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About the author
CKirkby
- earned degrees in language / literature and law (but is not currently a lawyer or a journalist);
- worked for over a decade on Parliament Hill;
- misses writing; and
- appreciates thoughtful comments, en anglais ou en français. (Email addresses are not published.)
June 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Categories
Archive
Category Archives: Commentary
Bullshit jobs
I was reading an article in The Economist from 2018, an interview with David Graeber entitled “Bullshit jobs and the yoke of managerial feudalism,” and thinking about my own professional experience. Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Employment, Politics
Tagged government, legislative process, professionalism
1 Comment
Me and the Supreme Court
I’ve been thinking about the Supreme Court a lot lately. Well, and also since I was a kid. Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Law
Tagged Charter rights, government, Supreme Court of Canada
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Failure to user test
One of my recurring gripes is failure to user test. It makes life unnecessarily bad because it is entirely avoidable. Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Français, Politics
Tagged Doors Open Ottawa, Gatineau, government, user testing
2 Comments
Injustice against white men
There’s a popular article in La Presse today about a white man who is furious that 100% of jobs are not available to him like they were to his white man ancestors. Continue reading
Voices against bad policy
It’s time for an update on the federal government’s garbage 3-day-in-office policy, in respect of which I remain an opinionated spectator. I had volunteered to help my former union but the only response I got was the general mailbox advising they had forwarded my message to the President’s office. This was unhelpful since my original email had already cc’ed the President’s office. Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Employment
Tagged Justin Trudeau, return to office policies, solidarity, unions
1 Comment
Kids these days
I sometimes think about what I’d be like if I were a kid now instead of decades ago. I’ve been trying to get people in power to listen since I was 7 years old. My first, most instinctive medium was … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Community, Education
Tagged genocide, protests, rhetoric v. action, solidarity, universities
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Thoughts on fighting the new federal in-office policy
These pointless obligations have to come from the time contractually paid for by the employer, not from the employee’s personal time. Employers are not entitled to conscript employees’ non-paid time for the purpose of justifying expensive real estate and selling sandwiches. Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Employment
Tagged employment, labour, return to office policies, unions
3 Comments
Tilt
We are not always at our best, gathering an appropriate amount of information and making calm long-term decisions. Continue reading
July comes before October
I would bet there’s racism going on here too, but this sentence made me think of all the times I had to explain something comparable to “July comes before October” to a government department and it’d still take them years to agree with me. Continue reading
Disability Pride Month
Consciously or not, we often treat “disabilities” as a flaw in a person, like they didn’t try hard enough and should be ashamed. There is societal judgment and resentment, like they’re a burden. Like they are lesser humans. Like they should be grateful for “support” that fails to meet their basic needs. Like it wouldn’t be such a big deal if they just died. Continue reading →