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Multiple Yukon First Nation Students Selected to Participate in International Internship

Tuesday, 18 June 2019 12:26

Jesse Hudon and Tenseshia Jules will be completing their internship at the Rural Institute for Community Development in Nepal (Photo courtesy of And Beyond)

Yukon First Nation students from Ross River, Teslin and Whitehorse have been selected to participate in an international internship opportunity hosted by the Confederation of Mainland Mi'kmaq, the Native Council of PEI and three other organizations.

Champagne and Aishihik First Nations member Jesse Hudson is one of  multiple Indigenous students in the north  selected to participate in a four-month overseas internship program starting in August.

Hudson will be joined by  Yukon First Nations participants from Ross River, Teslin and Whitehorse at an orientation camp in Ottawa in August before they head outside of Canada for their internships, where they aim to gain experience working for a non-profit of their choice in the fall.

Hudson says they couldn't pass up the internship opportunity when it aligned well with their career goals.

"What was really cool about this internship is that it's for Indigenous youth that haven't finished their university degree yet. Right now I'm doing a gap year and I felt like this was an amazing way to spend my time and to motivate me to go back to school and finish up. I study international relations at the University of British Columbia."

Hudson says there were a couple reasons regarding  why they chose their education-focused internship.

"(One reason was) because I've never been to Nepal. I thought it would be an amazing experience to try something completely new. The projects I'd be working on also drew me in. There will be two main projects that we will be working with at the local institution. The first one is working with women and children under five in nutritional health. The other project will be disaster mitigation to helped build more earthquake-proof homes."

After Hudson finishes their internship, they'll debrief with the other interns in Ottawa to describe their own experiences before returning to the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation to tell everyone about their journey.

The internship program is a partnership with the Confederation of Mainland Mi'kmaq, the Native Council of PEI and three other organizations. 

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