Testimonials – Employer

2023

“David Toro Hoyos has been a fantastic addition to our small team. He has supported in our key deliverable of an updated version of the Climate Lens (on-going), as well as completed individual tasks to support our Division as a whole. I worked to provide a variety of experiences and meet his needs of an internship while simultaneously moving ahead on several initiatives through his hard work. I sincerely appreciate his professionalism and research skills and look forward to having him continue in the new year.”

Eric Thurston, Policy Analyst

Infrastructure Canada

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“Joeli Plakholm has been a pleasure to have as part of our team who has really excelled in the work. She brings such a great perspective and deep understanding of northern projects and Indigenous rights, which has been an asset in supporting our northern abandoned mine projects. During her internship with us, Joeli did an excellent job of asking for help, identifying where she needed to learn more and developing that knowledge or skills.”

Heather Friday, Senior Consultant, Engineer and Carolyn Hedley, Principal Consultant

ERM
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“Claudia Voggenreiter has become a valued member of the team and has demonstrated very good policy aptitudes. I have come to rely on her for analysis and support on horizontal files due to her professionalism, dedication, and quality of work. Her writing is also of very high quality, which is a key asset in government operations. Claudia’s internship experience focuses on the impacts of environmental projects on Indigenous peoples, the importance of consultations, and the ability to understand federal laws, which relates to my work on the Terms & Conditions of existing programs and collecting data on the funding processes for our programs.”

Éric Lévesque, Manager – Policy Development

Natural Resources Canada

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“Nicholas Tokawa was a great addition to the team. He did excellent work, adapted and learned quickly. While our daily work didn’t include EIA, he did use his knowledge to the summer-long project I had assigned to him (on species-at-risk threatened by invasive alien species). He also used it when analyzing proposed actions to help address this threat to biodiversity.  He was more at ease working (very efficiently) behind the scenes but while I was away in August, Nicholas took over the responsibility for my files. He attended meetings and provided a presentation to provinces and territories, and opened the floor to questions. I am very proud that he took the initiative to do the presentation (he could have declined it), and that he presented. It might have been a stressful experience, but it spoke to his skills, courage, and confidence level. I hope he continues to challenge himself like that, and that he sees that he is good at what he is doing.”

Rachel Ariey-Jouglard , Senior Policy Advisor

Canadian Wildlife Service

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“Yassmine Boctor-Moghaddam has developed considerable expertise regarding impact assessment policy and analysis. She has led the development of guidance, policy, and tools to support impact assessment practitioners in their delivery of impact assessment requirements. She has received and integrated feedback from diverse perspectives on the products she prepared, and is thoughtful and thorough in her responses. Yassmine is always willing to contribute to the team, picking up tasks and supporting others as needed. She displays a genuine interest in the work and a strong work ethics.”

Anna Kessler, Manager

Indigenous Services Canada
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“Niloofar Tavakoly Nabavy has been a delight to work with over the past four months. She has successfully demonstrated a commitment to public service values and a knowledge and skillset of environmental assessment principles that proved invaluable to the Environmental Assessment Office (EAO). Niloofar consistently met deadlines and produced great work with minimal instruction, and always sought feedback and clarification where appropriate. For example, Niloofar drafted a Summary of Engagement Report, for which she analyzed data and presented it in a coherent and user-friendly manner. This report was then published on the EAO’s public website. She expressed curiosity and a willingness to learn and experience things that she had not been exposed to before. I simply do not have anything other than positive comments to share!”

Jessica Warner, Project Assessment Officer

Environmental Assessment Office, Government of British Columbia
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“Jaimee Palmer was a welcome addition to the team. She is a hard worker and an amazing human being. Jaimee completed her tasks in a timely and well-thought-out manner, always checking in along the way to ensure optimal results. Her research and analysis were critical in providing information and supporting CIRNAC’s intervention in land use planning and impact assessment processes. Additionally, her work with the Northern Participant Funding Program allowed for efficient and effective coordination of funding information. Finally, Jaimee finished all the assigned tasks in a timely fashion and with high quality. She also went above and beyond to get to know her co-workers and nurture social ties. Any department would be lucky to have Jaimee on its team.”

Lorena Gracia Zayas, Environmental Policy Analyst, Northern Affairs Organization

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC)

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“Vikram Iyer did well overall and was a valuable asset to the team during his internship. He provided much help with the Critical Habitat Interdepartmental Program, whether through presentations to other teams, our division, and the regions, through administrative tasks, project evaluations, and providing scientific and technical knowledge to improve projects, or by following-up with participants to lay out funding conditions. He communicated respectfully with other teams and created positive relationships with colleagues. He was also receptive to the feedback provided. Vikram also speaks eloquently when presenting material to other teams and has strong writing skills in English.”

