Hassan Merali didn’t know a lot about the local governments around him on the North Shore.
But that changed when Merali took part in the North Shore Young Civic Forum a few years ago.
The North Shore Young Civic Forum is an initiative for those aged 18 to 39 across the North Shore to get more involved in local politics. The forum is accepting applications for its 2025 cohort this month.
“That connection where you put a name to a title and a face to a name … it helps break down some of the barriers, especially young people, from engaging with their local government,” Merali said, who was one of the program's co-facilitators last year.
Formerly known as the North Shore Young Citizens’ Forum, the initiative runs 11 sessions from the beginning of February to mid-May.
Each week participants learn a different aspect of local government across the North Shore, said Jacob Isaac, one of the co-facilitators for the forum. This includes visiting municipal halls and meeting councillors, learning how a council meeting works and understanding policies that help the public.
During the last three weeks of the forum, participants break into groups to come up with a proposal to the councils and then present their project at a municipal council hearing.
“In the past, we’ve had a cohort present on a policy that would make housing more affordable for seniors,” Isaac said. “It really is just such a broad and cohesive experience for these participants.”
This is the forum’s fifth year running, and Isaac said they plan on bringing back some of the past facilitators to speak and share their experience during the forum.
Isaac said he feels ecstatic about how far the forum has come since its first round in 2020, and sees that reciprocated by excitement from the community, including counsellors.
There is a lack of people under 40 participating in local politics, Isaac said, so forums like this are vital to the North Shore community.
“It’s so important that young people understand how to engage because local government can be so nebulous, so intimating to get involved with,” he said, adding that young people understanding how these systems work benefits themselves, but also has a trickle effect of spreading that knowledge to others in the community.
“Being able to share this information and these resources with other people in their lives, it really just results in an overall healthier democracy,” Isaac said.
Participating in the forum and learning how local politics work has benefited people like Sasha McGrenera, who participated in the 2024 cohort, as it helped her realize what career path she wanted to pursue – she wants to be a teacher.
“I think this just gave me more power in my own life to make decisions that felt in alignment with my values and truth,” McGrenera said. “One program can just help give you the confidence in all other aspects of your life as well.
“The program gave me actionable steps to not only talk about what I care about, but actually being able to do something about it,” she said. “Whether it’s through reaching out to members of council or how to show up to a council meeting to speak on something that’s important to you.”
Applications for the North Shore Young Civic Forum are open until Jan. 20 at 11:59 p.m. People interested can apply on the through the forum’s application form here.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
