Should Prince George create a youth city council?

Brought forward by Manaaim Somani and Fouad Agha, the Director of Operations and Director of Placements with the Young Politicians of Canada, the proposed youth city council would act as a separate council that would collaborate and work with City Council at its meetings. The presentation said the council would “research and draft youth-focused policy recommendations,” “organize events to address youth issues,” and more.

“There’s a lot of lasting impacts that will take place over the next 20 to 30 years, which means that the youth will be the ones facing those impacts. So this could be about sustainability, which is a side effect of practically every policy that takes place,” Somani said, on the importance of a youth council.

“It’s not just about the youth being involved because they should be involved, but it’s because they need to be involved. It’s because they need to say what they think, because a lot of the times there are these issues where they’re the only people who are affected, so the solution to those issues can’t really be drafted without their input because they’re the ones going through it,” he continued.

Among other examples, Somani cited the federal ruling of Bill C-63, the online harms act, which he said had several unintended consequences. He believes if the youth were consulted this act may have been implemented in a way that these consequences could be avoided, as he says youth spend significantly more time on devices than older people so that perspective could have been incredibly helpful.

“The people who were drafting Bill C-63 weren’t the youth, meaning that they were they were blindsiding a lot of areas and they were getting a lot of blame for it. But that wasn’t fair because they can’t really get blamed for something that they don’t understand,” Somani said.

“We need to get more youth to participate in politics through various the committees, they might have a different view because at the end of the day, it is for them. Whatever we do, they’re going to be inherit our decisions,” Yu said.

Beyond having the youth play a role in shaping their own future, Somani and Yu both add this would be a fantastic mentoring opportunity. Somani adds this is an especially timely issue, as he says people running for office is decreasing, and in order to have suitable leaders in the coming generations, the youth of today have to learn to become the leaders of tomorrow.

“With the youth city council, what they get is a low stakes opportunity, but they’re still able to make an impact. They’re able to understand how council works, the different considerations, the different methods, experience that live,” Somani said.

“It is always my wish that somehow we will have a good mentoring program from the city council, to start a youth council in the city,” Yu said.

All of City Council agreed getting the youth involved in politics and the City’s decision making is a great idea, but how to go about it became a point of discussion. Councillor Cori Ramsay likes the idea of a mentorship program, but not youth council specifically. Councillor Kyle Sampson shares similar views, as he believes there are better ways to have the youth voice and involvement implemented than a youth council.

“I think young people should get involved in politics. I think it’s important that council reflects our community and we have people of all different backgrounds, ages, experiences, all sorts of different folks around the table. And I want to encourage young people to be part of that. I just don’t know if I think the youth council model is the right way, I think it’s a little archaic,” Sampson said.

“I think Councilor (Tim) Bennett used the term the ‘kids table.’ I don’t want that. I want folks who represent our community at the table. We only need one table,” he continued.

Whether or not the youth council is formed, Somani and Agha’s presentation was very well received, as City Council was strongly in favour of youth involvement. As for whether this will be through youth council or not, Somani said he believes in “and, not or,” and would still be happy to see youth get involved in local politics through any means, even if it isn’t specifically a youth council.

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by Tommy Osborne

Should Prince George create a youth city council?

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