PEI sometime in the future. Armed with that comforting information, it didn't take long to decide that the RCMP would not be a viable option.

Effectively, we were putting all our hopes into Charlottetown Police. And why wouldn't we? We had been advised by high up that people were scheduled to retire, that positions would be opening and that experienced candidates were desired. As we waited for a position to be posted, summer turned to fall and then to winter.

RANT - Part 1: The Beginning of a Futile Journey

*WARNING* The contents of this blog post includes profanity, anger and frustration. The opinions presented are solely mine and admittedly are somewhat biased. You are encouraged to come to your own conclusions.

The various governments of the Maritime region are often quoted as saying that the one of the largest roadblocks encountered in terms of economic prosperity of the region is the number of people who leave these provinces looking for work elsewhere.  The result is often an ageing population putting great stress on few resources, and a reduction in the number of young professionals contributing to the taxation base, starting families and contributing to population growth. This is our story.

I am a Maritimer, originally from New Brunswick. I grew up in Moncton and spent 8 years in Fredericton both working and pursuing two degrees at UNB. When I could not find work in the area, I left as many Maritimers do, heading west to Ontario to pursue a PhD (in the hopes of making myself more employable). My husband, although originally from Ontario, spent a number of years living in New Brunswick while working with the Canadian Forces. We both love the Maritime region and have wanted to find an opportunity to move back to the area.

We were optimistic that opportunity would come when I completed my PhD. Considering that a PhD is a great deal more specific, and that a choice of employment location may not be within our control, we assumed that I would find a job in my field. And as an experienced police officer, my husband would be able to find employment in the same geographic region because most communities have police services (whether it be National, Provincial, Regional, or Municipal police services). In reality however, we were not prepared for what the next 12 months would bring.

Before completing my PhD, I was lucky enough to find employment with a great company. A company which was expanding, the job was in my specific field of study, and best of all - the company was located in Atlantic Canada, Prince Edward Island to be specific. My husband and I do not take risks without first investigating the opportunity and weighing the pros and cons. As such, we travelled to PEI in the fall of 2012 to meet with the company of interest and also to investigate the potential for employment in the policing field. Because of the size of PEI, we realized that we would be limited in terms of policing opportunities. Namely, there are municipal services in both Charlottetown and Summerside in addition to RCMP detachments throughout the Island. We were not worried however, because once an opportunity presented itself, it seemed illogical that a police service would not at least interview an experienced candidate. Reality, is in fact a bitch.      

Without mentioning names, I will state that in the fall of 2012 we met with someone very high up in the chain of command at the Charlottetown Police Service. At that time, this individual lead us to believe that experienced constables were encouraged to apply to the service and that these candidates were often successful because of the added experience and training they brought with them. It was also indicated that there were a number of retirements scheduled for 2013-2014 and that they were planning to hire as early as the spring of 2013. Following this positive experience and with this knowledge in mind, we decided that I should accept the position and that moving to PEI was an acceptable risk. So I quit my part-time job in Guelph, packed up my car, said good bye to my husband and began my journey eastward in February of 2013. At this time, I figured that it would be only a matter of months before a job would open up and my husband would soon be joining me in PEI.

Intruder Alert!

Normally, I write about things that have happened to me. Although I was not directly involved with this event, apparently it is entirely my fault. According to my husband, if I hadn't moved the dogs to PEI and had instead left them with him in Guelph, this situation could have been prevented.

Although I moved to PEI in February of 2013, my husband remains living and working in Guelph while we wait as patiently as possible for a job opportunity to open up for him on PEI (it's only been 264 days, but who's counting?!). As he works rotating shift work with frequent last-minute shift, we decided that the dogs would be better off with me in PEI because I work regular 8 hour days. Not to mention that we knew the dogs would love living at the beach!

The huz was trying to get some sleep after a long night shift. Sometimes, it can be difficult to sleep during the day due to noise coming from the street, the school next door or from our neighbours. So when he tries to sleep during the day, there can be a lot of background noise which he has learned to tune out. On this day however, after being asleep for about 4 hours, he was disturbed by a noise which sounded different from the usual background noise. This sound appeared to be coming form INSIDE the house. (Sounds like the beginning of a horror movie, doesn't it!)    

