City Clerk visits schools to engage youth in local politics

As part of Local Government Week, City Clerk Krista Power is visiting Thunder Bay schools to raise student awareness of local government’s functions.

Power kicked off Monday morning with a visit to Westgate CVI, where she gave grade 10 Civics students a presentation focused on municipal politics.

The theme of Power’s presentation was encouraging young people to get interested and involved in municipal politics.

“The number of voters that we see between the ages of 18 and 30 is consistently declining,” says Power.

“We try to help them understand and potentially bring it home to their families for discussion that they’re going to engage with a municipal service every day when they turn on their water, when they put out their garbage, when they go to swimming lessons, and our thirteen members of Council are the ones that make those decisions,” Powers explains.

Power took advantage of October’s Halloween spirit by using candy as an incentive for encouraging student participation in the discussion.

“It was interesting seeing how everything worked and how the council works together to be able to decide the laws,” says grade 10 Westgate student Joseph Beaudrow.

Beaudrow, a civics student who listened to the presentation, says he he plans to vote when he’s of age. He feels it is important for students to learn about the political process: “If they’re unhappy with how things are, and if they don’t decide to try to fix it, then nothing’s gonna happen. They’re just gonna continue to be unhappy,” he says.

Lia Sarti is a classmate of Beaudrow. She also feels young people should pay attention to the political process “for later on in life, when this generation is at that point where they’re needing to vote and make decisions about who they want in charge, and if they want to be a part of that as well.”

Thunder Bay’s next municipal election is slated for October 2026.

Power says the city will continue to make efforts to encourage a higher youth voter turnout for the next election. She feels youth turnout is low due to a perceived lack of impact.

“People don’t see the power in their one vote, and they look at it as ‘I’m just one person and it can’t make a difference,'” Power remarks. In the presentation, Power brought up scenarios where a small number of votes changed the result, including in the most recent federal election.

“They have the ability to potentially change the outcome of an election,” Power says. “And I think people think about their vote as singular instead of the power that it potentially holds when people come together.”