Northern Studies degree students complete a practicum placement, giving them valuable work experience. The vast majority of these placements are paid work experience, often leading to a job upon graduation from the program.
Some examples of practicum placements are given below.
Sarah Simpkin completed her practicum with the Northwest Territories Geological Survey (NTGS) in Summer 2021. During her time in Yellowknife, Sarah worked with the NTGS Permafrost Science team to develop an interactive Story Map illustrating the changing permafrost conditions in northwestern Canada, and in particular, the downstream impacts of permafrost thaw on river systems. Sarah also assisted with communications related to the research project, including authoring a project summary and blog post for the NTGS website.
Elsy Willis – My practicum (summer 2021) was with the 3 Nations (3N) Society, a coalition of the Kaska, Tlingit and Tahltan First Nations in northern British Columbia. My role was to conduct interviews about access to healthcare with 3 Nations Society staff. Results from the interviews were summarized in a report to the 3N technical team. One highlight was the opportunity to connect with community members and support the needs of 3N through a final report, which will be used to inform future healthcare programming.
Monica Pishew took her NRTH 5901 Practicum in May – August 2019 at Carleton University as a paid Research Assistant in the Modern Treaty Implementation Research Project. Carleton University is the academic host and the Tłı̨chǫ Government is the Land Claims Agreements Coalition host. She examined the 26 Modern Treaties for Indigenous approaches to Modern Treaty implementation in governance and delivery of programs and initiatives.
For her Practicum, Krista Magee worked for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency with the Northern Projects Management Office in Whitehorse from May to August, 2019. In this position, Krista learned about the Yukon environmental and socio-economic assessment process and helped coordinate Crown Consultation activities on several resource development projects in the territory. She had the opportunity to meet and work with other federal departments, territorial and First Nations governments, stakeholders, and more.
Katie Bakker completed her Practicum in Whitehorse from May – August 2019 with the Yukon Research Centre at Yukon College. She worked with the Northern Climate ExChange team on a variety of climate change adaptation research projects. She also supported some communications projects and event planning.
Mike Scarizzi took his Practicum in May – August 2018 at the Transportation Engineering Branch of Yukon Highways and Public Works in Whitehorse. He spent his time on a range of activities, from attending land claims discussions to inspecting culverts around the territory.
Other practicum placements have been:
- working on a research project with the Na-Cho Nyak Dun Development Corporation (NNDDC)
- working with NVision Insight Group, an Indigenous consulting firm
- working at at Polar Knowledge Canada