mayor Donna Reardon

A project presented to Saint John’s city council could encourage more youth to participate in municipal politics.

At Monday’s meeting, Harbour View High School student Kyle Jacquard proposed the creation of a youth council.

A youth council is a formal group of young people designed to provide advice, perspectives and input to governing bodies, organizations or issues affecting a community.

Jacquard came up with the idea alongside classmate Keegan Doiron, who was not present for the presentation.

He said the initiative was born as a project for his Grade 10 civics class, which required students to complete a civic act in their communities as part of the course.

Jacquard said he and Doiron decided to develop the project to provide an “outlet” for youth interested in learning about government after noticing a lack of engagement from younger people in Saint John municipal politics.

Jacquard added that the council could allow kids to have a voice in what happens in the municipality.

“It can do a lot of good,” he said. “It can do a great deal to a city or a community to allow them to build together, to allow youngsters to build together.”

Jacquard took inspiration from other cities that have youth councils, including Fredericton, Moncton and Grand Bay–Westfield.

He proposed the council be composed of youth at least in Grade 9 with leadership qualities, a willingness to work in a team environment and an interest in community engagement.

He said the council could be implemented by distributing applications to schools, organizing an information event to explain how the council would work, and setting up a voting or raffle system through the schools to select representatives.

Councillors reacted positively to the presentation.

Coun. Greg Stewart praised Jacquard for choosing a youth council as his class project and said it gives him “hope for the future.”

Coun. Gary Sullivan said the project could also help prevent young people from leaving the city by giving them more input in what happens locally.

Sullivan also suggested extending the project to include university students, with representation from the University of New Brunswick Saint John campus politics society.

While the next council will decide whether to implement the project, Mayor Donna Reardon said “it makes sense to have the voice of the future to be at the table to a certain extent.”