Canada's Activist Civil Service
Intensely woke Janice Charette is our top public servant.
Part 1: Objective Ottawa Insiders? Part 2: Canada's Activist Civil Service Part 3: Going Nuclear on the Truckers Part 4: The Many Meanings of Violence Part 5: Shallow, Self-Serving Sanctimony
Yesterday I explained that a little known entity called the PCO (Privy Council Office) played so central a role in the federal government’s response to the Freedom Convoy that five of its members were called to testify before the Emergency Act hearings.
The head of the PCO - who bears the unassuming title of Clerk - is one of the most powerful people in the country. Her name is Janice Charette. Government insiders pay attention to her most minor utterances. Her demeanour, her statements, her attitudes set the tone.
One of the ways in which Ms. Charette communicates with the 336,000 federal employees who report to her is via Twitter. There, people who want to be promoted can suss out what they’d be wise not to mock (in either the lunchroom or the boardroom).
For example, Ms. Charette recently encouraged all government of Canada employees to “include their pronouns in their email signatures.”
In her opinion, this is a small gesture that promotes inclusion. But if you happen to regard the pronoun preoccupation as narcissistic and divisive, it doesn’t feel inclusive at all. It feels like you’re being bullied by the big boss, forced to conform, compelled to participate in lunacy.
Most people are concerned about paying their bills. They’re working hard, caring for the kids, and supporting the old folks. Does our top civil servant not understand that, by pushing pronouns, she’s alienating significant pockets of the Canadian population? That she’s bulldozing over them and their everyday struggles? That, in effect, her personal political views are being shoved down everyone else’s throat?
I wish it were otherwise, but the PCO Twitter feed is one long wokefest. In June, Ms Charette declared it the duty of public servants to recognize aboriginal “histories, traditions and contributions” and to “reflect on how we can be more inclusive.” Such comments might be appropriate if uttered by a spiritual leader. But when your boss insists you must think about certain topics in certain ways, when she insists you have philosophical duties beyond performing your job to the best of your ability, that’s over the line.
According to the PCO Twitter feed, we’re a country befouled by “systemic racism and discrimination,” a nation in which the government apparently can’t issue passports in a timely fashion because it’s striving instead to “build a public service where everyone feels safe and included.”
Multiple tweets celebrate pride week, pride awards, and a pride network. All within the context of our taxpayer-funded civil service.
In March, the Clerk and Deputy Clerk pompously declared themselves “allies to the #LGBTQ2+ community.” They told us they were “proud to promote and celebrate #TransDayOfVisibility.”
Other tweets have denounced homophobia, transphobia, bullying, and “all forms of discrimination against #LGTTQ2 communities in Canada and elsewhere” (my italics):
Three weeks ago, Canada’s public servants were told they have a duty “to dismantle barriers, maintain safe spaces, and create a workplace where people can be their authentic selves.” Then there are the tweets about gender equality:
And the tweets about carbon footprints. And the one showing the PCO building lit up in solidarity with Ukraine:
So much of this is shallow, self-indulgent virtue signalling. At 20 minutes past nine one morning in May, Ms. Charette tweeted a photo of herself. “Today is #RedDressDay,” she said. “I encourage all #PublicServants to join me in wearing red in honour of the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and #2SLGBTQQIA+ persons.”
One wonders what she expected civil servants to do - go home and change? Or should they have donned a red dress for their zoom calls while they worked alone in their own residence? I mean, really. Why is our top civil servant spending even a second of her time thinking about such matters? This woman is supposed to be an objective, non-partisan professional - not a social activist on steroids. One who’s busily promoting “16 days of activism against gender-based violence.”
Holy moly.
A growing number of ordinary Canadians have recently noticed that our taxpayer-funded elementary schools (not to mention our universities) have been taken over by woke activists - people more interested in pushing ideological agendas than in teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic.
It appears the same thing has now happened at the highest levels of our federal bureaucracy.
Part 1: Objective Ottawa Insiders? Part 2: Canada's Activist Civil Service Part 3: Going Nuclear on the Truckers Part 4: The Many Meanings of Violence Part 5: Shallow, Self-Serving Sanctimony
This is the woman who refused to observe the physical demonstrations of inclusiveness in the Freedom Convoy and declared that gathering subversive. The height of hypocrisy.
Wow! Thanks for bringing this to our attention Donna! As the freedom movement pushes on it becomes clear there is far more going on the COVID!