Kristy Kirkup: From Parliament Hill to Canada’s National Health Beat
National Health Reporter,The Globe and Mail
Bachelor of Journalism (’09)
In the 17 years since she graduated from the School of Journalism and Communication, Kristy Kirkup has covered Parliament and the national beat for Canada’s top media organizations.
She started out at CTV News in Ottawa, moving on to Sun Media, CBC News, The Canadian Press and, for the past six years, The Globe and Mail.
For much of that time, she covered Parliament, reporting on five federal election campaigns and travelled across Canada and internationally with Prime Ministers Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau.
But 2025 brought a new challenge when The Globe and Mail named her to the national health beat. Kristy has embraced the opportunity, applying her significant journalism experience to new subject matter.
“The really interesting thing for me about health is that it’s really that moment where politics and policy intersect with the personal experience,” says Kristy. “You get to connect with people about the things they are navigating and hear about the lessons they’ve learned.”
For instance, Kristy interviewed the first Canadian to receive the cystic fibrosis drug Trikafta at age 42. She also profiled a woman with Stage 4 glioblastoma who is taking a ground-breaking treatment.
She credits many years of reporting on Indigenous issues for helping her find the right tone.
“These are obviously very tender, personal situations. These aren’t ‘quick turnaround’ stories,” explains Kristy, who was part of a Canadian Press team that won the Canadian Journalism Foundation Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism for a series about sexual trauma in Indigenous communities.
Unlike the politicians she used to cover, she finds these interviewees can be wary of the media and protective of their privacy.
“I think listening is the number one skill and letting the conversation evolve,” she says. “You might have notes going into a conversation, but you never really know what’s going to happen.”
That care is one of the reasons Kristy is an advocate for professional journalism in a world increasingly reliant on artificial intelligence.
“The ability to listen, to connect, to form relationships and trust with the subjects and the reader: that’s something a robot can’t do,” she says. “That is what drew me to the job and what keeps me in it.”
Kristy still has a connection to Carleton’s journalism school, visiting classes and welcoming interns who exhibit the skills passed on in Canada’s leading j-school.
“I loved my time at Carleton, and we have lots of students who come in to the Globe and they’re often so passionate. They have an advantage because they’ve learned about television, about radio, about digital. These are all just different forms of storytelling and those skills are really transferable.”