I arrived at IDRC at the end of 1993, when I was in my mid-twenties and the population clock at HQ was in the five billions. My first position was assistant with the Publishing and Audiovisual units, and my last job was as Communications Officer with the Bellanet Secretariat. During the 10 years I spent working there, IDRC would become such a big part of my life that I would come to think of 250 Albert as “the Mother Ship,” an international space station of glass and carpeted hallways, with the best tea biscuits in the galaxy.
Before joining IDRC, I had been living an aimless existence working for a “temp” agency on short-term assignments in federal government departments all over Ottawa and Gatineau. Basically, I was a secondary paper tray in the huge photocopying apparatus that was the general government bureaucracy in the 90s.
So it was probably one of the luckiest breaks of my life that I landed at IDRC. There was a sense of purpose in the air at IDRC that woke me up and made me become more serious about my career. Working at IDRC was an education in itself. I learned the essentials of scientific publishing and media production, and read every book that we published as a proofreader. My bosses also encouraged me to use my computer skills to jump in on projects involving the early Internet. Looking back, the work we did was exceptional and ground-breaking. We also had fun, and I have rarely experienced the sense of collegiality that existed in both of the teams that I was a part of during the 10 years I spent with the organization. It was something special to be part of it.
I did leave the Mother Ship eventually. In 2003, I went to work with the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD), one of Bellanet’s partners in Europe. I left Bellanet, replaced by Silvia Caicedo and, subsequently, spent a few years working as an ICT4D and communications consultant in Brussels, before returning to Montreal, with marriage and motherhood in 2006.
Shortly after my return to Canada, I started working for the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (Creehealth.org), in Eeyou Istchee, the Cree territory of northern Quebec. My main role with the organization has been as Coordinator of Communications, with cultural safety at the centre of our team’s approach to health communication in an indigenous context.
Our family lived for a few years in the Cree Nation of Mistissini, which was a terrific experience. I’m now settled with my daughter in the Villeray neighborhood of Montreal, and am enjoying teleworking, with regular trips “up north” to Chisasibi or Mistissini. I do visit Ottawa from time to time and keep in touch with some old pals from IDRC and Bellanet.
Reconnecting with IDRC through the Alumni Association has helped me feel a sense of connection with the international sphere, which I sometimes miss in my current work. But most of all, it’s nice to connect with the people. It seems to me that IDRC has brought a lot of good people together, and we have a lot to talk about!
Bulletin 75
January 2025