He woke, waited and listened .... and heard nothing. He thought perhaps he had just been in a very realistic dream. Just as he rolled over and was about to go back to sleep, he heard the noise again. Perplexed, he sat up in bed, straining his ears to try and figure out where the noise was coming from. He heard the noise again, followed by the jingle of something brushing against his keys which had been left on the kitchen counter. This could mean only one thing, the noise was indeed coming from inside the house! So he jumped out of bed and strode quickly to the kitchen, expecting to find some cracker attempting a B&E (you can blame this rash conclusion on the day job).

Much to his surprise, rather than finding a person in the kitchen, he found a large grey squirrel! The presumptuous squirrel had invited himself into our kitchen by chewing a rather large hole in the screen on the kitchen window. Then, he helped himself to a loaf of bread on the kitchen counter. Rather than ripping the bread bag open as he did to the window screen, the resourceful squirrel managed to take the twist tie off of the opening of the bag and crawl his way inside. He managed to consume 3 slices of bread and was working on his forth before he woke up the occupant of the house!

This stealthy squirrel wan't the least bit pleased by the fact that he now had an audience and therefore, proceeded to have a tantrum. Not only was he vocalizing loudly, but the squirrel began running laps around the kitchen in panic, knocking over dishes in the drying rack, boxes of cereal that were perched on top of the fridge, and scattering apples from a bowl on the counter top. The huz tried to escort the squirrel to the side door, failing miserably. The squirrel opted instead for running back into the house, into the living room and began climbing the walls. Finally, after multiple attempts at herding the squirrel, the huz trapped him in the front porch where the secret squirrel was able to escape to the outside world without further incident.

The huz however, was not impressed as he now had to throw out the bread, clean up all the items which had been knocked over, and fix the hole in the window screen. How is this my fault? I was wondering the same thing. Apparently, if the dogs had remained in Guelph, the squirrel would not have ventured into the house. (Because our Labrador Retrievers are such good guard dogs!) Since I have the dogs with me in PEI, it's my fault that the squirrel got in and caused such a mess! I certainly had a good chuckle upon hearing the story, but I feel that blaming my present geographic location for this mess is very much "Man Logic". As I see it, even if the dogs had been in the house, the squirrel may still have thought that the loaf of bread was too appetizing to pass up. And if the secret squirrel had gained access to the house, the dogs may have caused an even bigger mess trying to chase it around. I guess we will never know.    

My Accident Prone Chocolate Lab

As someone who studies genetics, I can tell you that the different colors of Labrador retrievers (black, chocolate and yellow) are primarily caused by a handful of genes. Everyone jokes that chocolate labs are the "crazy" ones. As if one of those few genes which influence color also codes for "craziness" or "hyperactivity". I refused to believe that statement, opting for the idea that dogs themselves are not inherently bad, that there are only bad owners. Now that we have both a black and a chocolate lab, I am not as certain about my view.

Riker has been "Special" since the moment we brought him home. He's a happy boy, but sometimes he gets hyper-focused on a particular person or object. The result of this behaviour has been hilarity and injury (those two things normally go together, right?). We are at the point now where I want to keep a post on a whiteboard stating: "Number of days Riker has been injury free: _____". At the time of writing, the answer to this fill-in-the-blank statement is only one.

Riker is the kind of dog who gets so focused on getting in the car that he can't wait for the tailgate to open fully and smashes his head off it as he jumps in the back of the car. This pup has ulcerated his eye by running full speed into a stick, ripped a nail off at the base while chasing a tennis ball, hyper-extended his left forelimb, jumped out of a car window while driving, launched himself off a flight of 7 stairs without touching any on the way down .... and the list goes on. This week however, there was a new injury.

I am not exactly sure how he managed to knock out a premolar, but it happened. We went to the beach at lunch for our regular walk. As usual, I was throwing a stick so hyper Riker would burn off some energy in the water. This retriever is very "stick-focused". At one point, he returned with the stick and when he dropped it at my feet, I noticed that it was covered in blood. I took a look in his mouth and found a gaping hole where a tooth should have been. To make matters that much more exciting, I could see that some of the tooth was still there and had been broken off just below the gum line. Obviously, this required a visit to the veterinarian to have the remainder of the tooth extracted before it caused an infection.

And this guy just doesn't slow down. He never stops. Even after knocking his own tooth out, he kept pestering me to throw the stick again and again. There will be no more sticks for this dog! There is a new beach toy - a soft, floating toy to satisfy his retrieving instincts. I am left wondering, does one of these 3 genes that are responsible for color in the chocolate morph of the Labrador Retriever also contribute to the potential to be accident-prone?

