Parliamentary interns head to Iqaluit

Parliamentary interns will be in Iqaluit for the opening session of the Nunavut legislature May 29. (FILE PHOTO)

Ten parliamentary interns will gain first-hand knowledge of community and politics in Canada’s North when they come to Iqaluit for a six-day study tour of Iqaluit and the Legislative Assembly from May 27 to June 1.

Highlights of the study tour include meetings with Keith Peterson, Nunavut’s minister of Finance and Health and Social Services and minister responsible for Public Agencies Council, and Susan Cooper, judge of the Nunavut Court of Justice.

Interns will also attend the May 29 opening session of the Legislative Assembly and visit Kimmirut on May 30.

“It is an invaluable opportunity for the interns to compare the way the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut works with the way Parliament functions,” said Garth Williams, the director of the parliamentary internship program. “They will come back with a much better understanding of the cultural differences shaping these institutions and a much greater appreciation for Canada’s North.”

Each year, ten parliamentary interns are chosen from among the country’s best university graduates to participate in the ten-month parliamentary internship program. Interns work for Members of Parliament on both sides of the House of Commons, assisting them with committee and constituency work, while undertaking academic research, weekly seminars and comparative study tours to legislatures across Canada and abroad.

The parliamentary internship program is an independent non-partisan program of the Canadian Political Science Association, supported by public and private sector sponsors, in this case, the BMO Financial Group and First Air which are helping to underwrite the interns’ trip to Iqaluit.