YOUTH & POLITICS ” A meet up to talk about the mix up”
Written by: Idil Shirdon, MSW Practicum Student
With the federal election around the corner, ActionDignity invited ethnocultural youth for a focus group discussion regarding youth engagement to explore the lessons learned from the 2019 Alberta provincial election.
On June 28, 2019, seasoned community facilitator and ActionDignity volunteer Cesar Cala led 13 youth leaders with varying degrees of civic engagement and diverse ethnocultural backgrounds (East Indian, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Filipino, Somali, South Sudanese, Sudanese, Vietnamese) in a dialogue on youth voter participation.
With the aid of prompting questions, the focus group offered the youth an opportunity to critically reflect on why and how they engage with the electoral process, as well as how they can encourage others to vote. Looking back on the provincial election, many youth shared they participated because they felt they had a strong vested interest in the outcome. The group also shared engaging with the elections by talking with family and friends, researching candidate platforms, participating in political campaigns, and most- voting.
When asked what first encouraged them to vote, youth shared: familial encouragement; conversations with peers; and interactions with organizations like Apathy is Boring that educate Canadian youth about democracy. Without specifying the influence with the greatest impact, the participants additionally shared that youth were more inclined to vote in elections if they were around people who were voting.
As we look forward to the 2019 federal election, ActionDignity wants to continue the conversation. 
On July 26, 2019, our focus group youth leaders will be facilitating a World Café by youth for youth. Reserve your seat at the table today and share your voice by emailing Linh Bui (Linh.Bui@actiondignity.com); and keep a look out for other ActionDignity youth engagement events ahead of October’s federal election.
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