The best comment I have received to date about Riker was the following: "I really hope he makes it to his next birthday" Just another day in the life of Riker the chocolate.

The Curious Case of the Lost Keys

Although it may have been the first official day of fall, sunny and 23oC certainly didn't feel fall-like. With the knowledge that cooler weather is imminent, I decided to take the dogs to the beach for a walk/swim and try to get the most out of this beautiful day. It was just after high tide, which in my opinion is the best time to go to the beach so that the water is deep enough for the dogs to swim.

 



When we arrived at the beach, it occurred to me that I was not wearing clothing with pockets so I had no where to put my car keys. I decided to clip my car keys onto one of the dogs leashes which were hanging across my shoulders. As per usual, Riker found a stick and insisted that I throw it for him to retrieve. The surf today was higher than usual, probably 2-2.5 ft swells in some places, but that didn't stop Riker from getting in the water.

We had walked about a quarter of the way down the beach when I suddenly experienced time in slow motion. I was throwing the stick with my right hand and just happened to clip the leashes which were hanging from my right shoulder. Somehow, in this split-second collision, the car keys were dislodged from the leash and were sent on an arcing trajectory towards the ocean surf. Two words passed through my mind: "OH FUCK!" as I watched gravity take over, drawing my keys down towards the surface of the water. With a tiny splash, they were gone. Riker simply continued into the water to retrieve the stick, if only he could retrieve my keys!

When something like this happens, your mind is spinning trying to come up with solutions and my mind was no exception. My first thought was: "Well, at least I have a spare set at home" until I realized that ALL my keys to AquaBounty were also on the key chain. So what was my second thought you ask? Well, I decided to go in after those keys.

I started to walk towards the water and paused, was this really worth it? What were the chances of me actually rescuing my keys? With every moment I debated, with every wave cycle, I knew that those keys were being sucked out farther and farther from where they first entered the water. I made a decision, I took a quick look around and found that there was only one other person out on the beach and they were walking away from my location nearing the far end of the beach. So, I removed my hiking boots and socks, took off my ball cap and sunglasses, stripped down to my underwear and in the water I went. By the way, the air temperature may have been 23oC, but the water temperature was certainly more frigid!

The frigid water alone was enough to make me consider giving up, but the rough surf made it near impossible to see anything. After a few minutes of searching, I thought that my keys were gone. But out of the corner of my eye, I caught the glimpse of something brilliantly white on the ocean floor just before the next wave came crashing down. I waded over and thrust my hands downwards to the sand and came up with my keys! Thanks to my father for that one! My father bought me a roadside assistance plan for my birthday and gave me a white key tag two days ago with the emergency phone number on it. If it were not for that white key tag, I likely would have never seen my keys again.

I triumphantly got out of the water with my keys in hand. I was extremely happy that not only did I not lose the keys to the office, but I now was also holding the keys to my car. It is not a long walk back to the apartment, maybe 4 km from the beach (8 km round trip), but I was happy that I would not have to make the trek to get my spare key. That is until, I realized that I have a new car. And new cars do not have locking mechanisms on the exterior of the car doors. Nope, after being submerged in salt water for about 3 or 4 minutes, I had to hope that the electronic door lock was still functional if I had any hope of getting into my car.

Frustrated, I looked around the beach again and contemplated my options. If my electronic key fob didn't work, I could either start walking back to the apartment or call someone for help. Damn it! I left the cell phone in the car too! As the realization that I may have a long walk ahead of me began to sink in, I noticed that the only other person on the beach was walking with two dogs, beagles to be specific. This could only mean one thing, that I knew this person and therefore help was only a short walk away!

After trying to dry off enough with my socks to put my clothes back on, the dogs and I walked down the beach to catch up. I explained my predicament and after a laugh about my luck, we headed back to my car to test the electronics. Thankfully, I now had someone who could offer me a ride to the apartment if the electronic door lock was busted. When I got back to my car, I tried the fob three times before it finally worked and unlocked the doors, but I wasn't going to complain. My doors were unlocked and I had the keys to AquaBounty, all was good. I drove home and my key fob is presently sitting in a bag of rice. If it cannot be salvaged, at least I have a back up!            

"Haters gonna Hate!"

If there is one thing that seems to be a constant, it's that there will always be people who do not like dogs - and I always seem to find them. I have two Labrador retrievers who need a great deal of exercise. Additionally, Labs have been bred to love the water and to have a strong retrieving instinct.

