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  • Home
  • Campus views
  • Thought leaders
    • Natural Resources
    • Democratic Institutions
    • Pluralism
    • Canada in the world
    • Building healthy communities
    • Innovation
What do we want Canada to be?

CAMPUS VIEWS

Are young Canadians actually cynical, self-centred and disengaged, as stereotypes and media narratives often suggest? Or, rather, is the reality that our political system ignores youth — not the other way around? What would Canada be like in 20 years if young people were in charge?

These are the questions 10 student journalist fellows set out to explore on their campuses in western Canada. They interviewed hundreds of students to learn what issues most mattered to them. Then they produced in-depth investigations into how Canada could realize the futures envisioned by their campus communities.

What did they learn? Start by reading editor Tari Ajadi’s story “Why Possible Canadas: Are young people really disengaged in politics?” and student fellow Arno Rosenfeld’s article “A vision from the future: Canada in 2035, if young people were in charge.” Then explore each student fellow’s article about how we, as a country, can get to that future. (The features will be published over the next three weeks.)

And join the conversation. Tell us about your vision for the future by using #PossibleCanadas on Twitter or by texting “Canada” to 778 762 0809.

  • Why Possible Canadas? The real reason youth don't engage in politics
    Tari Ajadi
    anemptytextlline
    Too often we leave entire groups out of national conversations. One perspective obviously missing from the campaign discourse? The stewards of this future Canada. What better way to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday than to rethink how we discuss our future?
    Read more
  • A vision from the future: Canada in 2035, if young people were in charge
    Arno Rosenfeld
    anemptytextlline
    It is October 2035, and how times have changed during the past two decades. Youth were fed up with the gulf between their image of what Canada should be and its reality, and the government’s arrogance during the Great Baseball Expulsion of 2015 was the last straw.
    Read more

We want Canada to be...

  • The same
    Kevin Rey
    Simon Fraser University
    Where are we now?
  • Engaged
    Michaela Catherine Slinger
    Quest University Canada
    How do we bridge the engagement gap?
  • Environmentally conscious
    Chris Adams
    University of Calgary
    How Affordable Housing Can Reduce Emissions
  • A community
    Cameron Raynor
    University of Alberta Augustana Campus
    How do we build community in our cities?
  • Representative
    Alexander Kim
    University of British Columbia
    How can Indigenous voices be better represented in the media?
  • Employed
    Chandler Walter
    Langara College
    How can we make bachelor’s degrees worth it for students?
  • Reformed
    Josie Lukey
    Mount Royal University
    How do we change who we’re really voting for?
  • Reconciled
    Kate Black
    University of Alberta
    Can universities lead the movement towards reconciliation?

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

What do YOU want Canada to be? Start by texting “Canada” to 778 762 0809.


Tweet us at #PossibleCanadas

Contributing Partners


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Partners’ support does not imply endorsement of views represented in the articles.


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CREDITS

Produced by DISCOURSE MEDIA | Editor TARI AJADI | Contributing editors ERIN MILLAR, COLLEEN KIMMETT & CHRISTINE MCLAREN | Web development CAITLIN MILLAR | Engagement NELLY BOUEVITCH | Design MAGGIE CASPAR | Audio ALEXANDER KIM | Reporting ARNO ROSENFELD, KEVIN REY, CHRIS ADAMS, MICHAELA CATHERINE SLINGER, CAMERON RAYNOR, JOSIE LUKEY, CHANDLER WALKER, ALEXANDER KIM & KATE BLACK
Join the conversation on Twitter using hashtag #PossibleCanadas.

About

Possible Canadas is a partnership of diverse organizations that share the goal of supporting forward-looking conversations about the future of Canada. The project is produced by Discourse Media and Reos Partners, in collaboration with RECODE and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation. Partners’ support does not imply endorsement of the views represented. Contact us at possiblecanadas@discoursemedia.org.

/wp-content/Possibilities.mp3
©2015 Discourse Media - Collaborative solutions journalism

From 1870 to 1996, more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were placed in residential schools and forbidden to speak their language and practice their culture. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) estimates there are 80,000 former students living today, and that the ongoing impact of residential schools are a major contributor to challenges facing modern Aboriginal populations.

