Four local young women will join 42 others from B.C. and 338 across Canada in the Daughters of the Vote Young Leadership Forum in Ottawa next March.
Kayleigh Erickson (Fleetwood-Port Kells), Yueming Chen (South Surrey-White Rock), Shakti Ramkumar (Surrey-Centre) and Gunisha Kalra (Surrey-Newton) will each get one of 338 seats in the House of Commons.
Daughters of the Vote will mark 2017 as the 100th anniversary of some women attaining the right to vote in federal elections, as well as celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday.
The event, which will take place on March 17, 2017, is a unique and historic political initiative, designed to encourage more young women to become politically engaged.
“The quality of applications from British Columbia was superb and demonstrates young women are eager to grow their leadership skills and play active roles in the political process,” said Nancy Peckford, executive director of Equal Voice, a multi-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the election of more women in Canada.
“Through their passion, vision and actions, these inspiring young women will contribute to their communities, their province, our nation and the world in creative and impactful ways.”
On Oct. 3, many B.C. Daughters of the Vote delegates will participate in a special event in Victoria to launch Women’s History Month. The event, hosted by Speaker Linda Reid, takes place at 11 a.m. in the provincial legislature.
As part of the celebrations, a permanent exhibit representing 100 Years of Women and the Vote will be unveiled in the provincial legislature. Afterwards, the young delegates will participate in a roundtable discussion on engaging more young women in Canadian politics.
For more information, visit daughtersofthevote.ca or www.equalvoice.ca