Buzzelli PA she says the worst of work
was that vanilla confit instead it more
sweet I count on that histy my French is
pretty good huh okay I have no merit I
am French in fact I did not learn any
English before I was 19 why well I come
from a stronghold of the independence
movement in Quebec you can tell by my
accent right and this is where the
separatists party the Parti québécois
elected one of its first members to the
National Assembly so I was born in
Shakuni which is a very very beautiful
and very francophone town north of
Quebec City so growing up I really
didn’t really feel connected with what
we call then the Canada Anglais I did
not speak the language let alone
understand its culture in fact it had
little to do with me I knew more about
Europe that I knew about my own country
but something changed
this whole experience of Canada for me I
was fortunate to be chosen as a page in
the House of Commons
I was with 30 other students of my age
coming from all across the country
speaking different languages and with
different cultures yes we had different
stories but we share common values in a
desire to learn about one another and
what’s amazing about the page program
is that you get to work on Parliament
Hill and learn about the inner workings
of our democracy and how it is
threatened by our regional and cultural
diversity in other words I learned that
Canada was made stronger by you and me
it was so inspiring in fact if I learned
something from that experience is that
for democracy to be inclusive it has to
be accessible I was lucky I got to come
to Ottawa okay I had to be on a bus for
eight hours but still not every
kid has or will ever have that privilege
and honor that’s why I’m extraordinarily
excited about the power technology in a
digital era wherein as we know Canada is
a very very big country people are
separated by thousands and thousands of
kilometres what technology does it
shrinks that geography it brings us
closer together and in a way it puts us
in the same room so we suddenly have an
opportunity we never had before
to connect with one another
instantaneously hear our stories and
share them and what may be even more
exciting is that now we can live and
build the Canadian story because each of
us can participate in a political
process and have a say in the effort of
the nations from almost everywhere in
this country who do you think are the
best people to take on that opportunity
I’ll give you a hint they are a little
younger than me yeah the younger people
that generation said and the Millennials
they are born they grew up with digital
technology they are the largest users in
fact they’re the ones who can easily
take on our new instantaneous digital
direct democracy did you know that those
two generations combined almost
represent to us the population of Canada
and half the population of the United
States now I know some of you would
point out to me but Katherine this is
very exciting this easy access is a big
conversation but it comes with risk and
you would be right
on one hand technology allows us to
connect with and talk to people at any
time about anything on the other hand it
allows us to weigh in on issues
sometimes without knowing all the
dimensions and frankly sometimes without
having a clue what we’re talking about
let’s face it we live in a world where
we surround ourselves with like-minded
thinkers we live in a world where it’s
easy to hide behind our digital
conversation in opinion on top of that
we live in a world
where there is total confusion between
fake and real news many citizens cannot
are unable anymore to distinguish
between the two we live in a world where
facts are turned on their heads where in
which the truth is embedded with
partisanship subjectivity impartiality
the phenomenon of fake news is amplified
by how technology gives access to and
spread and spreading of information but
worst misinformation so the result is a
distrust a distrust of the media in a
cynicism about well just about
everything the disconnect between the
politicians and the public fed up with
the elite is growing deeper a public at
last not knowing what to believe or who
to believe so no wonder young people are
not beating down the doors to
participate in their democracy who could
blame them but I wish they would
well Digital trust is their distrust I
should say is Israel in a growing the
risk of digital technology is and should
not be an argument against using it in
fact quite the contrary there is a
definite argument to be made for using
it better
did you know why because ill informed
masses put democracies at risk yes Hill
informed masses put democracies at risk
we all know that right the last of
always say the real years you can tell
I’m not totally quite man lingo
he has actually showed us that democracy
are fragile and even close to home and
even here at home so it is imperative
that we actually find ways and means to
connect people and especially young
people to listen to them on the ground
share their stories provide them with
context and relevant information this is
at the core of our democracy of a health
healthy democracy and we have to mean
to achieve that with technologies today
so the challenge is how do we balance
the promise of digital interaction with
the practice of democracy how do we make
sure the public discourse is elevated
and not hindered and what is the role of
the media in this changing political
process I believe and at CPAC we all
believe that the younger young Canadians
learn about the democracy the more
knowledgeable and engaged to become the
stronger our society will be I believe
this and I believe something else how
often do you hear people say wait a
minute you know people are not
interested in politics and news I didn’t
have time for more than 140 characters
now at 280 or a 30-second video on
policies they don’t need it
and in fact they just don’t care I
believe this is wrong wrong and
dismissive it is true that young people
do not vote in great numbers but it is
not true that they don’t care just think
of what’s going on in Florida right now
and it’s the proof that when the stakes
are high youth become engaged fearless
and brave they will stand and they will
stand very tall
in their readiness to move mountains to
challenge the status quo even to fight
the the powerful NRA
for literally the fight of their life so
what’s happening has exposed a
deep-seated political incident within
those young people that I think many of
us as a human did not exist it shouldn’t
