National Portrait Gallery Protest 2

In November of 2008, I sent Minister of Heritage and Culture James Moore a letter and a painting. The idea was that I was providing him with a portrait, and wouldn’t it be nice if there was a national portrait gallery to hang it in. You know, like the national portrait gallery he just scrapped.

To date, I have received no reply. My friends, who work with the federal government, say this is unheard of. There are insanely intricate tracking procedures to avoid this kind of thing. Failing to reply to a letter from a taxpayer is akin to using your salad fork to pick your nose.

I let the matter ride for a long time. Then on July 7th, of 2009, I found an online form for communicating with the heritage ministry people. The online form didn’t seem to work and I was frustrated and annoyed, assuming I was sending my voice into the ether. But evidently, my message got through, because on July 28th, this email arrived:

* * *
Dear Mr. Maack;

We received your correspondence dated July 7th, 2009, regarding the National Portrait Gallery. In your letter you mentioned that previous correspondence was sent in November 2008, according to our records we have not received this correspondence. In order to properly respond to your concerns about the NPG, would it be possible for you to send us a copy of your November 17th letter.

Thank you very much.

Mona Brennan

Gestionnaire des analystes | Manager Analysts
Secrétariat de la correspondance ministérielle | Ministerial Correspondence Secretariat
Patrimoine canadien | Canadian Heritage
[bits of signature snipped]
* * *

I sent the following response on August 1st.

* * *
Ms. Brennan,

I sent more than just a letter. It was a large tube shaped package containing a portrait and a letter. I posted the letter and photos of the portrait on my blog, here:

http://killeverything.blogspot.com/2008/11/portrait-gallery-protest.html

It's funny -- I actually mailed the package from the post office on Sparks Street. I remember joking with the postal worker that it might be easier and cheaper for me to simply carry the package for Mr. Moore over to the Parliament Buildings myself.

I hope the portrait arrived. I had hoped a package of this kind would be memorable. It's a little depressing that it sounds like Mr. Moore never even received it.

Nikolaus Maack

For convenience, here's a copy of the letter as posted to my blog.

[removed]

* * *

It’s been a little over three weeks, and I’ve received no reply. Mind you, it’s the summer, and maybe everyone is on holidays.

So I continue to wait. And while I was waiting…

Did you know James Moore has a twitter account? I sent him the following tweet yesterday:

“@mpjamesmoore Sent you a portrait & letter in Nov 08. Have yet to hear back from your office or you. Wassup?”

And then I provided a link to my original blog post.

Mr. Moore has not responded to my tweet. Instead, he is keeping the world posted on his exciting movements across Canada, as he promotes culture and heritage and sport and other such things.

I'll be sure to send him a link to this blog post. You know, so he has something to read on the plane.