About us
The Northern Office is a small operation with a large cast. One of them is real, and he is right at the top. The rest are correspondents we invented to tell the truth about cross-border life in two voices at once: a warm sense of humour about what makes us Canadian, and genuinely useful tools for the snowbirds, expats, and dual citizens caught between two tax systems.
The team
Alex Setzler
Founder, The Northern Office
Alex is the real one. A dual US and Canada citizen who spent fifteen years in software sales and a lot of evenings guessing at cross-border tax and residency rules that nobody explains in one place. He built Being Canadian because he needed it himself: a plain way to count the days, keep his status straight, and laugh about the whole strange business of being Canadian somewhere that isn't Canada. No cape. Just two passports and a spreadsheet that finally became an app.
Agent Zed
Correspondent (fictional), Southern Operations
Agent Zed rode up from somewhere south of the 49th and never fully explained why. Six feet of leather and opinions, he has spent the last twenty years judging baby pageants, a fact he volunteers more often than you would expect. He handles our American operations, our intimidation needs, and the office chili cook-off, which he has never lost. Gruff. Tough. Surprisingly good with a glue gun.
Two-Four Timmy
Correspondent (fictional), The Canadian Outpost
Two-Four Timmy files dispatches from the field, wherever the field happens to have cell service and a Tim Hortons. Named for the case of twenty-four he considers standard travel kit, Timmy covers the stories the big desks miss: the closing of a beloved arena snack bar, the great butter-tart schism of his hometown, a moose with strong opinions about a roundabout. If it is happening at the edge of the map, Timmy is already there, slightly cold.
Have a question about the app, the tools, or Full Citizen? Read the FAQ.