Are you a student or graduate between 15-30 years of age with an interest in history who loves to unearth and share stories based on real-life and lived lives? We’re looking for you!
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Position Details: 8 weeks (35 hours/week) starting June 15, 2026
Number of Jobs: 1 position available
Wage: $17.50/hour
Organizational Background:
Friends of Sable Island Society is a charitable volunteer-based organization dedicated to the preservation of Sable Island. We promote awareness and education through our website, annual scholarships, and public events such as the bi-annual “Sable Island Conference”. We believe that the island has an amazing capacity to teach people about our world and we seek ways to provide a variety of learning opportunities.
Position Details:
The Archivist Story-Teller will be responsible for researching, collecting and preparing materials for distribution on various historical topics related toSable Island.
The main topic will be the maps over the centuries that feature Sable Island. The Archivist Story-Teller will create a collection of these maps and then write the stories of those early mapmakers and their sponsors – whether that was monarchs, entrepreneurs or military. This would include cartographers from many countries. Another topic is the people who worked on or were family members living on Sable Island prior to Parks Canada taking responsibility. The Archivist Story-Teller will start to collect names and potential story sources. The Archivist Story-Teller will create shareable stories throughout the summer and post them on social media as appropriate. Final stories created by the Archivist Story-Teller will be presented as one or more of the following: blog postings on our website; 2-3minute videos; and, presentation-ready content for classrooms.
The Archivist Story-Teller will work independently between regular check-ins with a supervisor, a volunteer board member of Friends of Sable Island. Much of the work can be done remotely using regular check-ins with the supervisor.
Position Requirements:
- Genuine interest in history
- Self-starter who is comfortable taking steps to remove obstacles before seeking assistance
- Ability to work independently
- Well organized and comfortable setting daily and weekly work goals
- Proficiency with the English language (reading and writing)
- Ability to read/interpret cursive writing
- Provide own access to a computer and internet for recording transcription in digital format and for sharing stories on our website and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter
- Between 15 and 30 years of age (inclusive) on the work start date
- Student in or graduate of a secondary, post-secondary, vocational or technical program
- Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person on whom refugee protection has been conferred under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
- Have a valid Social Insurance Number at the start of employment and be legally entitled to work according to the relevant provincial legislation and regulations
- Not immediate family of a member of the Board of Directors for Friends of Sable Island
Position Assets:
- Currently studying or graduate of history and archeology and/or museum studies, or journalism
- Investigative thinker – one who loves digging into the back stories about history
- Enjoy writing stories to share with others
- Knowledge of social media
- Currently studying or a graduate of a program with a project or event management component
- Experience using Google services, especially shared Google drives
We are committed to the principles of diversity and employment equity and seek to reflect the diverse nature of Canadian society in our hiring process. We encourage Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of a visible minority group to self-identify when you apply.
To Apply:
Please email a resume and cover letter (preferably merged into one file) to info@sableislandfriends.ca by 11:59pm on Sunday May 31, 2026. Please quote “Summer Position – Archivist” in the subject and body of all communications.
Candidates selected for interviews will be asked to provide contact information for at least two references at their interview. Please note that only those candidates selected for interviews will be contacted (no later than Wednesday June 10, 2026).