Since our dogs have joined me on Prince Edward Island, they have loved spending time at the local beach. Just on the other side of the river from where I live, there is a fantastic, private beach about 1 km from end to end. There are two access points to this beach, one at the Eastern end of the beach where it meets the harbor and the other is located a mere 200 m west of the harbor.

Since it has been tourist season, I have worked hard to be a responsible pet owner and have limited my time at the beach to between 6-8 am and 7-9 pm. Now that the tourists have left and the cottagers have closed up for the season, I have been enjoying the beach with the dogs after work. Normally, the dogs and I are the only ones on the beach during this time. On a few occasions however, there has been a couple who appear to be in their late 60s who have also been enjoying the beach during my evening walks. When I have seen this couple before, I have made sure to give them plenty of space and stayed at least 200m or more away from them.

This trip to the beach was different. This time when I arrived at the beach, I found that the couple was walking East on the beach towards the harbor where I was playing with the dogs. I gave them a quick look and assumed (correctly) that they would be departing using the other access point. As such, I decided to remain where I was so as not to disturb their walk with two boisterous dogs.

As I stood in the tidal zone throwing sticks for our to Labs to retrieve from the waves, I noticed that the couple walked past the additional beach access and continued walking towards me. Based on this behavior, I assumed (incorrectly) that they were not bothered by dogs, because hey, why else would they knowingly put themselves in a position that would make them uncomfortable?

I directly my attention towards Riker and Bones once again as a threw two more sticks. Just as the boys were swimming out to retrieve these sticks, I was startled by a noise directly behind me. It was screaming, loud, high-pitched screaming. I turn around immediately to find a woman screaming, squealing, jumping and waving her arms. She was saying, "I'm deathly terrified of dogs, oh my god, oh my god, TERRIFIED!"

Now I am no expert in canine behavior, but I am pretty sure that rapid movements coupled with loud noises draw the attention of the average canine. At least, that is exactly what happened with Riker and Bones. One minute they are super focused on retrieving the stick I threw in the water and the next, they are bounding quickly back to shore to meet this new arrival.

Although energetic, our dogs are not horrible when it comes to listening to commands. So I yelled to get their attention, told them to sit and they did just that. Meanwhile, I am getting an earful from this woman who is still jumping and screaming that she is "terrified of dogs".

I tried to be as polite as possible when I told her that I understand and respect her fear of dogs but I wanted to let her know that our dogs have no malicious intent. This statement was criticized to the point of lunacy (in my opinion). The woman responded with "What do you mean no malicious intent? They were coming right for me, they were going to attack!"

Again, I tried to reassure her that Riker and Bones are not aggressive dogs and that they simply cannot understand that  some people do not want to meet them. I was just about to leave it at that and walk away when the woman replied "You and your filthy dogs should be on a leash! You shouldn't be allowed out in public with monsters!" And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the point where you could say that I lost my shit!

Still keeping my voice calm and even, I said to the woman, "Just a word of advice for the future whether you meet my dogs again or any other - If you feel uncomfortable in the presence of dogs, then the best thing to do would be avoidance and to be discrete. When you squeal and wave your hands in the presence dogs, this tells them that you want to play. So in the future, you may want to just quietly keep walking. If you had done that today, my dogs would have ignored you and kept chasing their stick."

My suggestions did not seem to sit well with her. I was then scolded for suggesting that she should change her behavior to accommodate my "filthy monsters" and that the beach was no place for dogs. That she was entitled to walk the full length of the beach when she wanted to and that she should not have to alter her walk just because I was there with my dogs. Apparently, I should have left my dogs at home for her safety. She even threatened to call the police to deal with me.

I finally looked at her and said, "Ma'am, you made the decision to walk to this end of the beach and you made the decision to draw attention to yourself with your behavior. My dogs have done nothing but sit here by my side and look at you. So I am sorry that you are uncomfortable around dogs but this could have been avoided if you had made different choices. I live here and I am just as entitled to use this beach as you are." With that, I turned and began walking away with Riker and Bones only to hear her reply, "Well, you are just a saucy little bitch, aren't you?!".

Yes, saucy little bitch indeed. How dare I walk on the beach. Thankfully, this has been the only negative experience I have encountered since moving to PEI. Prior to this event, I have only met friendly, dog loving people or those who simply do not show interest and are therefore not interesting to my Labs! So I am pretty confident that this couple was not local, I believe that they are - as the locals say - "on Island from away"!  

