From newscaster to city hall for communications grad

Christy Poirier was on the job with the City of Vernon, BC for about six months when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

And then, like thousands of government officials across the country, she had to scramble.

A former broadcast journalist who had been hired in fall 2019 to be the Okanagan town’s manager of communications and grants, she soon found herself developing safety signage for city parks and other public spaces; keeping up to date on internal staff communications; and even designing T-shirts for staff to wear that carried health and safety reminders.

Even without the challenges of the pandemic, her job leading a two-person communications department is demanding and multifaceted. She’s in charge of communications for fire and rescue services, recreation, finance, operations, planning and the mayor’s office. She also assists the tourism team and handles media relations and strategic communications planning as well as overseeing the city’s web presence, marketing and advertising.

“It’s kind of that full-scope position where you’re touching every corner of the organization all the time,” says Poirier, a native of Cranbrook, BC.

She says her background in radio and TV journalism in places such as Medicine Hat, AB instilled in her an ability to handle whatever is thrown at her. In Vernon, that has included everything from wildfires to public health emergencies. And she credits her time at Royal Roads University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Communication (BAPC), for preparing her for the fast-moving world of government communications.

“You’re doing things in a professional communication role that you likely didn’t think would fall on your plate,” she says.

“In professional communication now, in this context, you have to be a Jack- or Jill-of-all-trades… You have to be able to be super adaptable and know what the function is of every type of communication so you can jump in at a moment’s notice and be able to help guide the ship in a way that’s going to be meaningful and impactful for that moment but also sustainable for what’s going to be coming down the line.”

Poirier, who was recipient of the RRU Chancellor’s Award in 2019 for BAPC (for having achieved the highest academic performance), says she learned both from professors and other students in her cohort, who hailed from a variety of backgrounds: journalism, yes, but also health and sciences, and arts and culture.

“They come from everywhere and they can go anywhere,” she says of her former classmates.

The BAPC program is “not for the faint of heart,” she notes.

“If you want to do this, you have to be prepared to dig in and put in the time, but it is well worth it…it does prepare you. I’m just a huge champion for Royal Roads and what they do,” she says, referring to both regular programs and the research conducted by faculty and students, and adding she has reconnected with the university post-graduation to provide some consulting and even to work as a teaching assistant on two courses.

“Royal Roads has this motto to be ‘Life Changing,’ and it literally was life-changing for me. I could not do the work that I’m doing today as proficiently or as well if I didn’t have that training.”

Indeed, Poirier was recruited for her current job while still in school, completing a practicum that she called “a really long job interview,” then starting in Vernon about a week after her schooling finished, and six months later, a pandemic began.