Author: Iva Cheung

The plain language movement in Canada, 1980–1995: Interview with Michel Gauthier

This is a near-verbatim transcript of an in-person interview I did with Michel Gauthier in Ottawa on June 8, 2017, as part of my project to compile an oral history of the plain language movement in Canada between 1980 and 1995. Although the transcript reflects his views at the time, those views might have evolved since the interview took place.

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IC: So thank you, Michel, for coming to meet with me and speaking about your experiences with the clear communication and the plain language movement. And so the first question I have for you is, when did you become involved with the movement, and what inspired you to join?

MG: Well, I started to work for the federal government—actually for Revenue Canada—back in 1974, and in 1980, I moved to Ottawa, because I had a promotion, and I became a manager. And my first managerial position in Ottawa, I was the manager of client services, and I was responsible for all telephone inquiries. I was responsible for ministerial correspondence, and I had about 130 people working for me during the peak period. So I had a direct contact with Canadians, and I noticed that a lot of Canadians had difficulty interacting with us. You know, searching for information. Even asking the right question to be able to prepare an income tax return. And… and then in the ’80s, there was this first report about literacy—Broken Words—I think that was published by Southam Press in Toronto. And I think that Peter Calamai was… was behind all of this—the journalist. So I started to read that in the ’80s, and then after reading the report, it kind of raised some flags for me. And I knew immediately within myself that I had to do something about it. So I had to acquire more knowledge and… and so forth. But I was also learning my new job and everything, and one of the first things that I saw is—for example, in the ministerial correspondence activity, out of the 130, 135 employees that I had, I identified about four or five that were capable of writing.

IC: Wow.

MG: Couldn’t find anybody else. And it made me realize that, well, we have to do something about internal communication as well. And it made me realize that we have to start first by improving our internal communication—that would lead to better external communication. If the people inside the department can’t write or have difficulty in writing, how can we simplify our material for the external clients? You know, it’s almost an impossible task. Continue reading “The plain language movement in Canada, 1980–1995: Interview with Michel Gauthier”

The plain language movement in Canada, 1980–1995: An oral history

Four-frame cartoon: Frame 1: Bespectacled editor says to curly-haired editor, “Heh. You ever procrastinate on something for nine years, and then when you finally get to it, it takes just a few months?” Frame 2: Curly-haired editor says, “I’m sorry… Did you say NINE YEARS?” Frame 3: Bespectacled editor stares straight ahead in silence. Frame 4: Bespectacled editor looks down in shame.
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In 2017, in the middle of my PhD program, I embarked on a little side project to interview leaders of the plain language movement in Canada who were active between 1980 and 1995. I chose that window because it’s within what my former publishing prof John Maxwell called the internet’s historical rain shadow: not old enough to be considered interesting and thus worthy of being documented online but not new enough that it would automatically exist online. Without a concerted effort to fill that gap in our history, information about those events could be lost forever. Continue reading “The plain language movement in Canada, 1980–1995: An oral history”

After the Feast: A Turkey Leftovers Cookbooklet

After a couple decades of editing and indexing cookbooks, I took a stab at writing (a small!) one.

A book cover with a dark green cover and an illustration of a half-carved turkey and a splotch of cranberry sauce on a cutting board. The text says "After the Feast: A Turkey Leftovers Cookbooklet" and author name Iva Cheung

After the Feast brings together 25-ish of my favourite ways to use up the leftovers from big turkey dinners. The dishes span a variety of culinary traditions and techniques and use ingredients that should be relatively accessible to North American home cooks. I did my best to make the recipes easy to follow for people newer to cooking but flexible and adaptable so that more experienced cooks can customize them to their liking.

Most of the recipes revolve around turkey, as you might expect, but I’ve also included dishes that use common sides like mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and roasted vegetables. My aim is to give folks delicious, comforting ways to reduce food waste and breathe new life into their leftovers.

Each recipe has been thoroughly tested to ensure the measurements are accurate and results are tasty, and I’m confident that if you like turkey, you’ll find at least one dish in this cookbook that you’ll enjoy.

Accompanying most recipes are my janky, amateurish digital illustrations that ostensibly depict the finished dishes. They might evoke the same kind of uneasy uncanny valley feeling as AI-generated images, but I promise you that no AI was used in any part of creating this book. Why didn’t I just use photos (which would have been way the hell easier)? Because my food styling and photography skills are possibly even worse than my drawing skills, somehow. And early in this project I thought drawing might be relaxing?? It didn’t take many Procreate canvases to disabuse me of that notion, but by that time I was in too deep and had to see it through. As I worked my way through illustrating the many rice grains in my many rice dishes, I couldn’t help thinking of Mitch Hedberg’s timeless line: “Rice is great when you’re hungry and you want 2,000 of something.”

Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about having to pay for my bad art because you can have this book for FREE. The PDF of After the Feast costs nothing to download—I don’t ask for email addresses or subscriptions to a newsletter. No data collection, no gatekeeping, no strings attached. Just click to get the book.

That said, hardcover and paperback versions are available, and if you do choose to buy a print copy, two dollars from each print copy sold support food security and food sovereignty initiatives in Nunavut through the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre. As of October 2025, the hunger crisis in Nunavut has become dire, especially with Indigenous Services Canada discontinuing the Inuit Child First Initiative’s Hamlet Food Voucher Program.

Online retailers like Amazon, Chapters-Indigo, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org will have print copies of the book, but you can also ask your local indie bookstore to order in a copy by giving them the ISBN:

  • Hardcover ISBN 978-1-7782897-7-4
  • Paperback ISBN 978-17782897-6-7

Like other titles from Hastily Assembled Books, my little self-publishing imprint, After the Feast is a fundraiser, so although I won’t personally be benefitting financially from sales, I do want it to succeed, so I’m asking for your help: please make up for the fact that I’m ass at marketing and promotion and spread the word about this book among your friends and family, review the book on review sites if you’re so inclined, and post about it on social media—perhaps tagging food people who might be interested. If you make any of the dishes, please tag me! (I’m @ivacheung.com on Bluesky, where I’ll announce the occasional cookbook giveaway.) Another excellent way to help support this book—for free—is to ask your local public library to buy it for their collection.

Shoutout to my pal Grace Yaginuma, editor extraordinaire, for her careful work and constructive criticism! There’s nothing I appreciate more as an editor than being edited by an eminently competent colleague and friend who appreciates good food as much as I do.

(There will be no October cartoon, for 👆️ exhaustion reasons, but I should be back with one in November!)