Game-changers tour at Nipissing University.

The Council of Canadians was at Nipissing University in North Bay earlier this week helping to get out the youth vote for the upcoming federal election. The intervention was done in partnership with the Nipissing University Students Union and the Canadian Federation of Students.

Council of Canadians youth vote campaigner Brigette DePape says, “Thanks to the wonderful people who came out to the event. The last race was so close with a difference of only 18 votes, and you all give me hope that in 2015, we can really turn things around.”

She also notes, “We even had three wonderful people from our Sudbury chapter drive two hours in the snowy weather to participate in this!”

BayToday.ca reports, “How do we engage the youth to vote? How do we explain that each vote counts? How do we make it easier for new voters to take part when during the last federal election only 1 in 3 young people voted? These questions were put to participants at The 2015 Game-Changers Tour held at Nipissing University on Monday. …DePape is encouraging young people to vote in the upcoming federal election. She now carries a sign of a green go light with the words, ‘Go Vote.’ DePape says if young people vote, they could be the game-changers for Canada.”

In that article, DePape says, “A lot of young people feel disempowered like our vote doesn’t matter. This tour is to help students and young people to realize we do have power. We can see a change and have a government that reflects our values of equality, fairness and protecting the environment.”

DePape was also interviewed by CBC Radio while in North Bay. That 7-minute interview can be heard here.

The event at Nipissing University was the fifth stop in the Game-changers tour, a series of events and trainings across the country. The first four visits were at the University of Winnipeg on February 25-26, the University of Regina on March 5-6, Simon Fraser University on March 23-24 and Ryerson University on March 23-24.

The tour will continue on April 26 in Mahone Bay with our Halifax-based Atlantic organizer Tori Ball leading the activities there.

For more on our Election 2015 campaign, please click here. You can also check out #GoVote2015 on Twitter. If you are a young person, click here to sign our online “I will vote” pledge.

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Brent Patterson

Brent Patterson is a political activist, writer and the executive director of Peace Brigades International-Canada. He lives in Ottawa on the traditional, unceded and unsurrendered territories of the Algonquin...