Skye McMenemy: Junior Policy Analyst

Meet Skye McMenemy!

In January 2020, Skye joined Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation Directorate as a Junior Policy Analyst, and works out of the Nation’s capital. Creating a more inclusive and sustainable future for generations to come motivates Skye to work hard. In 2020, Skye had the opportunity to help develop and launch the first virtual and largest Indigenous Awareness Week in the department’s history! She finds it especially validating when colleagues share their feedback after an awareness activity or training opportunity. From learning something new, to finding a speaker moving, or vowing to take their new knowledge and apply it to their work, are powerful motivators for Skye.  

Skye values the many opportunities to learn at ECCC. Whether it is from seminars or discussions, her colleagues, or Elders and other Indigenous peoples in the department, every opportunity has contributed to learning more about herself as an Indigenous person, and being a life-long learner. In Skye’s short time with the department, she has seen steady growth in Indigenous awareness and hopes that this momentum continues in order to foster more change.

Here are some random facts about Skye:

• What was your first job? Working a newspaper route.
• If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be? I would love to visit Bhutan as the world’s only carbon negative country.
• What is your favourite game or sport to watch and play? I’m not really a sports person, but I like watching sporting events in the finals and feeding off the energy of the fans.
• Would you rather ride a bike, ride a horse, or drive a car? Ideally, I’d rather drive an electric car.
• If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? Too many possible options…but tacos for the versatility.
• If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to? Before 1991, so I could meet my grandma and great-nana.
• What are your hobbies? Reading, binge watching TV, travelling.
• What is your favourite flavour of ice cream? Bubblegum.
• How many pairs of shoes do you own? Too many.
• If you were a super-hero, what powers would you have? Teleportation so I could travel anywhere whenever and with no carbon footprint.
• What form of public transportation do you prefer? (air, boat, train, bus, car, etc.) Boats, I love being out on the water.
• What's your favourite zoo animal? Wolves, but not caged at the zoo.
• Summer or winter? Summer.
• If you could share a meal with anyone, living or dead, who would it be? Jonathan Van Ness.
• What's your favourite holiday? Halloween! My whole family gets into the spooky vibes.
• What's your favourite fast food? A&W.
• Do you love or hate rollercoasters? Love them.
• What's your favourite movie? Hocus Pocus.
• Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Finished with school and with lots more travel stories.