Quebec youth vote much less than older generations, data shows.
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“My vote counts.”
That’s the message non-profit Youth 4 Youth Quebec is trying to convey as it launches a fundraiser to mobilize youth in the province to vote in upcoming municipal, provincial and federal elections.
“There are ways to prepare youth to see themselves as future voters, whether or not they vote in every election,” said Adrienne Winrow, executive director of the group, which aims to address issues facing English-speaking youth in Quebec.
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“Having being a voter as part of your identity is something that I think we need to prioritize for the sake of the future of our democracy.”
Though the organization’s youth forums suggest young people are engaged, youth voter participation in Quebec’s 2022 general elections stood at 54 per cent, the lowest among all age groups. In some regions far from major cities, the participation rate among those between 18 and 24 years old was less than 40 per cent, Élections Québec data show.
Voting is seen “as something optional and that may not have an impact among our youth,” Winrow explained. “There are nationwide studies that show youth reporting feeling that nobody’s really listening to them.”
In 2019, Élections Québec attributed a downward trend in voter participation to new generations who tend not to vote as much as those that preceded them. At the time, Élections Québec suggested democracy education as a solution.
Winrow said most youth who do vote consistently say they learned about politics in high school or took part in mock election or model UN activities.
That wasn’t the case for 30-year-old Montrealer Chelsea Cuffy, who said she remembers learning about Parliament, but not how politics would affect her or how she could become involved.
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Instead, Cuffy mobilized more recently when she began witnessing and encountering issues — like inflation — that led back to politics.
“I’m starting to realize, wow, it is very important to get involved and have a voice,” she said.
Aside from not learning about civic rights and responsibilities in school, Cuffy said she also feels accessibility is an issue for youth, including the language barrier some anglophones in Montreal might experience.
“It makes it extremely hard to get information that’s accessible just in the most basic form,” she said. “There’s also no clear steps as to how to have a voice, how to get heard aside from the major elections. And even then, if you’re already disengaged from the jump because you don’t really understand the platforms, you don’t understand the lingo, then you’re gonna be less inclined to participate.”
Jaden Braves, 15, of Toronto, who recently participated as a panelist during Y4Y Quebec’s annual youth forum, said he thinks one of the main reasons young people aren’t engaged is a lack of civic literacy in provinces across the country.
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“Young people aren’t actually able to engage in their democracies because they don’t have that education, they don’t have that information,” he said.
Braves was nine when he started thinking about politics, though he didn’t have the language to know that’s what it was at the time. Concerned about the environment, he decided to mobilize, later founding an organization called Young Politicians of Canada, whose slogan is “Canada’s hub for youth in democracy.”
He acknowledged that’s not the norm among his peers at school, but stressed that youth involvement in politics is imperative because “we are going to have to take on the failures of today.”
“We’re gonna have to take on the legislation of today, and the decisions,” he said. “When we take that on, we want it to be as sustainable and practical as possible for young people to engage with directly. Our young people need a voice in democracy because we’re so impacted by it.”
Winrow said youth are less likely to receive voter information cards, are less aware of how to register and to vote, impediments that lead to a perception among them that the process itself is difficult.
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“But these are not insurmountable barriers; these are barriers that can be overcome by increasing knowledge about the concrete mechanisms of voting,” but also about politics, she said.
That’s why the goal of the fundraiser is to launch a by-youth, for-youth communication campaign “on the rights and responsibilities of English-speakers in Quebec when it comes to voting in general,” Winrow said.
“Next year will be the beginning of a very important series of election cycles at various levels, so the timing is relevant and important.”
School board elections are this year, following by municipal elections in 2025 and provincial elections in 2026. A federal election is due in 2025 as well.
The goal of the fundraiser is $15,000 in 90 days. The Fonds Mille et UN, a government effort to promote youth initiatives, has agreed to match donations if Y4Y Quebec reaches its goal. If it doesn’t, everyone who donated will be reimbursed and the campaign won’t take place, Winrow explained.
If the project moves forward, English-speaking youth from diverse backgrounds across the province will be hired to put together the information campaign, Winrow explained.
“Youth who are not already engaged citizens will not become engaged citizens unless they see a greater degree of reflection of themselves for any part of their identity in the candidates who are presenting themselves for office, but also in those who are working at polling stations for example at election time, those who are part of campaign messaging about current events and issues that affect them,” Winrow said.
Both Cuffy and Braves have been involved in spreading the word about the fundraiser. For Cuffy, the by-youth, for-youth approach to a future information campaign is key.
“We’re using our own language” and that’s important, she said. “That’s the best way for outreach — just to resonate with the audience as much as possible.”
More information on Y4Y Quebec’s fundraising campaign can be found at y4yquebec.org.
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