Last week’s council meeting included several contentious issues and split votes on topics dividing the City of Richmond, but one unanimous vote resonated with a group of high school students in attendance: all councillors were on board to support creating a youth city council.
Grade 11 McRoberts student Annie Lai was attending her first city council meeting and she and a group of youth made a presentation about their vision for a youth governance structure — a platform for youth to connect and build up their confidence as well as a forum of ideas.
“(It would be) a place where we can feel safe, where we can debate, critically think, talk about issues, not just about our city but our country as well,” Lai told the Richmond News.
The youth city council would also be a way for young people to learn how municipal government works. Lai took part in the provincial Youth Parliament this year in Victoria and that inspired her on a path of civic engagement. But the three days left her yearning for a regular forum to debate political topics with her peers.
Lai did some research into other youth city council models, in Edmonton, Tacoma and Kamloops, and from that, pulled together a presentation for Richmond to consider.
Their submission to council suggested their mandate could include establishing a “General Assembly of Youth City Council,” educating youth on the three levels of government, city governance and policy-making as well as receiving direction from council on youth issues and, conversely, letting council know about issues affecting youth.
Youth sometimes feel it’s “scary” to express their opinions for fear of not being informed or educated enough, Lai said, but the youth city council could be a place to try out their ideas.
“Sometimes (youth) worry they have the wrong opinion, or that other people will disagree (…) it’s easier to agree or not participate,” Lai said.
Lai said the “nerdy side” of her liked the decorum of the city council meeting, something she experienced also at Youth Parliament.
She was impressed at the debate and discussion around the table and that, despite disagreeing, there was decorum and acceptance of the majority vote.
“I think that gives it structure and that’s what I want at youth city council,” Lai said.
At the council meeting, Coun. Harold Steves pointed out Richmond had a youth city council in the past but it fizzled out. But Lai is optimistic that this youth city council will be successful because the drive is coming from youth themselves.
Kayla Latumahina, Grade 11, who doesn’t plan a career in politics – she wants to be a forensic psychologist – said a youth city council could help young people like her with their social and inter-personal skills.
The topics she heard about at the council meeting piqued her interest but sometimes, she said, youth are scared to state their opinions.
“We’re not sure how to voice our opinions because we’re scared our opinions will be wrong — even in a classroom environment, people are afraid to put their hands up because they don’t want to the teacher to say no, that’s not the right answer,” Latumahina said.
Joanne Yuan, who is also a Grade 11 student at McRoberts, said she sometimes doesn’t know what to answer when people ask about local and global issues, feeling “uneducated,” something she hopes will change with the youth city council.
“I feel having a youth council implemented in Richmond can open doors for youth to participate in municipal activities and governance, better understand the issues going on in our city today,” Yuan said. She hopes it will help youth develop leadership skills and to “step into the real world.”
Before she attended the council meeting last week, she had no interest in politics despite learning about government in school — it all changed in that two hours.
“I did not know I would be interested in things like that,” Yuan said.
