Engaging youth a priority
Engaging young people in politics is a priority for the PM, write Craig and Marc Kielburger
We thought the roof would rip off on Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre when 16,000 teens at We Day erupted with enthusiastic shrieking normally reserved for homegrown heartthrob Justin Bieber. We had to believe the crowd would simmer down when they realized it was the other Justin taking centre stage. But it turns out Trudeau was the guy they wanted to see.
The fresh-faced prime minister is building bridges to young people, creating a cabinet position specifically for tackling youth issues — and then appointing himself to the role — and planning his own personal council of youth advisers.
If the rest of our country’s newly elected parliament follows Trudeau’s lead, we could truly move the needle on youth employment, a national youth service program, and other issues that young people are so passionate about.
Canada’s teens can’t yet be heard at the ballot box. But they are keen to make their mark. Just look at Harriet Crossfield.
The Vancouver teen discovered that Canadians with disabilities are much less likely to find a job in the private sector than other citizens. Harriet has friends with intellectual disabilities who she met through her school’s Best Buddies program, and she’s convinced they could contribute considerably to the workforce.
Because she’s 17, Harriet assumed there wasn’t much she could do about the problem — until she heard about the Create Your Canada contest.
Don Davies, an MP from Harriet’s Vancouver riding, started soliciting ideas for new laws from senior high school students five years ago for his contest. Students research solutions to issues they care about, like dwindling Pacific salmon stocks and ski hill safety.
“I want young people in my city to know that there’s much more to democracy than just voting,” Davies told us.
Davies and his aides select two winning proposals from about 100 submissions each year, and then draft a bill. On his own dime, Davies flies students who have winning proposals to Ottawa, so they can watch him formally introduce their law in the House of Commons.
Sitting in the gallery above the House of Commons last June, Harriet pinched herself as her bill to create a national employment strategy for people with disabilities passed its first reading.
“The fact my idea was heard by the leaders of the land was so cool,” Harriet told us.
Bills like the one Harriet helped to draft don’t often get far in the law-making process — but they do make an impact in Ottawa. Northern B.C. MP Nathan Cullen is using the contest in his riding. Cullen told us about a Create Your Canada bill on asbestos exports that didn’t pass into law but dramatically shifted NDP and Liberal party policies on this issue, and even swayed two sitting MPs to look further into the issue.
Ilona Dougherty, who founded the Montreal youth engagement organization, Apathy is Boring, in her early 20s, doesn’t blink an eye when she hears innovative ideas coming from young people. “Fifteen to 25 year-old brains are actually wired for invention. The capacity to experiment and take positive risks is a lot higher,” she says.
Dougherty suggests every MP steal the prime minister’s idea of having a youth advisory committee. “If we want smart, audacious new ideas that’s the cohort we need to engage.” We couldn’t agree more. Parents and teachers can encourage teens to ask their local MPs to start a Create Your Canada contest. Guidance counsellors and community leaders can help identify promising young leaders to participate in advisory committees and other opportunities for political engagement.
Almost 200 rookie MPs head home to their ridings this week after a brief first session in the House of Commons. We urge this new group of politicians to connect with, and listen to, the next generation of voters.
MPs are bound to gain lots of inspiration and ideas. And for youth, this could be the best civics lesson ever.