If heads of government fail to heed the advice of youth, she and others like her will become the government, says Crystal Lewis.
Lewis, 24, is a member of the Squamish Nation who ran twice for band council, most recently in December.
While she wasn’t successful in her bids, she remains determined to be the change she wants to see in the world.
Lewis recently attended two groundbreaking sessions where she had a chance to develop policy recommendations and share her views with the powers that be, both nationally and globally.
She just returned from Toronto where she helped create Canada’s first ever youth policy to “shape the Canada that youth want for the next 150 years,” she said.
At The Canada We Want Conference, 170 youth from across Canada brainstormed and developed policy.
The conference was very intensive, Lewis said, adding the learning curve was steep for her group, which addressed justice in Canada.
“We called ourselves the Justice League,” Lewis said, with a laugh.
Other heady topics debated included mental health and wellness, addressing structural racism in Canada, marketing food to youth, children’s rights, a path to reconciliation, addressing gender-based violence, and more.
Tackling the topic of justice — particularly with the backdrop of the recent verdicts in favour of the accused in the cases involving the deaths of First Nations youth Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie — meant a lot to Lewis, she said.
“In the back of my mind, I would always be thinking, ‘How can we make the justice system fair to all?”
The policies Lewis and her group developed focused on restorative justice.
“Focusing on offenders healing with the victim or community, which would depend on the offense and what the victim wants,” Lewis explained.
Other aspects of their policy include informing victims of their rights from the first encounter with police and having diversity in the court system throughout.
“We strongly want to address mental health, rehabilitation, prevention and looking deeper into root causes,” she added.
Steps should be made to reduce racist biases in the courtroom, including oaths taken by judges to not discriminate and more transparency about jury decisions, Lewis said.
After attending The Canada We Want Conference, Lewis and the other delegates will be creating community action projects related to the topic they dealt with at the conference, she said.
And she will be working with the Prime Minister Youth Council at the youth policy roundtable in a couple of weeks.
She will also be attending further roundtables and events to share her policy perspectives, she said.
She is becoming a pro at crafting policy and speaking to the powerful.
Back in November, Lewis was nominated by the United Nations Association in Canada to be one of 120 Canadian youth to attend the Youth as Peace builders Forum, in Vancouver.
Her role at the forum was to facilitate in group discussions, to gather delegates ideas, perspectives and solutions “to create our own policy recommendations for the United Nations Security Council [resolution] 2250, which focuses on the concepts of youth, peace and security,” she said.
The resolution urged governments to increase representation of youth in decision making at all levels.
Delegates came up with 26 policy recommendations that they then whittled down to six addressing major issues: political engagement and participation; education, support of Indigenous peoples; addressing economic inequality and insecurity; funding and health and safety.
“We presented our policies to the UN officials and handed in a official report, which stated all the policy recommendations and solutions to world peace building,” Lewis explained.
Asked if she thinks the leaders of government will really take the polices to heart, Lewis said she was hopeful they would, adding if government doesn’t listen, she and others she worked with at the conferences will likely run for office themselves.
“Overall, I am really hopeful about where our future is headed because we have so many active and driven youth who are making positive changes to our world, who are not only passionate but also determined to create a better future for all those that come after us,” she said.
Lewis encourages other youth to get involved with influencing policy in Canada by going to youthaction.ca.
