How young voices build strong democracy

[Music]

as a young activist

i am often told that one day i’m going

to change

the world i’m a gen zer

the generation succeeding millennials

and preceding generation alpha

now they say that we’re on track to be

the most

well-educated generation yet being more

ethnically and racially diverse

than any previous generation

we are also the first social

generation meaning we have no memory of

a world before

the internet or smartphones

and maybe because of this

we will also become a generation of

influencers

who can accelerate the actions needed to

take on some of the world’s most

pressing

issues over the past two years i’ve had

the amazing opportunity

to work with some of the most amazing

young people in a local climate strike

group

called our earth our future

it’s completely youth run

in my first meeting i was astonished to

see that for once i wasn’t the youngest

person in the room

my group was able to single-handedly

mobilize over 20

000 people to the streets of victoria

british columbia

and we spent most of our time together

empowering each other’s ideas

or developing new ones together

and we had some pretty big dreams we

wanted to

defeat climate change an inclusive way

we wanted to empower young people across

the world

to fight for their futures and to

understand

the power they have with their voice and

their vote

which leads us to our biggest idea

year olds should have the right to vote

voting habits established early will

usually stay with us

for life i didn’t make that up you can

google it yourself

now voting in canada has changed with

the times with

the right being given to women in 1918

and the voting age being lowered from 21

to 18

in 1970. now

i’m sure when that age was initially

proposed there was

tons of pushback and feedback and

reasons why 18 year olds couldn’t

possibly

be responsible enough to vote

even though they could legally enlist to

fight in a war

at the time now today’s 16 year olds

aren’t fighting any wars but

they can drive a car they can drop out

of school

we can even be tried in a canadian court

as an adult

16 year olds pay taxes like everyone

else but

they have no say in where that money

goes or what the government does with it

and yet with all of that

our voices are silenced by an inability

to participate in a system

that affects our futures daily

i know that i’m standing on the

shoulders of others who have

successfully changed the voting system

in the past

but i believe that there are good

reasons as to why we are ready

for the next change

yet this begs the question

are 16 year olds even ready to vote

did i just hear a bit of a collective

inhale there

16 they don’t even take the garbage out

without being told they cannot be

trusted to participate in our democracy

and yeah it’s probably true that a lot

of 16 year olds aren’t as educated in

politics as others

but let’s be honest that’s true for any

age group

yet one of the biggest barriers to

lowering the voting age is still this

perceived lack of knowledge and

education that comes with age

so the easiest way to change this

perception

is education

by letting 16 and 17 year olds vote we

can maximize those effects of those

lifelong voting habits i mentioned

earlier

by engaging 16 year olds while they’re

still in school

taking civics classes not only will this

create a familiarity with voting

but it means that information about it

will be at every student’s fingertips

it would make sense then being 16 or 17

years old

learning about democracy in school but

also participating in it

in real time

would aligning our voting habits and

education not

serve us well for future election

success

and trust me my age group’s voting

habits could really

use some improvement on average

only 6 out of 10 young canadians those

aged 18 to 24

voted in the last three federal

elections

that’s the lowest percentage of any

other

age demographic established voting

habits for my group

could have a huge impact

i certainly know that one of the main

reasons i am as engaged and political as

i am today

is my due to my education

i’ve been given the opportunity to

enroll in a program at my high school

called institute for global solutions or

igs as we call it

and i’ve watched so many graduates go on

to do amazing things

so unique about igs is that we are given

the opportunity to

study the canadian political system in

depth

which of course only ignited my own

research and in this research

i learned this key fact that voting

habits established early

will usually stay with us for life

now i know that some 16 year olds might

not be

as educated around politics as others

but

everyone has a different passion for me

it’s

obviously politics but for someone else

it might be

a sport or an art form even a field of

study

but what they all have in common is that

voting in some way

affects them and i believe that if we

can educate everyone

on just how they’re being impacted we

will all begin to understand

the power we have with our voice and our

vote

and our politicians can play a role here

too

it does seem that political campaigns

are far more interested in gauging those

who

already vote than those like me who

haven’t even cast our first ballot yet

i’d suggest that there’s a wonderful

opportunity for politicians to engage

with us

earlier and to foster a sort of

curiosity and understanding within us

after all we’re all going to become

voters eventually

but we don’t automatically become

engaged and informed

the day we turn the magic age of 18.

my research also led me to an

organization called vote 16

and like the name sounds it is their

goal to support the efforts of those

trying to extend voting rights

to 16 and 17 year olds

and they have groups across the world

including here in canada

where they’re teaching us all the

importance of politics

and the power we have with our voice and

our vote as a young activist

i am often told that one day i am going

to change the world

and i would like to start that change

right now

and i know i’m not alone there are

thousands of young

people standing up sharing the same

message as i am

and it’s not just my generation’s

responsibility

we all have a role in creating a

flourishing democracy in canada

and it can start by educating everyone

on the importance of politics and the

power we have

with our voice and our vote

because i know that gen z is different

not because each generation before us

didn’t want to be engaged or

have issues that they wanted to make

change in

maybe it’s gen z’s social reach and

access to technology

maybe it’s our diversity and willingness

to change

either way we are ready to participate

to participate in a democracy where

innovation and knowledge

have no age barrier

so yes i may just be

15 years old but i’m a 15 year old

standing up here as a proof of concept

that my generation

is ready to participate we just need you

to vote us in so we can start

establishing those voting habits early

habits that will usually stay with us

for life

thank you

you