I can also trace my present abilities as a mediator to my earlier professions. I was once a mariner. As a teenager my summer job was a deck hand on oil tankers sailing the Great Lakes and then voyaging up to the Eastern Arctic; Ungava Bay and Hudson’s Bay. After University I sailed from Japan to Vancouver and joined a newly created ice breaking tug; the Miscaroo. I was part of her crew for three years in the Beaufort Sea aiding exploratory oil drilling operations. What did I learn as a mariner? I learned what living in close quarters means. I learned the challenges and psychology of an exclusively male environment. I came to appreciate the value of story telling which was the only available form of entertainment. I also got to work with people from every part of Canada and gained an appreciation of the cultural variety of our country. All of this I bring to my process of mediation.