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Youth for Justice wants to help raise youth voices in local politics

On April 24, the group plans to host its first event, the Youth for Justice Walk, which will be held at 300 St. Andrew St. W. at 2 p.m.
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Kyla Perry, left, Avaline Booth, right, and Abby Graham, bottom, are co-founders of Youth for Justice.

Young people will not be continued to be overlooked and unheard by elected officials, said the co-founders behind a new youth group in Fergus.

Abby Graham, Avaline Booth and Kyla Perry are behind Youth for Justice, a project run by youth for youth. With help from Diane Ballantyne, the group aims to advocate on behalf of many youth issues. So far, the group has been active online and speaking with youth about their concerns. 

"They think it's targeted at one specific issue, but really, it's anything that you're passionate about," Booth said about Youth for Justice. "It can be anything, like climate change, racism, affordability costs, things like that, anything that people are worried about. It's not just one specific issue."

The group was created in response to the pressures facing youth by the pandemic and inflation, combined with the frustration over the lack of action being taken on issues youth care about.

“Everybody is worried, they’re thinking, ‘When I live alone, what challenges and barriers are going to be there?’” said Booth. 

"All that pressure and all those things together just kind of made us think, 'You know what? This work is important and we're going to do it,'" said Perry.

“With a teacher at our school, we all collaborated on this idea where we wanted to give youth a platform to tell the politicians in our area that we don’t think that our issues are being dealt with in politics, and we want a say, and we want more youth issues represented, especially in our local area,” said Graham.

While the group is a platform for youth to talk about various issues, one big issue all three are focusing on is youth mental health. In rural areas, Graham said there are barriers for youth accessing help. 

“Centre Wellington, I think it’s like, the third highest suicide rate in Canada, and we have a tiny population and that really shouldn’t be happening,” said Graham, “So a big issue that the three of us have been working on is access to mental health and having enough resources to support our townships.”

On April 24, the group plans to host its first event, the Youth for Justice Walk, which will start at 300 St. Andrew St. W. at 2 p.m.

The event has two goals, said Graham. The first is to tell local politicians not to look over youth concerns, and the second is to gain the attention of other youth. During the event, Graham said they will be encouraging youth to vote and get involved in civic matters. 

"There's going to be lots of tables and booths on how youth can get involved within the community," said Graham.

Perry adds she, Booth and Graham will soon be of voting age. With youth voting rates having been historically low, she hopes they can bring together a large group of voices on youth issues.

"For politicians, especially for local officials, we want it to be so conversation-starting and such a significant thing, where it's awkward if somebody were to ignore that when addressing what's going on within the community," said Perry. 

Those who are interested in learning more about Youth for Justice can find the group on Instagram