My years on CBC

Walking past the display of Leafs memorabilia, I turned the corner, opened the door, and took a seat in the conference tucked away in the Air Canada lounge. I chuckled at the framed magazine covers adorning the walls with a who’s-who of Canada. I set my scorchingly hot Tim Hortons tea on the desk and waited to join the province-wide broadcast on CBC Radio.

In that pause, I took a moment of self-reflection and giggled quietly, half expecting a Mountie on a moose or a Québécois lumberjack with a mountain of syrup-drenched pancakes to pass by.

It felt deeply Canadian. Yes, an unbelievable, absurd, comical amount of Canadian-ness compressed into one moment, but that didn’t diminish my enjoyment. The smile that spread across my face stayed with me the rest of the day.

First steps with the network

My first appearance on the network was specifically Canadian as well. In 2014, the CBC was looking for expert commentary on how the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) was responding to the serious, widespread software vulnerability.

Having already started to appear in the media semi-regularly the previous year, I was a good fit for the article with my decade of experience in the Canadian public service. My commentary appeared alongside the director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) and Dr. Christopher Parsons from—at that time—the Citizen Lab.

I was humbled that my commentary was featured with such prominent experts in the field. Experts that I regularly read and still do!

That piece really sparked a passion in me. I enjoyed doing the analysis and offering a pragmatic voice on technology issues. A voice that I hoped—and still hope—helps to balance out other voices in the field.

Even then, I knew that my opinions often run counter to the louder voices that can grab the headlines. I’m ok with that. I’d rather go on the record saying something I believe in, something that I can stand behind even a decade later.

I’m also ok being that pragmatic voice. It’s not as flashy, but I believe that it can deliver more nuance and help make complex issues accessible to everyone.

Off and running

Over the next 8 years, I would appear more frequently on various CBC properties. From St. John's to Victoria, I always tried to make time to support CBC journalists and hosts who were looking to help Canadians understand what was going on in the world of technology.

I was thrilled when things started to snowball as my comments were published more frequently. This led to a regular spot on TV, appearing on The Exchange with Peter Armstrong. I also covered issues for the CBC News at 6 in cities across the country and was featured in segments on the CBC News Network channel.

Easier—logistically at least—were the radio segments. I've always been an early bird, so when I delivered a couple morning drive-time segments, I started to get called more frequently. I get it, there's not a lot of folks willing to try and distill complicated issues into something easily understandable before 8 am.

CBC Ottawa Morning

Those early morning segments lead to a regular radio column on CBC Ottawa Morning. Once every couple of weeks, I would chat with the host for 6-8 minutes and summarize the news of the moment and try to contextualize it for the audience of 100,000+.

I absolutely loved the challenge of it and got a lot of joy out of helping folks in the region to better understand specific issues.

The process was pretty straight forward. Sometimes the show would reach out the day before and ask if I could talk about a news story. Other times, I would reach out and suggest a topic flying a bit under the radar.

We'd agree on a topic and I would do an initial brief to help the show's researchers start to dig in to prepare the host for the discussion. After that, I would conduct my own research and start to outline the key areas of the issue, its larger context, and try to highlight a few hooks that would help it all land.

I'd circle back to the show with a couple of bullet points to help point the conversation in a productive direction and that was really it for formal preparation. I'd make sure to study my notes and go over key points so that the conversation could flow smoothly while still being informative.

It was great practice for a workflow that continues to help my daily. Being able to identify a topic of interest and then quickly map the landscape around it has been a game changer for me.

This workflow not only satisfies my natural curiosity, but it helps me to consistently contribute to my team and my community.

Eight years of teaching and learning

From 2014 to 2022, I made over 100 appearances on air and in print for the CBC. Each and every time, I tried to help Canadians better understand how technology impacted their lives and communities.

Looking back, I can see how I’ve grown as a communicator. Starting out with safer commentary like a Timbits player taking the field for the first time. With practice, I’ve become more confident expressing my opinions and I’ve found my voice. I moved from just starting facts to crafting explanations that break down complicated issues into simpler, relatable analogies to help everyone understand.

I’ve learned the value of consistently coming back to a topic over and over again. Just because I may be a little tired of talking of security and privacy fundamentals, doesn’t mean everyone is. It’s the patient repetition, the calm explanation of the key issues that truly reaches people.

Technology is complicated. There’s no getting around that. People are hungry to understand the questions technology raises and the questions it helps to answer.

Like that Air Canada lounge seeped in Canadiana, sometimes you need to go above and beyond to get the point across. For me as a security communicator, that means finding the hook inside the story that builds a bridge for the wider audience.

I loved my time on the CBC. It helped me grow as a communicator and touched on a nostalgia I didn't fully appreciate.