‘It’s a major issue’: Conference looks to engage Millennials in civic politics

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – They can often seem uninterested with local politics so, with civic elections just over a month away, how do you get young people, especially Millennials, to vote?

The Forum for Millennial Leadership, or FML, happening in Vancouver today aims to tackle that very problem.

“It’s a major issue. Millennials don’t see themselves in municipal politics,” explains Dr. Grace Lore with the University of Victoria. “I don’t think they hear people talking to them about the issues they face, so I think they’re a little more tapped-out.”

Lore, one of the many speakers at the forum, is in the running for a seat on Victoria’s city council next month, and she herself is a member of said demographic. She says getting younger people more involved has been one of her campaign’s major objectives.

She says it’s not surprising Millennials have such low voter turnout — they’re busy.

“They are also, of course, going to school, trying to figure out how to secure and keep housing in this market, and many are raising really young kids. So this calls into the big steps to engaging Millennials in this process.”

It’s important to make these younger people understand why it’s important for them to vote and take part, Lore says. But that might be difficult when Millennials don’t feel like politics — on a municipal level — reflect their interests.

“This conference is looking to change this and make it clear why this level of government should and must matter,” she tells NEWS 1130. “I think if people don’t see themselves at that table, if they don’t hear the issues that they’re grinding away at in their lives, then the connection between themselves and this level of government may not be clear despite it being the closest one to us.”

The idea, she adds, is that getting more people from this generation elected would then in turn encourage more to pay attention to issues and get and stay involved in the the political system — which all starts with voting.

“If we elect more Millennials, we will see a positive cycle of engagement and participation. And I think that will be especially true if we see a group of elected Millennials who are more diverse, who reflect their gender, and racial, and ethnic diversity of our cities.”

The forum is being held at the Vancouver Convention Centre. A list of business and community leaders, municipal election candidates, provincial politicians and a number of other personalities are slated to speak at the conference.

Election day is Saturday, Oct. 20 across B.C.

With files from John Ackermann

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