Public Interest Articling Fellowships Ontario

[undertheC]

I thought I'd start a thread to learn more information about the Public Interest Articling Fellowships in Ontario. From my understanding there are a select few organizations that receive funding to host an articling student for 10 months (https://lawfoundation.on.ca/apply/fellowships/public-interest-articling-fellowship/). The organizations seem amazing and I'd love to learn more about this process. I recognize Ottawa recruit is over, and Amnesty International and other Ottawa-based orgs would've sent out their offers by now, but I'm curious to find out more details about these positions. (Toronto is still left and cool orgs like the CCLA, Barbra Schlifer, LEAF, Canada Without Poverty etc will be hiring).

• How competitive are these positions? I recognize there's only one student hired per org, but does anyone know how many applicants usually apply to each position? (Ex. how many on average apply to Amnesty?)
• How many of these organizations actually consider students outside of their existing networks? I've heard for example Ecojustice is very much an echo chamber of hiring their own summer students or students who have worked in their own legal clinics.
• Does anyone know what interviews are like for these? Firm interviews seem very specific of a conversation, but are these more substantive law/behavioural questions? Does it vary per organization?
• How important are grades for these positions or do you think the commitment to public interest carries more weight?
• In your opinion, is it worth it (if you're interested in public interest law) to take any of these positions considering they don't usually hire you back?

Any thoughts or info on these positions would be greatly appreciated!