Indigenous Internship Program

Start by going to our online application form(opens in a new tab) and telling us about yourself and the type of project you are interested in. Upon receiving this, we’ll contact you for next steps.

Any Indigenous student who is enrolled at a Canadian college or university or is considering furthering their education. All academic disciplines are welcome. No degree is required to undertake an internship.

Interns can reside in any part of Canada and may or may not be based on their Nations’ traditional territories. You can do on-site research in a community and work with advisors online.

The program accepts interns on a rolling basis year-round.

In most cases, projects are completed in 4 to 6 months. There is also an option to extend your internship or apply for additional modules if your project takes longer than 6 months.

The program has been set up at no cost to applicants. Interns will receive a payment of $10,000 for each 4–6 month internship project. Additional funding to support training, travel, or conference attendance is available.

Clear Seas will support you with a dedicated mentor and with finding academic advisors, industry connections and other resources as needed.

Ultimately, it’s your choice. You can conduct research or answer a question about marine shipping and its impact on the environment or communities. Examples of prior research have included such topics as shipping risk, invasive species, clam gardens and oil pollution. Advisors will be available to help you scope the project and make connections with potential partners.

This program is set up to support learners and researchers at any stage in their knowledge journey. With Clear Seas and academic supervisors to support you, it’s not necessary to have previous research experience.

We can meet with you to discuss research topics of interest. Fill out an application form to get started.

Your project does not have to be a traditional research project. You could include Traditional Knowledge, storytelling, on-the-land practices, literature reviews, comparative studies, or geographic information systems. It is up to you.

Past interns have ended their internships with a presentation, a workshop, a paper, a video, an environmental data scan, or an article on what you’ve learned and will continue to learn. Ultimately, internships are a process, not an outcome. The work that you do is centered on furthering your learning journey and contributing positive capacity to your community.

The data and research collected by you belong to you and your partnered community. Clear Seas holds no ownership and will only share the information as determined by you and your community. A data sharing agreement will be developed and signed between you, the Indigenous community, Clear Seas and any other partners.

You can expect to be contacted by a member of the Indigenous Programs team within one week of submitting your application.

If your community would like to propose a project or if you would like to support an intern, please contact Maia Reynard, Indigenous Program Coordinator, at maia.reynard@clearseas.org(opens default email app).

We welcome maritime connections and relevant project opportunities for our interns. If you have a project idea or if you would like to support an intern throughout their project, contact Maia Reynard, Indigenous Program Coordinator, at maia.reynard@clearseas.org(opens default email app).