Internship an opportunity to learn how communities, policies tick

BY KIRK STARRATT

kstarratt@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

If you want to learn how government ticks and how effective policy is developed, where better to start than at the grassroots?

That’s the point of view of 24-year-old Krystal Therien, a native of Cape Breton who will spend the next year working with the County of Kings under the Nova Scotia Municipal Internship Program. The county is the only municipality in the province to get an intern under the Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations (SNSMR) initiative this year.

Therien said what interested her about the opportunity is the county’s reputation for being progressive. She went through the municipality’s budget and noticed a trend toward sustainability, which attracted her.

Therien, who has been with the county for almost two months, said she realizes the necessity of healthy communities. Health is her underlying passion. Since health is about everyday choices and decisions and municipal politics is the ground level of government, where people live their lives, it’s the best place to start to effect positive change.

Little decisions have an impact on the larger picture and municipalities can play a great role in promoting health through initiatives such as supporting public transportation to help reduce pollution and promoting active transportation, to cite a couple examples.

Therien said she has really enjoyed the experience so far. She has taken in committee meetings and has had a chance to meet several interesting people.

She is working also as the staff support person for the county’s new Race Relations Committee established under the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination.

“As a career, I intend to focus on local community development,” Therien said. “This is probably the best opportunity to get that experience.”

Hands-on, practical experience

She said the internship involves hands-on, practical experience, something that might not necessarily be paralleled with other internships at other levels of government. Therien wants to develop a good understanding of the way communities function and operate day-to-day in terms of public administration, so she sees the internship as a good way to gain an appreciation of that.

She wants to understand how effective policy is developed and implemented. At the end of 10 years, she said, she wouldn’t want to be writing policies that aren’t effective because she lacks understanding of how they work. Making that connection during the internship is important to her.

Kings County Warden Fred Whalen said the county was aware of the program because the Town of Wolfville had an intern placed with them through the initiative last year. They realized it was quite beneficial in terms of having another skilled public administrator in the office.

Whalen said Therien has a good background in public administration, with a Masters Degree in Public Administration and an Honours Degree in Political Science and Canadian Studies from Dalhousie University. He said they’re working hard through the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities to recruit more young people, especially women, into municipal government.

“We have a chance to have someone see our operation through fresh eyes,” Whalen said, pointing out that receiving the internship shows some recognition that the county is a leader in municipal government in Nova Scotia. Whalen spoke for the internship immediately when he heard about the opportunity at a recent conference.