Ruminations

Blog dedicated primarily to randomly selected news items; comments reflecting personal perceptions

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Credit Where It's Due...

You have to admire women for their capabilities in handling motherhood and a career both at one fell swoop. It takes extraordinary determination to do each one well, enormous capability plus resilience and resourcefulness to dedicate oneself to compellingly to do justice to both - being a mother and having a career.

The current president of La Cite collegiale - the largest French-language applied arts and technology college in Ontario - Lise Bourgeois, appears to be one of those super-charged women capable of taking on a multitude of tasks that lesser intellects would shrink at. Lise Bourgeois was born and raised in rural Ontario, attended a one-room French elementary school.

At age eighteen, she had already gained experience teaching a Grade 2 class. She had no university degree and didn't need one; background and academic training at that time were less important than the individual's capability to produce results. Nonetheless Lise Bourgeois decided she wanted to enhance her education and took night classes at University of Ottawa.

All this while she was raising two daughters, now adults in their 30s. At some point in her career trajectory she returned to university to acquire a master's degree. After which she spent 30 years at the French Catholic school board beyond the city of Ottawa, and then finally joined the Ottawa board in 2003.

An accomplished woman, a dedicated educator, one whose qualities were well recognized and her ambitions realized. Which makes it all the more dismal that this woman was seen by an off-duty RCMP officer, while driving an expensive vehicle, swerving all over the road. He called Ottawa police who then pulled the her over, at roughly 11:20 p.m. the night of October 18.

Her car was impounded then and there, while she refused to take a breathalyzer test. This is what she was charged with, released on a promise to appear in court at a later date. The La Cite collegiale board of directors is understandably concerned. It is surprising, to a good degree, that an intelligent, accomplished woman would drink heavily, then decide to drive a vehicle.

She will continue to perform her professional duties as president of the college for the time being. Once court proceedings are complete, that situation may be altered. However, she has been said to have assured the college that she is confident when all the facts are brought out in court, a successful conclusion will be reached.

Except that: How does one logically and credibly explain away such a dreadful set of circumstances, where with impaired judgement due to alcohol consumption, Lise Bourgeois, an excellent director of education confident in her own abilities as a capable and reliable professional made such a dreadful judgemental error.

An error, furthermore that did not, but might have, resulted in someone's death by vehicular homocide.

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