Indigenous student recruitment in the federal public service
The Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP) allows hundreds of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students obtain employment related to their field of education within the federal public service across Canada.
Five Indigenous students working in different departments and agencies share their positive experience in the federal public service.
Download: MP4 format (28 Mb)
Transcript
1-Waseskon
So, my name is Waseskon Awashish
2-Alexandra
I am Alexandra Mansour.
3-Rylee
My name is Rylee Currie
4-Patrick
My name is Patrick Gagné. I'm an Innu from Mashteuiatsh.
5-Marie-Élaine
My name is Marie-Élaine Tremblay
6-Alexandra
I study Social Work in a Master's Programme.
7-Waseskon
I'm Innu and Atikamekw.
8-Rylee
I study Public Relations at the University of Ottawa
9-Patrick
I'm studying Bioinformatics at Université Laval.
10-Alexandra
I come from the Essipit community.
11-Rylee
And I'm from the Mi'kmag Nation
Federal Student Work Experience Program
12-Waseskon
FSWEP is the Federal Student Work Experience Program.
13-Marie-Élaine
It's an opportunity to get a good summer job and lots of experience for the future.
14-Alexandra
I found my job at Service Canada online through FSWEP.
15-Rylee
Just go online to the FSWEP Website to click what you're good at. So for me, I clicked communications and I clicked Web and that's what led me to these jobs.
16-Patrick
What surprises me is the variety of jobs available.
17-Jean
My name is Jean Picard. I'm from Wendake and work at Environment Canada. As a manager, I'm in charge of the hiring in my team. I make it a priority to look at Aboriginal candidates. So if there were a lot more Aboriginal students on the FSWEP list, I think we'd hire more than one per year.
18-Waseskon
The main benefits of doing an internship here or having a student job with the federal government is to get experience related to our area of study.
19-Alexandra
The salary is good, but that's not the only thing.
20-Rylee
It's really fun. I work in a really great atmosphere, a really bright, wonderful atmosphere
21-Alexandra
The flexibility of my managers about my school schedule, the fact that I was able to change jobs depending on where I was studying.
22-Marie-Élaine
On a resume it definitely looks good… It's Health Canada. It shows that I'm serious.
23-Alexandra
There is also the fact that I was able to perfect my English to the point that now, I'm bilingual.
24-Jean
As Aboriginals, I think that many doors can open for them.
A job. Experience. A career.
25-Carly
My name is Carly Norris. I am Innu from Matimekosh. I'm a federal prosecutor for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. I've had three summer employments for the Public Service of Canada after that I became a lawyer for Justice Canada.
26-Charly
My name is Charly Norris. I'm Innu and I'am a manager at the Canada Revenue Agency. My first job was to sort mail.
27-Patrick
I'd really like to stay in the federal public service. I've grown to like the working environment.
28-Carly
I'm very fortunate with my employment. Being a prosecutor, it's something that I'm passionate about.
29-Charly
I'm really proud of the progression of my career.
30-Rylee
So right now I've been extended for the fall part time… It's like I could possibly stay on with the public service.
31-Waseskon
And if I get the chance to have a permanent job in the public service, I definitely won't pass up the opportunity.
Register now.