Danielle Pitt

Public service

How Danielle Pitt plays her part as a citizenship and immigration case processing clerk

Danielle Pitt helps those who help others. As a citizenship and immigration case processing clerk at the Case Processing Centre Mississauga (CPC-M), Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), her days are spent ensuring that the federal processing agents on the front lines get the information they need to assist newcomers to Canada.

The Centre is responsible for processing family-class sponsorship applications, and as a Citizenship and Immigration Case Processing Clerk, Pitt has gained experience working with two of CPC-M’s major lines of business: inland spousal sponsorship applications and overseas family-class sponsorship applications. Within both streams, Pitt supports the Case Processing Agents who make final decisions on sponsorship applications.

Over the years, she has been tasked with duties such as data entry, filing, issuing correspondence, generating reports and general database work. 

“I think this is a personal thing to me,” says Pitt. “I was drawn to the public sector and community service as a way of taking care of the citizens of this country and impact people in positive way.”

“I was drawn to the public sector and community service as a way of taking care of the citizens of this country and impact people in positive way.”

Pitt’s path to public service started in a very different direction. Born in Toronto and raised in Oakville, she excelled in marketing and communications technology in high school. “I initially had my sights set on arts and science in university, but when that didn’t work out, I took my natural creative talents and found my way to Sheridan,” says Pitt.

Pitt developed skill sets in Sheridan’s Advertising program that she still finds valuable in the workforce. “I was reserved and quiet when I entered the program, and public speaking wasn’t easy for me,” she says. “There were so many presentations and teamwork that I got a lot of practice speaking in front of people.”

Pitt later honed those skills at Toastmasters, on the recommendation of Judy Suke, a professor of Business Communications. “She was great and a very talented public speaker,” says Pitt. “She started my journey into being confident in that skill.”

Sheridan also played a key role after Pitt’s graduation in 2009. “My experience at Sheridan was a major factor into how I got my first job after school as a marketing production assistant at Staples,” she says

In 2013, Pitt began working for the CPC-M, as a FSWEP student (Federal Student Work Experience Program) and was bridged into a full-time term position in the Client Services Unit at CPC-M after graduating from York University with an Honours B.A. in Communication Studies.

Today, she supports the officers who are directly involved in the decision-making processes at the Citizenship and Immigration office, helping streamline the process of establishing newcomers to Canada as permanent residents.

Pitt also volunteered as Communications Co-ordinator with the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign (GCWCC) while working as a full-time employee, using the graphic design skills she learned at Sheridan to develop promotional materials for the office, advertise and solicit interest in various fundraising events among all staff.

“What really helped me understand and dig into the process of how things work here was grasping the international nature of what we do — I deal with colleagues throughout the world, from Manila to Jamaica to the United Kingdom,” she says.