Be the Vote is a non-partisan organization, led by a group of young Canadians passionate about getting youth to vote. Be the Vote is powered by volunteers, and works on creative awareness campaigns to foster a widespread culture of political engagement in Canada.
In the 2011 federal election, 42% of Canadians aged 18-34 voted, causing youth to be labelled apathetic and disengaged. What is rarely mentioned is there are over 7.9 million Canadians in this age bracket, who fuel the economy, innovate, and push boundaries on the most important social issues of our time.
Canadian politics is missing the influence of youth. We think that addressing this issue starts with encouraging more young Canadians to vote.
Update 02/23/2016
Elections Canada has not released data on voter turnout by age in the 2015 federal election. Statistics Canada, however, has estimated from a labour force survey, that more than one million additional young Canadians voted in 2015 compared to 2011. Be the Vote is immensely encouraged by these this figure, however the organization is certain there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure voter participation among youth remains strong in the future.
Be the Vote is in the process of re-evaluating objectives and priorities for 2016-2017, and welcomes feedback and suggestions from supporters and community members who are concerned with strengthening democratic participation in Canada, at all levels of government.
For more information, please contact [email protected].
Our Work
Click here to find out about our outreach work focussed on the October 19, 2015 federal election.
Outreach We attend and participate in events where opportunity exists to engage fellow youth about voting. We work with several like-minded organizations.
Awareness Check out our PSA video campaign for the 2015 federal election.
Information We focus on breaking down barriers to voting by spreading fact-checked information through social media, and by in-person outreach.
Find out more about our work here.