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