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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
Punishing individuals for societal failures
We do, as a society, love to punish people for things that are beyond their control. Continue reading
Paying people for their work
I was very stubborn at someone today re: the principle that they deserved to be paid for their work. Continue reading
Societal untruths
On this April first I’m thinking about some of the different ways society encourages or enables us to deceive each other.
There’s April Fools’ Day, of course, and there’s Santa Claus. Government entities like NORAD and Canada Post even get in on that “benevolent” lie.
And then there’s Parliamentary privilege… Continue reading
Arbitrary deadlines
In case anyone is interested, there has been no activity on the pharmacare bill the federal government introduced a month ago and bragged about as a “giant step forward for our health system” and “a concrete step toward true and lasting gender equality.” Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Employment, Health, Politics
Tagged being human, legislative process, pharmacare
1 Comment
Empty words
I don’t actually want to spend all my time fighting with people.
Ideally, when I raise concerns to someone, they would respond from a place of compassion and act promptly for the well-being of other humans and the planet. Continue reading
Change and anger
One of the conclusions I’ve reached lately is that we need drastic changes starting immediately if we expect society and the planet to survive. I’ve been trying to volunteer my time towards practical changes but it seems to me like … Continue reading
“Woman” v. “Person with a vagina”
There is a bizarre scandal out of the Supreme Court of Canada, related to the language used in the sexual assault case R. v. Kruk, 2024 SCC 7. Like, condemned by l’Assemblée nationale and various (male) commentators for contributing to the invisibilization of women levels of bizarre. Continue reading
“Des choix très, très clairs”
The obvious problem is that it’s not sufficient to have progressive values in the absence of progressive actions. Continue reading
“Professional”
I made this website for “professional” posts, but one of the problems I’ve encountered is how “professional” in practice means “not actually human.” Continue reading
“This question could end up in court and is beyond your pay grade”
I was thinking again today about the decision that held Air Canada responsible for the garbage spewed by its “customer service” chatbot, as I tried repeatedly to explain a very precise question to a call-centre agent. Likely under-paid. Definitely under-supported. Continue reading →