DEH CHO
As adults across the Deh Cho prepared to go to the polls on Nov. 23, students were busy having their votes tallied in a mock election of their own.

Students at Thomas Simpson Secondary School gather in the gymnasium for a forum, which was attended by MLA candidates Arnold Hope, Randy Sibbeston, Shane Thompson, Rosemary Gill, Deneze Nakehk'o and Dennis Nelner. - photo courtesy of Steve Nicoll

Student Vote NWT brought ballot boxes and voting material to Bompas Elementary School and Thomas Simpson School in Fort Simpson, Louie Norwegian School in Jean Marie River, Chief Julian Yendo School in Wrigley and Echo Dene School in Fort Liard.

In total, 15 schools participated.

In an e-mailed description of the event, Chief Julian Yendo principal Blair Sellars said students learned about the democratic voting process in Canada.

"Students cast their vote for the Nahendeh riding candidate of their choice at a polling station that was set up in the classroom," he stated.

At Thomas Simpson School, teachers Val Gendron and David Battista put together an all-candidates forum for students, which was attended by Arnold Hope, Rosemary Gill, Dennis Nelner, Shane Thompson, Randy Sibbeston and Deneze Nakehk'o.

That forum took place the afternoon of Nov. 12.

Battista said the MLAs spoke to students about their views and students then voted based on that information.

Adelina Petit-Vouriot, Student Vote NWT's communications assistant, said the mock election in the NWT followed on the heels of a mock federal election.

After the federal election, Student Vote NWT reached out to schools in the NWT to gauge interest in a mock territorial election.

"We contacted the ones who had signed up for the federal election as well, and some of them agreed to sign up again. Some of them, understandably, were a little burnt out," she said.

Roughly half the schools that participated in the federal mockup signed up for the territorial one as well. The program was open to all schools.

Petit-Vouriot said Student Vote NWT provided schools with free resources to authentically recreate the voting process. That included ballot boxes, voting screens and ballots with the names of local candidates on them.

"As a side bonus, we also (included) posters to advertise around the school and some pedagogical resources - a couple lesson plans we formulate with content that has to do with the NWT," Petit-Vouriot said.

"It's very flexible. It's up to the teachers to decide what materials they want to engage with, or how much time they want to spend on the territorial election."

Thomas Simpson Secondary School in Fort Simpson was one of the schools that took part in both the territorial and federal election process.

Gendron said the school decided to go for the territorial mockup after noting the level of enthusiasm students had during the federal version, where student council members had to research candidates and present on each one.

"I asked the kids if they wanted to do territorial, and they said yes," Gendron said.

The Nov. 12 candidates panel Thomas Simpson School hosted gave candidates a chance to present their platforms. From there, each class from Grades 7 to 12 got to ask a question of the panel.

Questions ranged from economic development and jobs to who the candidates would vote for if they themselves were not running.

"All the candidates liked that question. They thought it was good," Gendron said.

"It made them stop and think about whose values were the same as theirs."

One highlight of the forum for Gendron was how candidates Dennis Nelner and Deneze Nakehk'o devoted some of their speaking time to noting how great it was for students to get involved in politics.

Grade 11 student Deanna Jumbo, who attends TSS but calls Trout Lake home, was one of the students who voted and she did so with her hometown in mind.

"I picked the person who would focus on smaller communities and help them," she said.

Although federal mockup results at TSS mirrored actual election results, with most students voting for MP Michael McLeod, the territorial mockup saw Nakehk'o achieve a narrow victory.

Sixteen students voted for Nakehko, while 15 voted for Randy Sibbeston, five for Shane Thompson, four for Rosemary Gill, two for Kevin Menicoche and one each for Arnold Hope and Nelner.

The number of ballots cast totalled 48, with four spoiled.

NWT Student Vote released numbers for the other participating Nahendeh schools on Nov. 23.

Between Echo Dene School, Chief Julian Yendo School and Louie Norwegian School, 44 ballots were cast, mock-electing Shane Thompson with 14 votes.

Student Vote is a program run by the charity Civix.

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