Picture the scene: It’s 5:52 p.m. on a Monday night for a pair of young, North Shore parents.
Work was rough. Traffic worse. The kids are apparently trying to hold a no-holds barred wrestling extravaganza in the basement, we’re almost out of milk, and did you just say your 10-page report on John A. Macdonald is due tomorrow?
It’s unlikely any rational human would suggest swinging by a municipal chambers to check out the council meeting on a night like that, notes Murray Mollard.
“One of the challenges that I experience, and I think anybody who’s out in the community and going to public events . . . public meetings, council hearings, public consultations led by local governments, it’s hard to find people who are under 40 at those events actually voicing their views,” he says. “They’re not necessarily able to get to a city council meeting on Monday nights at 6 p.m. and that’s kind of when it happens.”
Mollard, executive director of North Shore Community Resources, is trying to find a way to help young people to take a more active part in municipal politics beginning Thursday night.
Mollard is organizing Young Ideas for the North Shore. Beginning at 6:30 p.m., the two-hour forum is intended to reach out to adults between 18 and 39 who live, work or study on the North Shore.
“They’re just uncertain about: what are the opportunities and whether their voices are going to be heard,” he says.
Child-minding subsidies are available, he adds.
The movement to involve more young people is partially the result of working with Generation Squeeze founder Paul Kershaw, who discussed the economic challenges facing young Canadians in a forum held in spring 2017.
Noting that “hard work doesn’t pay like it used to,” Kershaw focused on the particularly high real estate prices in North and West Vancouver and the importance of getting involved in politics.
“You don’t need to have deep pockets to affect electoral politics,” he said at the time.
“For younger people they were finding it a challenge and (were) uncertain about how to plug in and participate and how to influence decision making,” Mollard says.
The upcoming forum is about ensuring that voice – too often absent – gets stronger, Mollard says.
“We need younger voices at the table and as part of the conversation when we’re making decisions in the community about the present and the future,” he says. “We need their voices because we know that many of those decisions are going to impact them . . . as much if not more than older generations.”
The forum will largely focus on government process and how that process could be improved to “make sure that younger voices are included in the decision making,” he says.
There are some reasons to see the tide turning as all three North Shore councils have at least one councillor under the age of 40. On the City of North Vancouver council, the average age of a newly-elected councillor is more than eight years younger than it was in 2014.
However, Mollard is adamant that the success or failure of the forum will ultimately rest with the people who show up.
“We’re just convening this,” he says. “Ultimately, we’re going to rely on the voices and the ideas of the young people that are part of this project.”
NSCR is also holding its annual general meeting Nov. 20. The event is set to feature former City of North Vancouver mayor Darrell Mussatto, who is slated to: “reflect on the past and imagine what the future holds for the City of North Van but also the North Shore,” Mollard says.
Young Ideas for the North Shore is slated to be held at 2220 Dollarton Highway in North Vancouver. The event is free but seating is limited. Registration is available through Eventbrite.
