Most civil servants, working on the Administration’s shop floor, don’t actually live in the Public Service Bubble. They live in real neighborhoods with the rest of us, and visit the Bubble, only when they face some sensitivity training or personnel problem. So, when you work with normal, pleasant people, week after week, you forget just how wacky the whole, bloated, bouncy thing really is. Then some senior administrator says something…

So I’m working at my desk, one day, when a typical personnel announcement arrives via the federal email list.  “Please congratulate Salome Bat Herodias,” the email says, “the former director” of the eight-words-long strategy office , because she’s now been promoted to a more senior position, “working on the results and delivery” of something else.  Salome did a great job where she was, and now, in her new position, she is (and I quote) “embracing a new challenge where she will pursue her contribution to building Canadian society.”

Building Canadian society.

Her contribution to building Canadian society.

The Public Service, building Society.  Ahem.

Now, there may be Millennials out there, educated in Postmodern Social Studies (where the Iroquois invented Western constitutions), who may not see what’s strange here. Let me explain. Under democratic theory, the legitimacy of the Government arises from the Consent of the Governed. The People establish the Government, subject to Their Will under the Rule of Law. That Government decides what may benefit the Common Good – like a railroad. Under Government direction, the Public Service then implements such public works. The Government’s judgement can later be challenged in an election by the People, who may pick a new one.  But whoever forms the Government, the Public Service serves them and the People.

This all supposes that the People – “Canadian Society” – comes first. The People do not need the Public Service “to build them,” because they’re already here. The People are always building their own life – planting, building, buying and selling, playing, praying and celebrating holidays. Most of what the People build – namely, the economy – they do themselves, because they do it best at ground level. (Compare West v. East Germany, South v. North Korea, 1998 Venezuela v. 2018).  Some things – like national defense, judicial administration, and big public works, like a railroad –need central direction and resources. So the People delegate their efforts (taxes) to the Government, who directs the Public Service on those projects. However, though very many citizens may end up public employees (like teachers and nurses), the People still runs it. The People already here.

Anyway, that’s the Theory. Which raises the question, what does the Public Service – or more broadly, the Homogenous, Universal and Managerial Administration – think it’s doing, when it’s “building society”?  (And don’t you American or EU readers think that none of this applies to you: the HUMA is everywhere.)

Anthropologists, social psychologists, political philosophers and marketing directors all agree that a People or Society is most importantly its calendar, its holidays or holydays. So Indian Hindus are the folks who celebrate Dhawali, Ganeshafest and Navrati. Arab Muslims celebrate Ramadan, Eid and the Hajj. The Chinese: New Year, Dragon Boat, Moon Festival…   

Why is the calendar important?  Because that’s how we celebrate Who We Are, all of us together, instead of me celebrating Me Who’s Looking Out for Myself. Holidays are our holy days, because that’s when we stop, take a breath, come together and look at the Big Picture. We see that we all fit into the whole Cosmic Thing, like passing seasons. I’m part of We, and we’re part of the Whole Universe. Holydays reassure us all that Everything All Fits Together, somehow, even though it doesn’t look that way sometimes (especially on Black Friday).  

Some think none of this applies to Enlightened North Americans. We’re above all that. We don’t have Holydays; we have quarterly Clearance Sales. We’re free to worship in the church of our choice. Never-the-less, when Indians, Arabs or Chinese come to America, they see Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and then Canada Day (July 1) or Fourth of July.  So, in the eyes of the world, Who We Are is three-quarters Christian, one-quarter patriot.

The Big Question:  if the Public Service is busily building society, how does that look?  

Well, for example: February is Black History Month; May is Asian Heritage Month; June, National Indigenous History Month, and October, Women’s History Month.

Like any faith, this raises so many questions:  History versus Heritage? Black History in the most boreal month of the year?  Do Black, Asian and Indigenous Women get two months, or must they bow out of one? Do only immigrant women get to celebrate International Women’s Day, March 8?  

For those who worry about it, Canada has a whole week, June 21 – July 1, and its own Canada History Week, November 20-26. And there are nods from the still-reigning Baby Boomers to the neglected fore-and-aft:  National Senior’s Day, October 1, and National Child Day, November 20. But only days, to keep them in their place.

Here’s the big issue:  Do all the Filipinos, Latin Americans, Horn-of-Africans, Arabs and Indochinese all have to squeeze into Multiculturalism Day, June 27?  To make space, Malays, Zimbabweans, Indians, Nigerians, Pakistanis and Belizeans can move over to Commonwealth Day, March 14, reducing the crowding in June. But that’s still just two days, with a lot to pack in.

Do Europeans join Multiculturalism Day, or are they just… you know, blank?  Well… Europeans have winter, and there’s something called Winterlude, February 3-20, so they might fit there. Problem: Winterlude is only in the National Capital Region. So, can Europeans become honorary public servants, especially given their heritage as bureaucracy builders? But there already is a National Public Service Week, a whole week when the Public Service celebrates itself. The third week of June. The week before Canada Week. An accident?  

Average People are surprised to learn that there are all these holydays that they’ve never observed or even heard about. Don’t feel guilty: most public servants only relearn them yearly from an email. They’re really the preserve of directors and their allied community activists, validating their lives in common worship.   

Most esoteric of all are the International Days of Observance, since the HUMA is a Universal Administration. The United Nations has 138 Holydays, noted in administration emails world-wide. That’s almost as many as the Aztecs.  Yet troubles persist. World Radio Day (Feb 13) and World Television Day (Nov 21) must be separated to keep them from fighting. World Poetry Day (Mar 21) suffers despair and neglect. World Population Day (June 11) is ambivalent – for or against? And World Tuna Day (May 2) is hampered by poor communication.  

Yet despots world-wide lie sleepless, the night before World Day of Social Justice (Feb 20).  And they fear to go outside on International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict (Nov 6)

The UN’s font of wisdom?  World Philosophy Day (Nov 15), for international directors who withdraw to their International Mountain Day (Dec 11). When they really need to get away: International Asteroid Day (June 30). And just to re-affirm that life is worth living: International Day of Happiness (Mar 20). It’s all in a day’s work for World Public Service Day (June 23).