take a tragedy of a big proportion to
make us realize their political
potential I don’t know if you had a
chance to see a documentary we did a
couple of years ago called to drop why
young people do not vote
we sent reporters around North America
to interview young people and try to
find out what is this habit about well I
did the filming they actually concluded
there was not such a thing in fact young
people wanted to talk politics but they
didn’t want to be scolded and maybe
probably many of you know this
organization called apathy is boring yes
a little bit
well the organization’s mission is to
mobilize youth to vote and they are
doing surveys of young Canadians
thousands of them young Canadians who
actually consume the media quite
differently than their parents across
the country and yes they found out that
while young people do not seek on their
own the information about political
affairs they are keen and open to learn
about politics as long as we present it
to them so apathy is not to blame here
because people do care young people do
care the so called apathy is merely a
symptom of a significantly bigger
problem if you listen to young people
what they will tell you is that they
have lost trust in their media in our
institutions it’s because we have lost
their trust by choosing not to engage
them on issues that they care about
that’s the problem
and you know what that’s our problem
collectively together we cannot just
ignore it and walk away and pretend
doesn’t exist we owe it to those to the
next generations to find solutions so
let’s see Bank we decided to be part of
the solution and well after all we are
the democracy channel a media
organization whose mission is to advance
democracy and we’re passionate about it
my team wants to make a difference I
want to make a difference
so we sat down with teachers with
obviously young people parents and we
came up with one idea we think it pretty
good
it’s got innovative it’s our democratic
literacy project called route 3 3 8
for 338 federal ratings there are two
things to know about this project first
we’re using technology to connect young
people to one another so we created that
microsite it’s a map of Canada a virtual
roadtrip writing by writing it’s an
interactive interactive tool to help
young Canadian learn about their
democracy so in the hopes in fact that
they get engaged in their international
conversation so on this digital map you
will find that the ography the history
the economy the people the culture which
indigenous territory the writing sits on
what are the main local issues and what
are the fun facts and then you want to
know what your member of parliament does
you can watch videos of a daily life
either in their writing or in Ottawa or
you want to dig in on an issue that you
care about well you can go in a section
we called InFocus
so this digital experience is a first
part the second part is we wanted to add
a real-life experience and we teamed up
with an amazing group of people the
Royal Canadian geographical society
they created a giant floor map as big as
a gym believe me of all the 338 ridings
with each community of five people and
more because democracy is about people
so those maps are travelling schools
right now across the country and
teachers are using them to help kids
learn play interact imagine kids walking
and in fact sometimes running from an
urban community to a rural community
what a powerful way to actually learn
about the reality of french-speaking
english-speaking indigenous people in
new Canadian and the best part is those
two maps the microsite and the giant
floor map they come with teaching
activities built around the pillars of
our democracy so the kids learn about
the famous five Louie Riel about the
people in a milestone that made this
country Canada and whose stories are the
glue that holds together our democracy
they learn about what’s the writing why
some are bigger
what’s the role of parliament and what
is it to be a responsible citizen the
this experience is helping them navigate
the political system and the best part
they’re having fun doing it
listen to them I learned about all the
different writings and like how they
work and where they are so that was
pretty cool yeah I really like the
hands-on aspect of it and that you could
actually stand on it and you could
measure the kilometres response
conceived come on burn opportunity did
the football I like Cathy Matthew this
you AC pas Mon counts so c-come on the
sound oh my god they took a page to a
type of I so I do think it’s very
important to teach children about
democracy because that’s gonna prepare
them for later on in life when it’s
their turn to vote I had a few students
recently saying yeah some people have
the opportunity to vote and they don’t
even do it
so you know when they’re passionate
about it it means that when it’s time
for them to start voting then they will
be contributors to our society so
researchers agree on three things one
the more citizen appreciate the
importance of knowing the issues to
comprehend the impact of policies on
their day-to-day lives and three the
role and work of their elected
representative the more likely they will
participate in the political process in
the last 20 years there’s been many many
surveys conducted around the world
showing the in the positive impact of
civic education the positive impact of
civic implicit education on voter
turnout on intent to vote on political
knowledge interest in in civic
so redesigning how to engage youth is
crucial to the future of our democracy
it’s time to be creative to not be
afraid to try new ways to reach out to
young people to humanize the
conversations create opportunities for
them to learn be interested in involve
at the beginning I talked about how our
democracy is made stronger by our
regional and cultural diversity that is
true but the divert our diversity is our
biggest strength if we have the
sensitivity the knowledge and the tools
to listen to one another and learn from
one another the outcome is mutual
respect and that’s the safeguard of our
democracy the sooner we start the better
of civil society will be and in the end
this will be our legacy so we need to do
this now help us make a difference in
young Canadians lives get them engaged
in their country tell them about this
project or about just knowing the
importance of understanding and learning
tell them that all together we are the
builders of our democracy tell your kids
that they are the builders of their
[Applause] [Music]