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Unpublished Opinions

Brigitte Pellerin

Ottawa, Ontario

About the author

Author, editor, columnist. My work has appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, CBC, National Magazine, the Montreal Gazette, the Toronto Star, C2C, Maclean’s, Reader’s Digest, the Postmedia newspaper chain, the Sun Media newspaper chain, the Sun News Network, le Québécois Libre and CFRA radio.

My books include Épître aux tartempions (Varia, 1999), Le National-Syndicalisme (Varia, 2001), Down the Road Never Travelled (Dundurn, 2003), Not Just for Kicks: Dublin, 2016 (2017), Ride-Hailing is a Four-Letter Word: A Year in the Life of an Uber Driver (2020) and Le livre Uber (L’Interligne, 2021). I also translated (English-to-French) Stockwell Day: Portrait de l’homme et du politicien (Varia, 2000).

I earned a law degree (ll.b, 1996) from Université Laval.

I am a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Writers’ Union of Canada, l’Union des Écrivaines et des Écrivains Québécois, the Huntsville Literary Association, l’Association des auteures et auteurs de l’Ontario français and COPE.

I am fortunate to be mother to three of the most amazing human beings on the planet.

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Mes écrits sont parus dans de nombreuses publications, incluant le Ottawa Citizen, Radio-Canada, le magazine National, la Montreal Gazette, Reader’s Digest, Maclean’s, les journaux de Sun Media, BBC et le Sun News Network.

Mes livres incluent Épître aux tartempions (Varia, 1999), Le National-Syndicalisme (Varia, 2001), Down the Road Never Travelled (Dundurn, 2003), Not Just for Kicks: Dublin, 2016 (2017), Ride-Hailing is a Four-Letter Word: A Year in the Life of an Uber Driver (2020) et Le livre Uber (L’Interligne 2021). J’ai aussi traduit, de l’anglais au francais, Stockwell Day: Portrait de l’homme et du politicien (Varia, 2000).

Je suis diplômée en droit (ll.b, 1996) de l’Université Laval.

Je suis membre de l'Association Canadienne des Journalistes, du Writers’ Union of Canada, de l’Union des Écrivaines et des Écrivains Québécois, du Huntsville Literary Association, de l’Association des auteures et auteurs de l’Ontario français et COPE.

J’ai le bonheur d’être la maman des trois personnes les plus cool de la terre.

Reflections on Reconciliation

September 29, 2023

Photo by Aedrian on Unsplash

Tomorrow is the third National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and in the Ottawa Citizen I offered some reflections on the ways non-Indigenous people should approach this work so that we can get to a place of healing and trust.

In my legal writing for National Magazine you’ll find an article on how, if the federal government communicated better (or even just gooder) with NGOs we’d have better odds of fulfilling our international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. You’d think governments might already know that but you’d think wrong. I have another piece on trauma-informed adjudication at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada for vulnerable persons. And, as a complete bonus for those of you who’ve stayed awake thus far through this long and meandering dog’s breakfast of a paragraph: Further thoughts on the future of competition policy in Canada. You can’t say I’m not loving you right.

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Joe Biden becomes the first President to walk a picket line. I’m sure Bernie totally would have, too. Strategically, it’s an interesting move, especially if it contributes to a modernization of organized labour that’s less like the 1930s Wagner Act and more like something that was invented this millenium.

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En français

Une très belle histoire que j’avais remarquée plus tôt mais que je n’avais pas eu l’opportunité de lire en détail: comment la petite municipalité de Moffet en Abitibi-Témiscamingue s’est revitalisée en misant sur les services de proximité.

C’est bien d’avoir de beaux chemins bien plats, pas de trous, mais ce n’est pas ça qui va faire que les gens décident de rester ou d’arriver au village.

— Alexandre Binette, maire de Moffet

J’ignorais que l’ancien maire de Québec était maintenant chroniqueur, et il n’est pas piqué des vers non plus. J’ai bien aimé son papier sur Pierre Poilievre, surtout quand dit “Tu le voudrais quasiment comme beauf!”

Local news

Finally we’re going to try sending people better suited than armed officers to deal with mental health crises. Given how easily we fuck things up around here, including things that should be very hard to fuck up like, say, transit, I’m going to keep all my fingers and toes crossed.