Baptism by Fire

I should have know by the way my day began that the best course of action would have been to roll over and go back to sleep. Every Saturday I wake up early to drive into Charlottetown to go to the gym and then hit up the farmers market. Considering the fact that I must drive 45 minutes just  to get to Charlottetown, I am ridiculously meticulous about my weekend planning. Each Friday night, I pack multiple bags for my various activities, usually a bag for CrossFit, a bag for wrestling practice and a bag of shower supplies and clean clothes (because when you live 45 minutes away, you MUST be prepared for everything!).

This weekend was no different except for the fact that my alarm did not go off. Today, I woke to the sounds of whining dogs at my bedroom door. In my semi-conscious state, I wondered why the dogs were up so early considering my 6:45 am alarm had not yet gone off. As I lay in bed for a few minutes trying to will the dogs back to sleep, I realized that it was brighter in my bedroom than it should be for 6 something in the morning. I opened my eyes and grabbed my cell phone (which I also use as an alarm clock) only to find that the battery is dead! I then stumble out of bed into then kitchen and check the time on the microwave only to find that it is 7:22 am. If I want to make it on time for my 8:30 am CrossFit class, I had to be out the door in 10 minutes! I will not lie, it did cross my mind to say "Aww, screw it! Go back to bed!" but I just couldn't do it. So I raced around the house, grabbing my things as I fed the dogs and prepped my post-workout protein shake.

I headed out the door at 7:34, jumped in my car and drove down to the gate, only to find that the last people who had been in the building the night before had locked the gate! This is a highly unusual circumstance as most of my colleagues leave the gate unlocked if they see my car in the parking lot. Instead of throwing open the gate, I had to race back to my car to grab my keys. When I arrived at the gate for the second time, I realized not only was the gate locked, but that I was locked IN!! The lock had been applied from the outside, so here I am trying to force my hand through the bars to reach the lock from the other side! And wouldn't you know it, I ended up dropping my keys so I had to get down on the ground and try to reach under the gate to reach the bastards! Right there, I should have said, "Nope, this just isn't going to happen today" and head back to bed. But no, I am too stubborn for that. I finally managed to reach my keys and get the gate open. Feeling relieved and only 6 minutes behind schedule, I got in my car and began my drive to Charlottetown.

Half way between St. Peter's Bay and Morell, I heard a loud "DING" noise come from my car. When I looked down at the dash I realized that was the sound of my gas light coming on. I slept in, I was behind schedule and now I have to stop for gas! I decided to stop for gas in Morell simply because this gas station looked relatively new so I assumed that I could pay at the pump to save time. FAIL! When I pulled up to the pumps, there was a sign to greet me which read: "Pay at the pump out of order. Please see attendant inside". Great ...... I filled my car and went inside to pay. Luckily, there was only one person in line ahead of me. However, that one person decided to check all of his lottery tickets from what appeared to be the last 6 months just as I was hoping to pay and be on my way. When I finally retunred to my car, I found that I was now 12 minutes behind schedule.  Although it seemed as though the universe was against me this morning, I made it into Charlottetown, late for my CrossFit class. But I managed to get through a pretty grueling workout regardless.    

Although I have been living at the AquaBounty apartment for a few months, because the husbandry staff has been ridiculously busy. I still have not completed all of the "on-call" training. In particular, one of the things which I have not yet been trained to do is how to deal with low oxygen alarms. Now in theory, is should not be hard. The alarm goes off, you figure out what tank it is and go downstairs to turn the oxygen up. First I hear the low oxygen alarm goes off on the panel in the lab and then I hear the phone ring. Between the high pitched squeal of the alarm and the ringing of the phone, I do not notice that the motion sensor has detected my movement and has triggered the count down on the security alarm. So I inadvertently set off the intrusion alarm (off to a good start!).

One of my colleagues who had just left the building then called to see if I could go downstairs to check on the tank in question. He gave me all the details regarding how to adjust the incoming oxygen but sadly, at this point I didn't even know the code to get me in the door to the grow out area where the broodstock are kept! After failing multiple times at trying to unlock the door, what do I do? I decide that it is a good idea to scale the wall, which apparently now is my MO.

I successfully made it into the grow out area without falling and cracking my skull on the cement floor. However, a low oxygen alarm which should have been an easy fix, turned into a 4 hour adventure with a couple of colleagues through the plumbing of AquaBounty's fish tanks! If nothing else, I have learned a great deal about the operation of the tank system from this experience. But I really need to stop getting locked out of places at work because I cannot afford to have another fence-related injury!