OPINIONS
May 30, 2022
5
POLITICAL CORNER
Lower the voting age already! Young citizens are already engaged in the political process
O LIVIA V I S SER // STAF F W RI TE R
What gives someone the right to vote? Or, what gives us the right to deny others the privilege? The case for restricting the voting age to 18 and up lies in the belief that adolescents lack the judgment required for voting decisions; this couldn’t be further from the truth. Young people are valuable members of society, and should be given the same legal voting rights as adults. It’s not that young Canadians are apathetic about politics. A nationwide youth survey of Canadians aged 10 to 24 found that 88% of participants had thought about who they would vote for in the previous election. A pervasive myth, one respondent suggests, is that older generations consider young Canadians too immature, careless, or deluded to engage in the political process. But that same respondent reminds us that “every generation has people that are all of those things.” If the voting age depends on someone’s involvement in society, then 16 year olds should definitely have the right to vote. Many adolescents have “adult responsibilities” like caretaking, working, and paying bills. Moreover, young people (and their children) will be around the longest to experience the effects of policy-making. A recent study published in
Young people deserve a say in the issues that affect them.
PHOTO: Vincent M.A. Janssen / Pexels
Science found children born in 2020 will experience a “two to seven fold” increase in extreme climate events, compared with those born in 1960. Shouldn’t youth have a say in policies that will impact their futures?
of voting, or not, based on experience in their first few elections.” When Austria lowered its federal voting age, the rate of first-time voters was much higher among 16–17 year olds, compared with 18–20 year olds.
Research by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that young citizens are passionate about social issues, and largely hold different views from previous generations. Climate change is one of the leading issues driving youth political involvement, yet adolescents still aren’t allowed to express their beliefs by voting. Instead, we see young activists driving social change. The School Strike for Climate movement was likely the largest climate protest in history, and it was led by student activists. How’s that for political engagement?
The movement to change the federal voting age from 18 to 16 is growing rapidly across the country. In December 2021, a group of young Canadians took the government to court. They argued the voting age restriction violates their Charter rights, which include the right to vote. The Canadian Senate is also discussing the issue. Recently, the NDP launched a bill to lower the voting age. MP Jagmeet Singh said he feels that democracy is threatened as reasoning to grant youth the right to vote.
We also know that political involvement in younger age groups leads to future involvement. Scholar Mark N. Franklin argued that “voting is a habit” and “people learn the habit
We’ve already seen successful campaigns to lift voting restrictions for women, Indigenous people, and Asian Canadians. Young people, with their unique perspectives, should be the next bloc of Canadian voters to join the franchise.
PERFORMATIVE CHANGE
SFU often takes credit for achievements by progressive student movements SFU plays progressive only once the real progressives have forced the school into action
LUK E FAULKS // OPI NI O NS E D I TO R
Here’s something that never fails to be a crowd-pleaser: powerful institutions claiming to be progressive after being shamed into progressive action. And what’s even better? When that same institution fakes good cheer when thanking the activists that held its feet to the fire. Many thanks for doubledipping on all that, SFU. Last year, SFU350 got the school to fully divest itself of investments into planet-warming, emissions-intensive industries. That’s great! After eight years of protesting, and after having been threatened for an inoffensive mural on Convocation Mall, a student-advocated policy change was underway. Except you wouldn’t know it from the school’s selfcongratulatory press release. The divestment announcement overconfidently talked up the school’s “strong record of increasing commitment since 2014” — an assertion that, if true, would have negated the need for SFU350’s ultimately successful divestment movement. More to the point, the release then proceeded to bury the group responsible for applying progressive pressure by mentioning SFU350 at
SFU should be active instead of responsive when it comes to advocacy work.
ILLU STRATION: Amy Guo / The Peak
the bottom of the page, towards the end of a lengthy list of organizations. Plus, I kid you not, “SFU350” is styled incorrectly. And of course, this isn’t a one-off.
“The university would like to acknowledge and thank these individuals, student groups, and SFU350, for advocating for responsible investment and divestment over the past eight years.”
Last year, SFU’s Senate approved the hiring of 15 Black tenured professors in a huge step forward for representation on campus. In quotes to The Peak and CBC, SFU president Joy Johnson celebrated the Senate’s approval of the motion. When speaking to The Peak, she said, “The motion approved by the Senate is an important step forward as we work to ensure Black faculty, staff, and students feel included.” But, again, the movement is the result of tireless work toiling on the part of Black folks to get the motion across.
Advocating against your program. Advocating for better than what you gave them. And yes, “Eight years.” This after they felt they had to go on a hunger strike because you didn’t listen to them. “Eight years.” It’s an admonition unto itself. Why celebrate your policy shift when your own press release slights the group that demanded the shift had to fight for nearly a decade to get it passed?
And then when groups are explicitly thanked, it either reduces the work of the group, or they're mentioned in passing. Listen to this one when SFU announced a plan for responsible investment:
Listen up, school. We all feel bad when we’re called out on bad behavior. But if you don’t want to be made to feel crappy about your policy missteps, don’t wait so long that students have to spend years advocating for positive change. Just go ahead and do it yourself.