Alyssa Desfossés, Species at Risk Protection Policy and Program Analyst

Species At Risk (SAR) Protection

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“Junze (Raymond) Hao has made impressive progress since the start of his internship and has become an invaluable member of the team. He has immersed in the topic of his internship with pride and motivation and designed critical tools that can be employed by the Canadian Wildlife Service to map capacity across parts of the organization. He showed resourcefulness, adaptability, ability to work independently with little guidance while supporting the team on other tasks. His communication and presentation skills also improved substantially throughout the internship. He should be incredibly proud of what he accomplished within the team, we certainly are as well as thankful for all his work. He will be a great asset to any team and he will be missed.”

Catarina Ferreira, Senior Conservation Scientist

Science and Monitoring Unit, Protected Areas Directorate

Canadian Wildlife Service – ECCC

2022

“Juliana Menezes Rodrigues is transformative in an organization. She quickly understands the tasks and mandates of an organization, delving in to policies and looking for ways to create efficiencies in current progresses. Her ability to network and strive to get a full understanding of processes is outstanding. For example, we had planned a task that should have taken the majority of her internship. Instead, she created a code in Python and completed the entire task in less than a week. Juliana has a great future ahead of her.” 

Tanya Pulfer, Manager Species at Risk Protection

ECCC – Canadian Wildlife Service

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"Josiah Becker has quickly become an integral part of the SAR-Protection team. He has quickly learned very complex processes and now leads the publications of two sections of an Act that satisfies legislative requirements. He leads a lot of partner and stakeholder communications that require him to build trust, be able to answer in-depth questions and analyse situations quickly. He has a quiet leadership quality, sees ways to improve programs and works diligently on his tasks. When team members require support he will always lend a hand. The materials he produces are high quality and on time. We really cannot say enough about Josiah except that he will be a great member to any team he is in."

Marie-Claude Leheutre and Tanya Pulfer, Managers Species at Risk Protection

ECCC-Canadian Wildlife Service

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"Michelle Kolatschek is an energetic and hard worker who took on a major project with enthusiasm. Michelle’s efforts during the summer of 2022 centered around laying the groundwork to make a legislative change to allow the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada to utilize Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs). Her knowledge of the academic principles of law enforcement and research into AMP efficacy used by other federal regulators has helped us justify the resources needed to begin carrying out the necessary legislative changes. During her time with us, Michelle was able to work effectively in an entirely virtual environment, asked appropriate questions when necessary, and was able to prioritize tasks and manage her time with minimal oversight. I truly enjoyed working with her and I imagine that any workplace would benefit from having her as an employee."

Carl Johansson, Senior Compliance Analyst

Impact Assessment Agency of Canada

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"Claudia Schiocchet a fait preuve d’autonomie, de curiosité et de professionnalisme durant son stage. Sa réflexion approfondie et pertinente sur le sujet qui lui a été confié contribuera à l’amélioration de notre programme. Le fait qu’elle avait déjà commencé à travailler sur le sujet et une solide connaissance du processus d’évaluation environnementale avant son arrivée ont grandement facilité son intégration."

Isabelle Vézina, Environmental Assessment Specialist

Santé Canada

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"Cassandra Ligeti demonstrated a lot of initiatives throughout her internship. She was quick to onboard on our team and understand what we do. She participated in many high-level reviews and prepared high-quality documents. Overall, we are very satisfied with Cassandra’s contribution to our team and she helped us achieve a wide array of goals. She also worked on processes to improve our team efficiency in evaluating projects under the Impact Assessment Act. I believe this gave her a unique insight of our work. She was really open to feedback."

Martine Gauthier, Senior Environmental Officer

National Capital Commission

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"Meghan Butt has been a valued member of the national Impact Assessment team this summer. Her background and skills were an ideal fit for our work. Meghan coordinated the Annual Evaluation and Key Investigation components of the Continuous Improvement Program, which included communicating with Parks Canada staff nationally and within field units to solicit input to the program, troubleshooting, and analyzing and presenting the results. She did this with minimal supervision and displayed a great deal of initiative. I felt comfortable having her take on the coordination role this year. I enjoyed working with her because she communicates well and does not hesitate to ask questions for clarification, produces excellent work and very importantly, she is reliable. Her performance has warranted an extension with our team to work on a unique Strategic Environmental Assessment. Her unique combination of education and experience in environmental assessment and archaeology make her a great fit for this work."

