Honourable senators, this item stands adjourned in the name of the Honourable Senator Martin. After my intervention today, I ask for leave that it remain adjourned in her name.

Honourable senators, the Mohawk people of Akwesasne, with whom we share the mighty St. Lawrence River in my home community of Cornwall, were part of what is often described as the oldest participatory democracy on earth: the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Spanning six nations, the Haudenosaunee system hinged on three fundamental principles, including the Seventh Generation Principle, the responsibility to participate and ensuring that everyone has a voice.

It is with that in mind that I rise today to speak in support of Senator McPhedran’s Bill S-201, which seeks to lower the federal voting age to 16. I think that this initiative reflects these three principles and their lasting significance in Canadian society.

The first principle — the Seventh Generation Principle — is based on the Haudenosaunee philosophy that the decisions we make today should lead to a sustainable world seven generations into the future. It’s no secret that the impacts of climate change and the many decisions made by our politicians today greatly affect our next generations. Things like education, minimum wage, law reform and environmental policy all have lasting impact.

How do we go about making more sustainable decisions for future generations if they are not part of the conversation? Contrary to what some would have you believe, issues like the housing crisis and climate change, which disproportionately affect young people, didn’t happen overnight. Instead, they have been the result of decades of underfunding and inaction. We’ve become experts in crisis management, but often have failed to plan ahead, and yet young people have their entire future ahead of them.

In 2022, research by Children First Canada found that underage youth are not consistently less knowledgeable about politics than young adults. Rather, it was highlighted that youth are already engaged, as it is their future that will be impacted.

In March 2022, I met with young people from Operation Black Vote Canada for an event called “Are You Too Young to Vote?” During this meeting we talked about all sorts of things, from TikTok to Beyoncé — my favourite — the environment to the housing crisis and what it would mean to them to lower the voting age to 16. Everything they said is reflected in the research done by Children First Canada. If, at the age of 16, young Canadians can drive a car, consent to sex, get a job and even pay income tax, they should have agency over their futures.

The second principle is the responsibility to participate. Beyond the traditional “get out the vote” efforts that rely on campaign organizers, we can boost civic engagement by lowering the voting age and creating more consistent voting habits. In January 2022, I sat down with a group of young people at St. Lawrence College to ask them about their perspectives on voting and youth engagement. One participant explained that their parents didn’t teach them about voting and that, with the whirlwind of information provided at the start of their university education, voting was the last thing on their mind.

Elections Canada states that if a person votes in their very first election, they will probably be a lifelong voter, while those who don’t are more unlikely to pick up the habit later in life. It’s like learning good manners or learning to swim, to ride a bike or learning a second language. These are all things we teach and reinforce in kids when they are young, because that’s when it has the most lasting impact — and it makes sense. When we pick up things at a young age, we are more likely to hold on to them. Children in Ontario typically take civics in grade 10, so let’s shorten the gap between learning about democracy and actually getting to participate in it.

The third and last principle is that everyone should have a voice, which is perhaps the most important one and explains why lowering the voting age deserves our attention. They say you shouldn’t talk about politics, religion and sex, which has always been an issue for me because they’re my favourite things to talk about. Invite me to dinner parties, folks. I love it.

Now, while I’ll concede the last two, we need to ask ourselves why we have made politics such an untouchable topic — even polarizing — and yet politics is everything. Politics is sidewalks, schools, landlords, daycare, mental health, gambling, language, the internet. What isn’t politics? Voting connects you to that process.

When I was young, my teacher parents brought me to a school board trustee by-election. They led by example and demonstrated to me how important the ballot is. I have never missed a vote in my whole life. The ballot is a visceral connection to a bigger process.

Colleagues, the perspectives of our young people, the new ideas that they bring, are extremely valuable when it comes to normalizing respectful political discourse and civic engagement at an early age. Listening more closely to young people and showing empathy could go a long way in creating a better political climate. It is no secret that we have work to do in that regard.

One of my favourite parts of being a senator has been meeting young people in schools and also when they come to visit us here. I spent my last birthday with 48 students, and I would trust every single one of those kids to vote. Meeting with students and hearing their fresh new ideas gives me faith in our future — something we don’t often get in politics, but maybe it’s time we did.

Lowering the voting age is a big idea — I get it. But I do not see that as a reason to ignore the voices of young people. Bills like this one have been defeated or dropped from the Order Paper before, but should that stop our efforts? Should we just give up every time a bill doesn’t pass? If anything, the fact that 10 such bills have been tabled since 2011 should serve as evidence that this is an important and ongoing concern for Canadians.

The speech by Senator Tannas on this bill addressed important issues, such as the same-question rule. I listened with great interest. I gave his points a lot of thought, and did some research on the barriers that this bill could face. I don’t want us here to assume that the same-question rule might be called at the other place. That is a decision for them to make. It makes sense to study this bill here, in the appointed Senate. In the elected house, a discussion around lowering the voting age can lead to consideration of a loss of seats, and this can lead to limiting debate, whereas here, we can have a fuller study without the same constraint.

I have lived life as both an elected person and an appointed politician. I understand the sweat that runs down your back when a vote is being taken on a big issue that could affect you in the next election. Here, in this place, the conversation is more about advocating for minorities, asking the tough questions and thinking past an election cycle.

Regardless of how Bill S-201 turns out, I want to be on the record. I want to contribute my thoughts and lend my voice to this worthwhile project. But, if you’re still not convinced — and even if you are — I want to encourage you to attend the great event mentioned earlier by Senator McPhedran. Tomorrow, from 2 p.m. onwards, the Vote16 Summit will be happening, and you can check out vote16.ca for all the details. I want to thank Senator McPhedran for her hard work and endless dedication to this cause and this event. Her tenacity is indispensable.

To close, this bill provides me with much-needed hope: hope that we can make better decisions for our next generations, hope that we can create a more civically engaged population and hope that we will embrace the challenges of political discourse as opportunities for positive change.

Bear with me as I go into my last paragraph here, because I had this part translated into Gen Z for us:

Honourable Fam, waiting to vote until 18 is a big yikes and mad cheugy. But S-201 hits different! Today’s youth slays and stays bussin’ — that’s why we gotta give them a chance to clap back. If not, how will we be able to say that they ate that up? No cap, this bill slaps and is electoral glow up. I am its #1 stan, for real.

Thank you. Nia’wen.