The end of this chapter

It’s hard to believe that my year at CPJ is coming to an end! It has been a busy year at CPJ with many events, meetings, paper launches, conferences and much more. I want to take a moment to reflect back on the past year, especially some of the highlights.

As a self proclaimed “political junkie,” working with Canadian policy issues and sometimes alongside Parliamentarians was one of the best parts of the internship. I attended several events and meetings with various Members of Parliament and Senators from all political stripes.

Some of the most memorable events included meeting Senator Hugh Segal before his keynote address at the BIEN Canada (the Canadian affiliate of the Basic Income Earth Network) conference last October; sitting down with various parliamentarians to talk about practical solutions to eliminate poverty in Canada at the Dish on Dignity in February, an event that focused on finding solutions to the issue of poverty in Canada through promoting dialogue between politicians and the public and attending a recession recovery conference with former MP Ed Broadbent and chatting with him over lunch.

Perhaps the most memorable political event was attending Parliament’s launch of Poor No More, the documentary by David Langille, starring comedian Mary Walsh, on the state of poverty in Canada. The launch was held on Parliament Hill with dozens of MPs from all parties as well as other social justice advocates. The discussions were lively and the excitement levels high for Parliamentarians passionate about eliminating poverty in Canada.

My time at CPJ provided many opportunities to learn and grow in my understanding of the issues of justice within Canada, and deepening my connection of faith and justice issues. Part of this was through research and writing, and part through getting away from the office and going to camp, more specifically Community Justice Camp!

In May, CPJ’s Socio Economic Policy Analyst Karri Munn-Venn and I attended Community Justice Camp, an initiative of the Anglican Church of Canada. I spent the week in Hamilton with the Environmental Justice Immersion group. It was a great opportunity to visit programs and groups of people working on environmental issues from a faith perspective. It was also really instrumental in helping me draw a strong connection between environmental issues and other justice concerns, linking them to things like over-consumption and environmental degradation as well as issues of dignity (or lack thereof) and inequality.

Plus, I cannot deny that getting away from the office for a bit, spending the week “in the field” and meeting all kinds of people was great! It was a wonderful opportunity to learn, have some fun and get more involved in justice initiatives. One of the other youth participants was quoted in the Anglican Journal’s report on Justice Camp, saying, “Ultimately I had a blast!”

Integrating faith and justice issues is very important in my life. I was able to explore this further at Justice Camp and in the day to day work in the CPJ office.

Coming back to the research and writing parts of the internship, I feel my time at CPJ has been really great in helping me improve my writing and communication skills, especially helping me to build more confidence in these areas. It was also really encouraging to see some of my work being picked up by other websites and organizations.

Several of my articles and blog posts were picked up by popular information and news sites like Rabble, and just recently, a professor of a theological college in British Columbia asked if it was possible to include two of my pieces in the reading list for one of their online courses! It feels really great when our work is noticed and is contributes to discussions about issues of faith and public life in Canada.

Finally, my time at CPJ was really enhanced by the others in the office. I love working with others and find that some of my best projects are completed among a team. I also enjoyed getting to know the people in the office. CPJ has a fairly small staff, but this allows us the opportunity to get to know everyone very well. Almost every day, much of the staff eat lunch together and talk about our families, our interests, and during World Cup season, our favourite football matches! (Go Oranje!)

My first blog post at CPJ was about starting a new chapter. Now, as I come to the end of this year I’m about to start another chapter. At this point I’m not quite sure what that will be, but one thing is certain –I look forward to pursuing and working in the areas of faith and justice in the national and international spheres for years to come.

Thanks CPJ for a great year!