Canada’s TRC is one of many commissions worldwide to undertake revealing and resolving past wrongdoings, mostly by governments. Other examples include:

South Africa

In 1996, President Nelson Mandela authorized a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to study the effects of apartheid in South Africa. The commission allowed victims of human rights violations to give statements about their experiences, but also allowed perpetrators of violence to request amnesty from criminal prosecution.

Argentina

The National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons, initiated in 1983, investigated human rights violations, including 30,000 forced disappearances, committed during the Dirty War.

Guatemala

The Historical Clarification Commission was created in 1994 in an effort to reconcile Guatemala after a 36-year civil war. The commission issued a report in 1999 which estimated that more 200,000 people were killed or disappeared as a result of the conflict.

In June, the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission released 94 “calls to action” to “redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation.”

The scope of recommendations range from child welfare to education to Indigenous language rights, and has recommendations targeted for private and public spheres of Canadian life alike. The document calls upon law schools in Canada to require all students to take a course in Aboriginal people and the law, for example. Notably, the document calls upon the federal government to appoint a public inquiry into the causes of, and remedies for, the disproportionate victimization of Aboriginal women and girls.  

The 11-page document can be read here.             

http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf

MMP

STV

Canada’s employment statistics are much better now than they were 20 years ago. In 2012 for example, 61.8% of working-age Canadians were employed as opposed to 58.7% in 1995. The unemployment rate has gone down from 9.5% in 1995 to 6.8% in 2014. Youth unemployment has gone down too, from 16.1% to 13.5% in the same time period. The outlier in these trends is labour force participation, or the amount of working-age Canadians who are either employed, or unemployed and looking for work. Right now, participation is at the lowest rate since the year 2000, mainly because the “baby-boomer” generation is moving towards retirement. Read more about that here.

Housing preferences among Millennials, however, tend towards smaller, higher density housing close to activities, signs that changing economic realities and the generation shift will create more demand for housing in compact, walkable neighbourhoods.

Belfry-Munroe suspects that youth disinterest has to do with political parties. “There’s been a lack of engagement one-on-one with people since the 1970s, and a greater focus on mass media and now things like social media,” says Belfry-Munroe. “The other thing is that parties have become uncool,” she continues, “and I think that getting excited about the election without parties is like getting excited about the World Series without the teams. If you weren’t excited about the Blue Jays, you would not be concerned about the World Series.”

To extend this analogy, young Canadians currently aren’t even interested in baseball. What could work to change this would be getting other types of fans — soccer, golf, darts, you name it — engaged in baseball due to their passion for sports in general. Politically, this is the bridge that is missing for youth. The Blue Jays don’t matter if youth are removed from sports. Similarly, political parties and leaders would have little relevance if youth are removed from electoral politics.

“The generational effect is even larger [than the life cycle effect]. At the same age, turnout is 3 or 4 points lower among baby boomers than it was among pre-baby boomers, 10 points lower among generation X than it was among baby boomers, and another 10 points lower among the most recent generation than it was among generation X at the same age.”

— An excerpt from “Why Was Turnout So Low?” in Anatomy of a Liberal Victory by Andre Blais, Elisabeth Gidengil, Richard Nadeau and Neil Nevitte.

Rock The Vote also published a Youth Voter Strategy Report in 2007 that compiled many scholarly findings on this subject. You can find that here.

According to Elections Canada, “people are less likely to cast a ballot if they feel they have no influence over government actions, do not feel voting is an essential civic act, or do not feel the election is competitive enough to make their votes matter to the outcome, either at the national or the local constituency level.” Read more here.

The trend of youth voter disengagement persists across much of the developed world. According to the Economist, for example, in 2010 just 44 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 voted in Britain’s general election compared to 76% of those aged 65 and over. America saw its lowest voter turnout ever in its 2014 midterm elections, where just 19.9 per cent of young people voted, compared to an overall turnout rate of 36.4 per cent. This trend tends to change, however, when charismatic politicians reach out to youth. According to Politico, Barack Obama would have lost the 2012 American presidential election without youth voting — overwhelmingly for him. Read more here.


 

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