POLAR XPRESS – Friday, April 12, 2019

FROM THE TOP:

Celebrate English Language Day on April 23!

English Language Day is a United Nations (UN) observance that we celebrate on April 23 each year–the date traditionally identified as William Shakespeare’s birthday. The UN first celebrated English Language Day on April 23, 2010.

English Language Day aims to entertain and inform people about its rich history, cultural diversity and achievements associated with the language. English is often referred to as the unofficial "world language", or the lingua franca (common language used by speakers of different languages) of the modern era because it is widely spoken.

Did you know?
For a language that was used by only 3 tribes about 1,500 years ago, English has official or special status in at least 75 countries with a total population of over two billion. Happy English Language Day!

Quiz – The English language by numbers

Can you guess which numbers go in these sentences?

Options: 1,000; 365; 67; 26; 1,604; 21; 171,476; 2

• 1) English is the official language in _____ countries.
• 2) There are _____ letters in the English alphabet.
• 3) There are _____ consonants in the English alphabet.
• 4) _____ million people speak English as their first language.
• 5) The second edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for _____
• 6) About _____ new words are added to the Oxford Dictionaries Online each year.
• 7) The first early English dictionary was published in _____.
• 8) The Oxford English Corpus contains over _____ words.

Find the answers to the quiz here

The Writing’s On the Wall

New office signage is now up at the Ottawa office! The personalized Federal Identity Program (FIP) name plates will help identify staff’s desks and promote collaboration between POLAR divisions.

Reception signage has also been installed to guide POLAR’s visitors and partners to the agency’s reception area as well as guide them through the office space. We’re checking off the last few facilities-related details in the Ottawa office!

POLAR’S PEOPLE:

Recent Publication from a POLAR Researcher

In his recent study, titled “Spatial and Temporal Scales Matter When Assessing the Species and Genetic Diversity of Springtails (Collembola) in Antarctica”, Ian Hogg, in collaboration with fellow researchers, examined the available COI sequence data for all seven of the Collembola species that occur within Victoria Land.

This article was submitted to Biogeography and Macroecology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

Click here to read the full article

POLAR’s Social Committees

Cambridge Bay’s 50/50
Don’t miss CB’s 50/50 draw every pay day Wednesday! 50% goes to the winner and 50% goes to the coffee fund, which pays for staff’s coffee every day! See Tetra for more information.

Ottawa’s Winter Clothing Drive
The Ottawa Social Committee is organising a winter clothing drive, starting this month to raise items for the less fortunate in the Kitikmeot Region. Bring in gently used winter clothing or accessories, including:

• - knitted articles
• - hats
• - mitts
• - winter outerwear
• - boots of all sizes

Monetary donations are also welcome and will be used to purchase any missing/needed items ahead of the next winter season.

Items collected will be sent this summer in POLAR’s sea cans and will be delivered to Cambridge Bay’s Wellness Centre. For more information, stop by Marie-Eve’s cubicle.

LifeSpeak’s Spring Campaign

No one is immune to addiction. We all have the potential to develop a dependence, whether it be to substances, technology, or anything else. While it can be difficult to understand how we got here and what we can do to be healthy again, there’s always a path to recovery available.

This LifeSpeak campaign, which will run from April 22 to June 2, centers on recognizing various ways in which addiction can manifest and its effects on the people around us. From there, our experts will share advice on recovering and building resilience. Some of the topics they cover will include digital addiction in children, overcoming relapses, and harnessing the power of mindfulness to get well. Don’t miss our Ask The Expert session with Dr. Adi Jaffe on April 30, 2019. He’ll be answering your questions about understanding and overcoming different types of addiction.

To access the campaign, click here.

Visit LifeSpeak’s Total Wellbeing Platform

Did you know that LifeSpeak has a virtual library? To learn about a specific topic directly from leading experts, specializing in different fields, go to the “LEARN” section and select among the more than 700 training videos available.

