A program participant at Halifax Regional Municipality works at one of the organization’s YouthWORX cafes.Supplied
Dante Samson was already keenly interested in urban planning when he accepted an internship with Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) in 2020. As an undergraduate at Dalhousie University’s School of Planning, he was immersed in the concepts around transportation, urban design and community building. The internship took things to another level.
“I started learning from experts in the field,” he says. “I discovered that I love working with people to come up with meaningful solutions for problems. It’s my bread and butter.”
When HRM offered him a fulltime job after graduation, Samson quickly accepted. Today, he is the transportation demand management planner with the municipality. Halifax isn’t his hometown — he’s from the small community of D’Escousse in Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton’s Isle Madame — but he admits he’s developed a love for his adopted city. “The opportunity to help make HRM a better place to live is a big reason why I stayed,” he says.
As Halifax experiences a period of significant growth, transportation is one of the critical challenges the city faces. Samson spends much of his time looking for solutions to reduce the demand on transportation infrastructure at peak times: studying travel patterns, talking to employers about policies such as flex time and staggered working hours, and working internally with HRM departments including the active transport planning team and the strategic infrastructure team.
“I’ve become very passionate about mobility and the way people move around their city and experience their community,” he says.
Erinn Smeltzer is director of talent management for HRM. She says Samson’s passion for his work is common among the municipality’s young employees. “HRM offers meaningful work that directly impacts many communities,” she says. “There are opportunities for growth, flexibility and innovation. Combine that with the diversity of perspectives that young employees bring and it really strengthens our culture, making it more collaborative and adaptable.”
Halifax Regional Municipality covers an area slightly smaller than the province of Prince Edward Island, with a population of around half a million people. Making sure the municipality works efficiently requires more than 3,600 employees in a host of disciplines.
“We’re not just employees,” says Smeltzer. “We’re also customers who benefit from the services we help deliver. It’s rewarding to have a career that supports priorities like improving public services, fostering sustainability, and promoting inclusivity. Working here means contributing to meaningful change while growing in a collaborative and supportive environment.”
For Samson, HRM’s large operation offers plenty of opportunities to grow as well. “In transportation specifically, the domain where I work, there are positions across the organization that offer different experiences and different levels of responsibility,” he says. “There are a lot of areas where your perspective can allow you to offer unique solutions.”
Flexible hours, work-at-home options, and training and development opportunities all have their appeal. But for Samson, the real satisfaction comes from making a difference in the community he now calls home.
“It’s rewarding to be part of an organization that has a direct impact on the everyday lives of residents and visitors,” he says. “Working here has allowed me to build valuable relationships and develop new ways of thinking. It’s been a great experience so far.”
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