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UNLOCKING YOUTH PROSPERITY NEEDS TO BE AN ELECTION ISSUE

THE PROSPERITY AND WELLBEING OF YOUTH IN ONTARIO NEEDS TO BE AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE UPCOMING PROVINCIAL ELECTION, SAYS ANJUM SULTANA

ANJUM SULTANA

Leading up to the June 2 provincial election, Metroland reached out to members of its Diversity and Inclusion Community Advisory Committee, inviting them to write about an important election issue. This column is part of this initiative.

It's not easy being 22 in 2022.

Over the last two years, young people have experienced the disproportionate impact of the economic, social and health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's a tale as old as time. During crises, communities experiencing marginalization such as young people face the brunt of the negative impacts.

Take for example, mental health. A recent CAMH study found that over half of the young people surveyed felt depressed about the future because of COVID-19 and over one-third felt the pandemic severely impacted their mental well-being.

Furthermore, a report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) found that hospitalizations due to eating disorders for girls between the ages of 10 to 17 increased by nearly 60 per cent.

It doesn't stop there. The economic fallout of COVID-19 has had unprecedented impacts on young people.

During the pandemic, 24 per cent of young people were not in employment, education, and training (NEET), the highest rate in two decades. This doesn't bode well for the future as the 'economic scarring' of this time can have longlasting effects.

Given the situation, what do youth need?

As I shared last year in the Preventing a Lockdown Generation in Canada report I co-authored; our country's recovery will be incomplete without addressing the needs of young people.

And they are not sitting idly by. Youth have been organizing and vocal about what they need.

Youth-led

advocacy groups like Toronto Youth Cabinet, Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance and Young Ontarians United have been calling for a range of interventions to support youth prosperity, from investing in youth employment to establishing student mental health days to increasing OSAP to providing free menstrual products at all post-secondary institutions.

There are also programs being delivered to support the health and well-being of diverse youth such as Plan International Canada's The Power Within and the Substance Abuse Program for African Canadian and Caribbean Youth at CAMH.

For Ontario to prosper, young people need to succeed. This election represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to uplift young people in Ontario and unlock our collective prosperity.

When you go to the ballot box in June - make youth prosperity and wellbeing a priority. Be sure to ask candidates vying for your vote about what they intend to do to push youth issues to the top of the public policy agenda. Because when young people have what they need to thrive, that benefits us all.

Anjum Sultana is the Director of Youth Leadership and Policy Advocacy at Plan International Canada and is a Fellow with the Public Policy Forum. Sultana is also a member of Metroland's Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee.

OPINION

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2022-05-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://communitynews.pressreader.com/article/281535114597528

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