Vanessa Rodrigues, Environmental Assessment Scientist

Parks Canada

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"Emily Hoppe is very thorough on all tasks that she has been assigned.  She has a very strong knowledge that she has acquired throughout her studies, which she has applied to this co-op position very well. Her work on drafting a summary of the ‘2020 Underwater Acoustic Monitoring Program Report’ was very well done, was appreciated and was used to brief senior management. Emily is a pleasure to work with and it is evident that she is passionate about her area of study and is always keen to learn more. She has demonstrated great initiative, reflection, attention to detail, and great organizational skills for Northern Participant Funding Program (NPFP). I have appreciated her check-in’s on organizing her work priorities, and she always brings a great attitude to every meeting I have with her. She is eager to contribute and build the team’s success, and she does so by doing high quality work with attention to detail in a timely manner. Her pleasant nature make her easy to work with. Emily shows great potential as a potential future public servant!"

Alana Vigna, Environmental Policy Analyst (and supervising managers)

Environmental Assessment, Land Use Planning and Conservation team

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"Rebecca Clark s’est bien intégrée à l’équipe et a d’excellentes aptitudes de communication interpersonnelle. Elle a eu l’occasion de travailler sur une variété de projets (une vingtaine) à travers le Canada. Elle a certainement eu l’occasion de développer une très bonne compréhension du processus d’évaluation d’impact fédéral. Rebecca est toujours prête à prendre en charge différentes tâches qu’on lui confient. Elle a notamment participé à l’intégration d’une nouvelle étudiante à l’équipe pour l’automne 2022."

Kambale Katahwa, Project Manager

Impact Assessment Agency of Canada

2021

“Whitney Light proved herself a thoughtful and valuable asset to the Parks Canada Impact Assessment team during her term over the summer. Whitney used her knowledge of impact assessment and strong research skills to improve the initiatives she was involved in supporting. In particular, with the development of our new public-facing website that will be used by a variety of stakeholders and the public, and in helping with the development of a new training program on writing effective impact assessments at Parks Canada. Whitney was very flexible and adaptable to shifting priorities through the year, and always dependable at providing quality work on time.”

Mark Baldwin, Environmental Assessment Specialist

Parks Canada

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“Nikita Bhat was an excellent addition to our team. Even though she had not worked in Indigenous communities before in Canada, she grasped the fragility of the work and the diplomacy required to work in Kanesatake, a Mohawk community in Canada. We consider it a privilege to work with the Kanesatake Mohawk Council, the environment department, and the community members. I received great compliments from community members on her approach, friendliness, understanding of the project, etc. So, in all, we are very impressed with Nikita. She has also shown a lot of initiative and creativity with the project. I would not hesitate to hire Nikita again.”

Isabelle-Anne Bisson, PhD, President

TerraHumana Solutions

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“Mathilde Butler avait d’excellentes connaissances pour exécuter ses mandats et faisait preuve de débrouillardise et d’initiative pour aller chercher l’information additionnelle. Elle est autonome et comprend rapidement ses tâches, en plus de faire preuve de nuance et de rigueur dans leur exécution. Elle s’exprime bien à l’oral et à l’écrit, dans les deux langues, et a une attitude très professionnelle.”

Noémie Després-Tassé, Coordonnatrice aux Consultations et Accommodements

Institut de développement durable des Premières Nations Québec-Labrador

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“Geneviève Campbell a rapidement été efficace au sein de l’équipe. Elle est vraiment intéressée par son domaine et ça transparaît dans sa participation aux diverses tâches qui lui sont confiées. Geneviève est arrivée bien préparée.”

Suzie O’Bomsawin, Directrice du Bureau du Ndakina

Grand Conseil de la Nation Waban-Aki

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“Rain Noakes was an exceptionally quick learner, and was able to use his previous experience working with Parks Canada to quickly adjust to the new role. Early in the field season, he would constantly be taking notes during vegetation and general field training, as well as during explanation of various restoration sites and protocols. During the period of teleworking early in the season, he was able to quickly complete the onboarding process, and took initiative on developing field vegetation identification and invasive species control method reference materials to assist himself and other students in the field. Rain quickly proved himself to be a trustworthy and reliable member of the summer field crew, and could be trusted to complete tasks to high quality standards under minimal supervision.”

