Community Engagement Assistant

hybrid
Saanich-Gulf Islands, BC, Canada .
full-time . May 28, 2025

Description

Compensation: $24/hour, plus vacation pay and sick leave

Preferred start date: Jun 30, 2025

Position duration: 8 weeks, 34 hours per week

Eligibility:

This position is funded by Canada Summer Jobs. Due to funding restriction, the successful applicant must be 30 years or younger on the date of hiring; hold Canadian citizenship, permanent resident or refugee status; and be able to work in the following federal electoral riding:

Saanich-Gulf Islands

About the position:

Are you passionate about the ocean, community building, and taking action on environmental issues? Join us this summer as our Community Organizing Assistant and help us expand our reach across southern Vancouver Island!

In this dynamic role, you’ll support GSA’s public engagement and outreach efforts, connecting directly with community members to raise awareness about the Salish Sea and the issues impacting marine life, as well as our organization more broadly. You’ll be out in the community doing things such as tabling at farmers markets, attending public events, leading group “field trips”, and finding creative ways to engage people in conversations about marine protection and climate action.

You’ll also help amplify our presence online by drafting social media content and blog posts, and tracking your outreach efforts to help us measure impact. You’ll have the freedom to suggest new engagement strategies and visit new places that can help us connect with more people.

This is a great opportunity for someone who:

Loves talking to people and building relationships;
Cares deeply about the environment, especially coastal and marine ecosystems;
Brings creativity and initiative to their work;
Is organized, detail-oriented, and comfortable working independently and as part of a team;
Is open to working a flexible schedule, including some evenings and weekends.

You’ll be supported by a collaborative team and play a key role in helping GSA reconnect with communities, foster grassroots action, and strengthen coastal resilience. Come help us grow a movement for the Salish Sea!

Experience and Qualifications:

We understand that not all experience looks the same, and encourage applicants to share how their experiences relate to any and all the qualities below:

Required:

Strong interpersonal and communication skills; comfortable initiating conversations with the public
Ability to engage and connect with folks of diverse backgrounds, and to take initiative to try new engagement strategies
Ability to effectively participate in, help plan, and organize public events
Interest in environmental issues such as marine protection, climate change, biodiversity, and community resilience
Ability to work independently and as part of a team
Strong organizational skills, including the ability to track activities and manage time effectively
Flexible availability, including some evenings and weekends
Access to transportation across different municipalities
Basic digital skills, including comfort using email, spreadsheets, and social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, etc.)
Helping with the digital campaigns through creation of content, including taking photos of your activities for social media posts, being willing to write short texts for blogs, emails or social media, creating reels, etc.

Assets (not required, but let us know if you have them!):

Experience with community organizing, canvassing, or outreach (volunteer or paid)
Experience tabling at events or supporting public engagement campaigns
Knowledge of or connection to communities on southern Vancouver Island, particularly coastal or Indigenous communities
Familiarity with environmental issues affecting the Salish Sea region
Skills in creative engagement and social media (e.g. photography, storytelling, social media content creation, art, etc.)

We welcome applications from candidates with a wide range of lived experiences and encourage those who are underrepresented in the environmental and nonprofit sectors—including Indigenous, Black, racialized, disabled, 2SLGBTQIA+ folks, and youth from coastal communities—to apply.

Location: The position requires a combination of work done at home/remote and in the field.

About Georgia Strait Alliance:

GSA is focused on protecting the health of the marine environment of the Salish Sea. Grounded in environmental justice, Georgia Strait Alliance mobilizes and supports collective action to protect the Salish Sea region. We do this by:

Building and activating community power through relationship development and capacity building;
Fostering systems transformation by advocating for community-led initiatives;
Connecting people and place through engagement and awareness building; and,
Strengthening organizational health and equity by creating a supportive and safe working environment

Our values of collaboration, caring, courage, accountability, and interconnectedness guide us as we work toward our vision, and the spirit of ‘alliances’ that our founders nurtured is still present within GSA and in the way we work to protect this region.

As a primarily white and settler-led organization, we are committed to change, to recognizing our responsibility to challenge and address harmful patterns in our work, and create a more diverse and equitable organization. We are committed to ensuring that our mission is one that is inclusive of all communities and people, and we look forward to you joining us on this ongoing journey and bringing their unique perspective to our team.

Most of the staff at GSA work from their home offices on the unceded territories of many Coast Salish Nations, and our office is located on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) people (known as Vancouver).

Application process

We are accepting applications until Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at midnight PST. Please submit information about yourself, your lived experience or any information that is important for this application. We will have rolling interviews throughout this process.

GSA strives to ensure that our online application system and recruitment process is as accessible as possible. If at any point during the application and/ or recruitment process we can help make anything more accessible, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at jobs@georgiastrait.org.

Please note we will not be accepting applications via email. If you have any questions about the job posting, please contact us at jobs@georgiastrait.org.

Compensation

$24.00 per hour

Know someone who would be a perfect fit? Let them know!