SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife youth seemed to be more interested in the federal election than in past years as the campaigns ramped up in Yellowknife over the past 37 days.

Liberal candidate Joe Handley, left, Conservative candidate Sandy Lee, NDP incumbent Dennis Bevington and Green party candidate Eli Purchase walked from Aurora College to city hall to promote voting on election day. The Vote Walk brought out about 20 community members. - Katherine Hudson/NNSL photo

Both online and on the streets, a stronger presence of youth vocalized that their votes counted and that their voices would be head.

Rosa Brooks participated in Monday's Vote Walk, which included about 20 community members and four Western Arctic candidates. The group walked from Aurora College to city hall to promote the importance of voting.

"No matter what your age is, you should vote. I think our generation is really progressive. It has a lot to say and we need to be heard," said Brooks.

As Danial T'seleie walked up to the Tree of Peace Monday to cast his vote, he said he noticed voting was a voluminous topic on Facebook that day.

"I would say people I know who wouldn't necessarily vote are coming out to vote (Monday). I wouldn't be surprised if we saw the numbers go up for young people voting in this election," said T'seleie.

Stephanie Yuill said she thinks the number of younger candidates on the campaign trail this election might make the political process more approachable to youth in Canada.

"There seems to be a lot of young faces. Even people in their 30s are a lot closer to the young peoples' age," said Yuill.

She said social media might also play a role in the growing interest in politics from youth.

"Even (in) the last election, I don't think Twitter and Facebook played nearly as important a role as it does now. Once you get a few eager people that take that lead, the way they can disseminate information to each other is unlike it has been in the past," she said.

Yuill said she doesn't think many of the issues have made more of an impact on youth than the economy and with the tail-end of the recession still permeating the political issues, youth are realizing the importance of having their voices heard by the leaders of the country.

"The younger people are the ones who got hit the most ... I think that they've been hit quite badly, maybe with jobs and the recession, maybe they're just more aware of politics."

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