In the last election, Brampton had a 34% voter turnout rate, and it was even lower for people younger than 30. However, two children are challenging the thought that youngsters aren’t interested in and don’t engage with local politics.
Justin, 7, and Breanna, 10, a brother and sister couple from Brampton have been interviewing local candidates in their home ward of 2/6 to take in more about their jobs and participate in the local democratic process.
The two got inspired when they had questions for their parents about the different roles of candidates in the election, roles which can here and there confound and seem to cover. Breanna and Justin started a YouTube channel to interview local candidates about their roles in the election and to hopefully inspire different children to begin getting interested in politics too.
“We know there are not a lot of kids interested in elections. Most children would state it’s not critical or they wouldn’t care since they can’t cast a ballot. We figure children ought to see how choices are made,” said Breanna and Justin in a meeting with Bramptonist.
The two have been effectively engaging with local candidates thus far they have interviewed with school trustees and candidates in their home ward of 2/6 and even officeholder mayoral candidate Linda Jeffrey.
“We want them to learn how our moms and dads can vote and change things that happen in our city,” they say. “If kids are interested in it now, when they get older they will understand how important it is to vote and by voting you can make changes.”