You can also ask questions to an expert by selecting the “ASK” section. Each month, you can participate in a web chat and submit your question anonymously and get a response in minutes!

Whether you want to maintain physical or mental fitness, have a more balanced life, improve your ability to maintain your family or professional relationships, or enrich your knowledge in different areas, the LifeSpeak total wellbeing platform can be accessed easily anytime, from any device with an Internet connection, in a completely anonymous way, from anywhere, anytime, any frequency, in French or in English.

To access LifeSpeak, go to Canada.lifespeak.com and include the corporate ID: canada

LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE

Connecting People and Knowledge

The Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) is pleased to offer a series of courses to each of the territories during the months of May and June. Course topics include coaching for effective leadership, learning days for administrative professionals, managing employee performance issues, and staffing.

Check out the course descriptions and links to register to upcoming offerings from the CSPS here:

• - Northwest Territories
• - Nunavut
• - Yukon

If you are interested in participating in one of these courses, please discuss with your supervisor for approval before proceeding.

For registration, please ensure that you have your MyAccount login name and password. If you do not have an account or need help, please contact the Client Contact Centre at 1-866-703-9598.

Inuktitut Word of the Week - Silattiavak - ᓯᓚᑦᑎᐊᕙᒃ

The Inuktitut word of the week is silattiavak. It means “beautiful weather”. It is pronounced: see-lut-tya-vuk.

Listen to John Bennett’s pronunciation here.

Are you ready to Talk the Talk?

WORKPLACE NOTICES:

Information Management Tip of the Month

As you go about your normal business activities each day, you generate and collect paper and electronic information resources. These resources provide an important record of the actions you've taken, the decisions you've made, and the reasons for both, allowing for transparency and accountability.

Because of their value, it is vital that you ensure that such information resources exist for all of your business activities and decisions, whether they are generated naturally in the execution of a business process or specifically created to document that process. This requirement comes from the Directive on Information Management Roles and Responsibilities.

In order to ensure the ongoing value of these resources, capture them along with any relevant metadata (e.g. subject, author, transmittal data) to ensure that they are complete, authentic, and reliable. Retain information resources of business value in accordance with institutional records management standards and procedures, stored or profiled within a corporate repository, if available, and protected against damage and loss.

As we move towards the development of a solid Information Management (IM) Strategy, Renée Bergeron will be offering an Information Management 101 session at the Ottawa Office in April. Stay tuned!

For more information, please contact Renée at renee.bergeron@polar.gc.ca.

Safety First!

A friendly reminder that footwear should be worn at all times while working in the Main Research Building (MRB) and Field and Maintenance Building (FMB). On an Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) level, it will:

• - Ensure that you have proper footwear in the event of an emergency evacuation of the building (as your exit route may not lead you to the lockers);
• - Decrease risks of slipping and falling;
• - Reduce risk of injury in case of debris on floors (broken glass, rocks, etc.).

For more information, please contact Chris Chisholm at christopher.chisholm@polar.gc.ca.

POLAR Financial Coding

Effective April 1st, for 2019-20 expenses, delegated authorities will be required to include the 4-digits economic object code (ECON) associated with each of the goods or services that will be requested for procurement. The list of ECON can be found here.

The object codes provided by the delegated authorities will always be reviewed by the members of the finance group to ensure accuracy.

If you have questions or need help with this new function, please contact the finance team at finance@polar.gc.ca.

UPDATES:

POLAR Events Calendar

You will find below the latest version of the POLAR events calendar, including upcoming events and conferences for your information.

Note: The calendar is subject to change. Any travel has to be pre-approved by Directors (and above for international destinations).

Please send any calendar updates or additions to Regienna Baggayan by email at regienna.baggayan@polar.gc.ca and cc Amber McMachen at amber.mcmachen@polar.gc.ca.

POLAR events calendar: April 10, 2019

POLAR Priorities Update

The latest Priorities Update document is here! Take a look at the priorities and activities of your colleagues between April 8 to May 3.