Kyle McDougall, Resource Management Officer

Parks Canada

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“Fatima-Zohra Makhtoum took on every task that came her way and was enthusiastic about learning new material and applying her knowledge and skills. She made a fantastic addition to the team and we have sincerely enjoyed working with her.”

Raie Leith, Manager, Operational and Regulatory Support, Water

Environment and Climate Change Canada

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“Lorena Gracia delivered an outstanding performance during her internship with Environmental Assessment, Land Use Planning and Conservation Division (EALUPC). She approached every task with an open-mind, worked efficiently and independently, and was sure to check in with her colleagues prior to delivering a product, ensuring she was indeed on the right track. Throughout her internship with EALUPC, she delivered high quality work that exceeded expectations, often times before agreed-upon deadlines.”

Michelle-Claire Roy, Environmental Policy Analyst

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

2020

“Thomas Goetz is a constructive communicator and is capable of discussing difficult issues effectively and to the point. He takes time to explain to others, promotes cooperation to ensure colleagues work as a team to meet deadlines, and that everyone is integrated in the process. Thomas quickly adapts to changes in the performance of required duties, a requirement for a startup environment.  He has improved this skill a lot. Now, he is more patient, takes a step back to break problems down and analyzes them in a more detailed manner. Thomas is a source of suggestions and solutions.”

Emmanuelle Tavernier, Founder and President

Oxia-Initiative

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“Jessica Babikian was a pleasure to work with and has executed a difficult assignment, which required the review and analysis of a large volume of legal text, in a highly competent and efficient manner. The resulting report will be very useful to the Green Coalition in their ongoing efforts to obtain stronger legal protections for natural spaces in the Montreal region.”

Gareth Richardson, President

Green Coalition

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"Jenny Espitia’s work was of a very high quality. Her willingness to adapt to a non-traditional Environmental Assessment project was appreciated by the entire team. She made an excellent effort to participate in all aspects of our teamwork and delivered on agreed objectives without fail. We were so happy to have gotten to work with such a great student this summer!”

Faisal Shennib, Environmental Specialist

Concordia University

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“It has been a real pleasure working with Fiona Wirz-Endrys. She has a great attitude towards learning and fits in with our team really well. Fiona works well with communities and demonstrates real commitment, thought, and care with the work she does for Odonaterra. Overall, Fiona has been a great junior addition to the team.”

Caroline Coburn, Managing Director

Odonaterra Inc.

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“Kendra Warnock-Juteau has been a wonderful addition to the Environmental Assessment Division (EAD) at the CNSC. She is a supportive team member, enthusiastic and eager to learn more.  Kendra has provided valuable support in helping senior CNSC staff members lead environmental assessments (EA) for major projects. Kendra works collaboratively with all members of the team, offering her time and skills when others need additional support. Her organizational skills allow her to balance her workload.  Kendra’s enthusiasm for learning has continued during her internship at the CNSC.  She makes time to attend the division’s knowledge transfer sessions to learn more about how a federal regulator manages and conducts EAs.”

Nana Kwamena, Director, Environmental Assessment Division

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

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“Very pleased with Jessica Krejcik’s work. She worked well independently and was not shy to ask people she had never met for data or ask for help/guidance when needed. This COVID-19 situation made it tough on everyone as we all worked from home – hence Jessica had minimal in-person supervision. She still was able to write a very complete report. She was willing to work on any adjustments needed or new programs such as the AASHE reporting tool and SIMAP.”

Arianne Duchesne, Manager, Health, Safety & Sustainability

Vanier College

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“Luz Gomez has good understanding of the tasks assigned to her. She would use her technical skills and knowledge for all the projects assigned to her. She is a great team player and respected everyone’s perspective. Her arguments were logical and well formed. When asked to lead a small project, she demonstrated excellent project management skills and provided constructive feedback to all the team members. She is always willing to learn and able to work under pressure.”

Aditya Jain and Kunal Garje, Co-Presidents

Net Impact Montreal

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“Gillian Griffin was the first student we employed since the COVID-19 public health crisis required our division’s staff to work from home and there was some uncertainty about our ability to supervise a student remotely. However, with the use of communication technologies we were able to manage the situation with great success.  Gillian worked very well independently and demonstrated good problem-solving skills, completed tasks on time and produced high quality results.  Gillian worked to understand tasks independently but asked for direction when needed.  Gillian was very adaptable and could accommodate change in scheduling or assigned tasks when needed, communicated effectively and worked cooperatively with all team members.”

James Neary, PhD, Environmental Policy Analyst

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada