Learning the election system
Tusarvik School students hold mock event in Naujaat
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
NAUJAAT
Students at Tusarvik School in Naujaat held their own version of the federal election this past week.
Teacher Lloyd Francis and his Grade 9 class prepare to count the ballots following a mock federal election at Tusarvik School in Naujaat this past week. - photo courtesy of Lloyd Francis |
The student mock federal election was organized by the Grade 9 class and teacher Lloyd Francis.
A total of 305 students from kindergarten to Grade 12 cast their ballots in the program sponsored by Elections Canada.
Grade 9 students were selected to fill the positions of poll clerks and deputy returning officers.
Tusarvik was prohibited by an agreement with
Elections Canada to release the results of the exercise until the results of the Oct.
19 federal election were known.
Francis said he loves politics and encourages everyone to exercise their right to vote.
He said he received a letter from the CIVIX program informing him about the particulars of the student vote.
"They sent the information out, I applied to get all the resources and they sent ballot boxes and ballots to the school," said Francis.
"The ballots actually had the names on them of the four Nunavut candidates in the federal election.
"There was also a manual included on how to run an election, so I got my Grade 9 students to run the proceedings.
"Students from around the school came into our class and everyone got to experience voting."
Francis said he talked to his class about how government works, and they held a mock Parliament in the classroom.
He said once they discussed voting, his students expressed interest in running the CIVIX program.
"The students were excited about running the election and they really enjoyed the experience.
"They were all for it early on, and it seems to have really got them interested in democracy.
"They had heard some of the names of the federal party leaders because of campaign ads and, when I mentioned the name of Justin Trudeau, they said he's just not ready because they'd seen some of the commercials on television.
"They knew Leona (Aglukkaq) because she's been in the community and they knew Jack Anawak because he's from Naujaat, and they were also aware of a number of the issues being discussed during the campaigns."
