Youth group Climate Justice Toronto hosted a youth town hall to inform younger voters about the climate crisis and the upcoming election.
The event was held at the Tranzac Club, inside the establishment’s main hall, on Oct. 3.
The tables and seats were quickly getting filled as the event was about to begin.
Niklas Agarawal, one of the organizers of the town hall and a member of Climate Justice Toronto, said one of their main goals was “to make it really easy” for the attendees to learn about the upcoming election as most of the attendees were first time voters.
Another goal of the event was to recruit people for their group and to raise awareness for their movement.
“So we kind of had those two goals; one, to get young people who are the most disenfranchised voters out and be politically active and then also to really inform people about the work that we’re doing as part of Climate Justice Toronto,” Agarawal said.
As the event finished its introductory agenda, a panel of four youth activists began, with all four featured guests sharing their backgrounds as climate change activists and their motivations for joining the cause.
The group’s priorities are to endorse and fight for the Green New Deal, as well as fighting for social injustices across the GTA.
With the worldwide climate strike taking place in Toronto a week prior to the youth town hall, many of these attendees were looking to this information session as a way to learn about the environmental priorities of the political parties and their figures running for MP in their respective ridings.
The event had two endorsed candidates, Diana Yoon and Melissa Jean-Baptiste of the NDP party.
The Climate Justice Toronto group endorses the NDP platform, as their priorities regarding the Green New Deal and addressing the
Jean-Baptiste was unable to attend the event due to prior commitments with another election related event. However, she did have someone attend for representation and endorsement of her campaign.
Yoon attended the event, as she has been a climate activist for years, as well as a member of the City of Toronto’s climate agency.
Yoon also expressed the need for events like the youth town hall for the younger undecided voters, as many young voters are both undecided and uninformed about the upcoming election and the ramifications of the results.
“It’s so crucial to have events like this that Climate Justice Toronto is putting on because young people are feeling a lot of anxiety and fear about the future, whether that is because of the climate crisis or the rising cost of living and the lack of affordable housing,” said Yoon.
“We need young people to step up like they did at the Global Climate Strike and our politicians need to listen”.