My internship experience at the Ministry of Trade and Export

My name is Philip Ocansey and I am a Master in Public Administration candidate at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy’s University of Regina campus. I am also currently an Executive Intern at the Ministry of Trade and Export Development, within the Government of Saskatchewan. My mentor is Natalie Chatterson, Manager for the International Offices Branch (IOB). 

The IOB is at the forefront of opening and expanding Saskatchewan’s network of Trade and Investment Offices in strategic global markets to attract foreign investment to the province and grow exports. 

Part of my role in IOB during my internship is supporting the operational components that pertain to the opening of our new international offices. Some of these tasks include: preparing onboarding materials for new Managing Directors for the offices; conducting international scans, and preparing briefing notes, among others.

I was also fortunate to attend meetings on the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Trade Committee on International Trade (C-Trade). Here, I had the opportunity to listen to discussions on multifaceted issues affecting Saskatchewan’s trade position and Canada at large. C-Trade Debrief, and similar meetings of this nature, helped me contextualize conceptual themes explored during my studies on issues surrounding global governance of trade, the reciprocity underlying relations among states, climate change, and economic growth, among others. 

I also had the privilege of working with the Strategic Policy and Competitiveness (SPC) branch, where I was responsible for providing regular updates on Saskatchewan’s key economic indicators using data from StatsCan’s website. I also contributed to Saskatchewan’s Service Export Report.  

These projects allowed me to apply my collective knowledge and experience in data collection, analysis, and written communications. I was able to gain greater insight and experience working within the “nuts and bolts” of Microsoft Excel for data collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation.  

I would encourage students who are interested in serving the public, through a public sector career, to apply for the Executive Internship Program. Not only does the program provide an opportunity for professional development, but it is also a great complement to our studies.