The Final Countdown

 By Janelle Poiron, 2nd year MDP student

Tansi everyone! It’s Janelle again as I finish up my very last field placement with the Public Health Agency of Canada!

I think this summer has really started to teach me about work life balance. It’s become one of those buzzwords you hear and that people use all the time. However, I’ve worked throughout my whole degree alongside an intense class schedule as a full time master’s student, so work life balance was almost non existent. Some days, between work and school you barely have a spare minute for anything else in your life. However, as things have slowed down this summer and my last assignments are coming due, I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

In 3 weeks, I’ll be officially done. I’ve started thinking towards the future a lot as I look forward to this next chapter. I’ve even started making mental lists of my hobbies that I haven’t been able to practice in awhile that I’ll be able to do with all this new free time.

It was a long two years of hard work, made harder by Covid-19 but I know it was worth it.

I’m also very happy to share I’ve been offered to continue working for the Federal Government on a more permanent basis since I’ll be graduating in the fall! This is a direct result of my previous work experience, my education and my placement this summer! I’m excited to start my non-student job soon.

So goodbye for the last time!

 

Métis in the Federal Government

By Janelle Poiron, 2nd year MDP student

Tansi! My name is Janelle and I’m Métis from the Red River here in Winnipeg Manitoba!

I’m a second year student undergoing my last field placement before I graduate in the fall! This year I’m with Government of Canada in the Public Health Agency of Canada in Equity Analysis and Policy Research team.  

Though I’m located in Winnipeg Manitoba our headquarters are in Ottawa Ontario with colleagues all across the country! I have two main projects throughout my summer term:

1.      Looking at Métis health indicators and their inequities 

2.      Performing a literature review on Indigenous Peoples off-reserve health priorities and needs

I’m really happy to be working in health as that’s always been one of my goals. My projects this term have also coincidentally lined up with many of my interests. Being Métis myself, I’ve always been fascinated by the health inequities plaguing our communities so having an opportunity to work towards health equity is important to me. The literature review which looks at off-reserve Indigenous populations is equally important so that we can get a sense of gaps in our off-reserve relations.

So far, I’ve really enjoyed the work and my team! While it can be a struggle to connect with new colleagues virtually we recently started having a virtual social event so that we can get to know each other. I feel like this really added value to my placement as it focuses on connection and relationships.

I’m looking forward to finishing my last two months then who knows what the future holds!

Meegwetch!