As a second-year student in McGill’s Faculty of Arts entering my final year, I’ve been on a journey towards becoming more intentional with the kind of individual I would like to become outside of an academic sphere- both as a member of my community and a future professional. With a double major in gender studies and political science, I have always been passionate about the intersections of social justice and our political environment, continuously asking myself how we can create a more equitable and care-based society amongst one another and our institutions. Being a Black Woman has given me a unique positionality and worldview shaped by my lived experiences; however, I have always been aware that there are different lenses through which to view the world. For these reasons, interning at an NGO was a significant priority in my journey, as not only would I be able to see how they navigate the social and political realities of the communities they work with, but I would be exposed to a new worldview of which I could learn and grow from. I went into this internship with the primary learning objective of seeing care and equality in action; what does it mean to imbue such mindset into both individual and corporate practices and what skills can I learn to leverage in the future when working in spaces and fields that need this philosophy but do not necessarily possess nor act upon it.
My host organization, Equitas, is Canada’s leading human rights education organization dedicated to advancing equality and human dignity through a human rights-based approach designed to give agency to marginalized communities. The team I worked with was responsible for knowledge production and education and encouraging youth participation across Canada, predominantly with children and youth communities. During these months, from May to July, I supported the team through facilitation, knowledge production, communication, and overall immersing myself in Equitas’ work culture and activist mindset. I performed tasks such as: translating, transcribing, content designing, research and data collection. Some of the most memorable and assuring moments of my internship and my role as an intern in Equitas were: Facilitating Workshops for Equitas’ International Human Rights Training Program (IHRTP), Participating in establishing Equitas’ Youth Council and implementing two of my knowledge resources focused on allyship with youth and religious communities into the team’s annual planning and deliverables. Being surrounded by activists from various countries at the IHRTP mutually learning and enriching one another was a very inspiring experience and reignited my belief in the importance of community building, knowledge production and sharing, and fostering the spirit of activism. Additionally, having and executing concrete projects that provided substantive change for Equitas during and after my internship was profoundly inspiring, as knowing I left my mark provided me with greater confidence in my professional skills and the quality of my work.
Although my internship was full of successes, a significant challenge was navigating and improving my ease with the French language. While I have learned and was exposed to French throughout my various levels of education, as an anglophone, I frequently get out of practice and become uncomfortable with the language. As a bilingual institution that works with bilingual communities and staff, my time at Equitas required continuous engagement and mastery of the language. I constantly pushed myself to utilize French in conversational and professional situations to face this challenge. I was interacting with my colleagues in French, volunteering to transcribe the Equitas National Youth Forum in French, Presenting and Facilitating during the IHRTP and with francophone community partners in the language, and translating and creating content in French. Equitas constantly presented and trusted me with opportunities to engage with the language, which was vital in overcoming my initial discomfort and succeeding.
While I am not receiving academic credits for my internship, this experience positively impacted my university experience and my ambitions. It not only provided me with professional skills, experience and knowledge I can utilize for my upcoming honours thesis, but it gave me a better understanding of the grassroots activist experience and what it means to imbue care and human dignity in everything I do. I saw this care in how the Canadian Team would patiently pour over the language they used to ensure inclusion and acceptance, in their striving towards accessibility, and in Equitas’ overall commitment to community and communication that gave everyone the space to speak and be heard. I want to thank the donors of the Carol & Lloyd Darlington Arts Internship Award, whose contributions gave me a fantastic internship experience and exposed me to a new insightful worldview that I cannot wait to incorporate into my academic, professional, and social future.
