Student Program: Internship and Articling

Internship / Articling Opportunities

Internship / Articling Application form

About Us

The Office of the Administrator manages the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund and the Fund for Railway Accidents Involving Designated Goods.

The Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund compensates victims of pollution from the discharge of oil from ships in Canadian waters. The Fund for Railway Accidents Involving Designated Goods compensates victims of railway accidents involving crude oil, in the event that damages exceed railway liability limits.

Both Funds have their own dedicated staff and are managed as separate entities. They are supported by a shared corporate services team. Approximately 20 employees, consultants and students occupy a single office location in downtown Ottawa. Employees come to the Funds with a wide variety of backgrounds and expertise, including finance, law, marine and rail expertise, communications, information management, and administration.

Our Student Program

Our Student Program offers internship and articling opportunities (paid and unpaid) that provide learning-by-doing opportunities. The objective of the internship/articling program is to provide professional development opportunities for students completing:

  • a degree program or a post-graduate program from a recognized university or marine institute/college; or
  • a college technology program from a recognized college, graduating technicians in environmental and engineering programs; or
  • a college or university degree or a post-graduate program in communication, business, information management and related programs; or
  • a post-graduate program with a professional organization (for professional certification purposes).

The program aims at providing opportunities to a variety of students and therefore aims at having a rotation between the various universities/colleges and programs, as well as between paid and unpaid internships.

The unpaid internship is a structured and supervised, professional, work-learn experience with our office, for which students earn academic credits from their university or college. It is “hands on” training that provides an opportunity for students to apply theoretical knowledge to actual work situations. This opportunity is open to students that are registered in a university or college program that provides credits for this type of internship. The internship will need to be discussed with the university/college program coordinator and tailored to the student. We will have to sign an agreement with the university or college.

The unpaid internship can be full-time or part-time, depending on the conditions of the academic program granting the credits.

The paid internship is a minimum three consecutive month assignment that will help acquire beneficial insights that the classroom experience cannot provide and apply on-the-job skills. This opportunity is open to university students (graduate or post-graduate) on a part-time or full-time basis.

In the case of a post-graduate program with a professional organization (for professional certification/articling purposes), the paid internship/articling is usually longer in order to fit the professional training requirements.

Students applying for paid internship/articling must have a legal right to work in Canada and the relevant documents to prove their work status at the time of their application.

Depending on the student’s profile, the student could work in the following areas:

  • administration,
  • statistical reports,
  • marine matters,
  • rail matters,
  • communication and outreach,
  • information management,
  • IT,
  • research,
  • translation,
  • legal,
  • environmental issues,
  • spill technology,
  • oil spill focused research and development, etc.

The student will be assigned to one Fund or the other, depending on the profile and the needs.

Although our staff is outside of the federal public service, salary is based on student/articling rates paid within the federal government.

The short answer is yes.

Working on-site in our office in downtown Ottawa is the norm.  However, remote work arrangements can be considered.

Our office hosts multiple interns/articling students throughout the year. Over the years the number of students varied between one and eight.

There is no specific deadline for application. However, there may not be an immediate opportunity for the applicant. If the applicant’s profile is of interest for a potential internship/articling opportunity, the time-slot for such internship/articling program may become available only several months later – or even the next year.

Applicants should fill out the application form and send it, with requested supporting documents, by mail, or via email: info@sopf-cidphn.gc.ca.

  • An individual follow-up will be provided to each applicant.