Easing into Public Service in Scientific Research
As a public servant at the Research Branch of Agriculture Canada in Ottawa, I had little direct communication or contact with the public, which was handled mainly by management made up of administrators who had various previous research experiences. Because of bureaucratic reasons, I was soon sent to take full-time French classes to fulfill the bilingual requirement (at the intermediate level) of the specific position. Luckily, I satisfied this requirement on passing the first exam in the shortest possible time. …..