LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
A Grade 12 student from Fort Simpson has been named the youngest member on the Prime Minister's Youth Council.

Sylvia Pascua-Matte: has been named one of the first members of the Prime Minister's Youth Council for the federal government.

According to a Sept. 28 news release from the Prime Minister's office, 15 young Canadians have been chosen to be the first members of the council.

That includes Sylvia Pascua-Matte, 17, who currently attends Thomas Simpson Secondary School.

Pascua-Matte just returned from a three-day orientation in Ottawa, which ran from Sept. 28 to 30.

There, she had the opportunity to meet some of her fellow youth council members. She also took in some sessions of the One Young World summit, which includes delegates from around the world who discuss issues in their countries.

Youth council members also visited Parliament Hill, watched Question Period and met ministers and members of parliament.

Pascua-Matte said one of the highlights of the trip was hearing a fellow Youth Council member share his experience as a refugee during the summit.

"Some of the sessions there were very informative on (issues) that are worldly," she said.

"(Speakers) introduced a worldview on (issues) like gender-based violence, and how it concerned people in different countries."

As for the council itself, Pascua-Matte said the discussion between youth councilors focused on how the council itself would work, including how members would communicate with each other once they returned to their separate communities.

Hearing from youth in other parts of Canada was especially eye-opening, she said.

"I know Fort Simpson. I don't know P.E.I. or Nova Scotia. Getting to know (the youth) and talking about our communities gave me a better perspective on the privilege and disadvantages of where I live and my community," she said.

Now, she is tasked with bringing that experience home to Fort Simpson.

"I'm going to be engaging with the community and (hearing) what the youth think and care about, and bringing that back to the council where me and the council will discuss that," she said.

The trip to Ottawa was not Pascua-Matte's first venture into the world of Canadian politics. In May 2015, the then-Grade 10 student was one of two youth from the Deh Cho to participate in a youth parliament in Yellowknife, where they had to act as MLAs or ministers and had to draft statements to read in front of their peers in the legislative assembly.

She has also been involved with numerous nonprofit organizations in Fort Simpson, including volunteering for the Historical Society, working with the Garden Society and working part-time for Open Doors, an after-school activity program for children.

Those experiences were part of what drove her to apply for the youth council, as well as a desire to have a say in the future development of the country as a member of the generation likely to be impacted the most by prospective pipelines and other development.

"What's happening now is going to be our problem. (The federal government's) decision to make a pipeline, that (would) affect the youth. We have to be represented because it's our future," she said.

"I think we deserve a say in that."

And although the Northwest Territories makes up a small per cent of Canada's population, Pascua-Matte said the issue goes beyond population density.

"We do have a great mass of land. Everybody has to have a voice in this council," she said.

"It doesn't matter how little youth we actually have (in the Northwest Territories) because we are being affected by Canada's decisions so we should be represented."

Pascua-Matte will likely be returning to Ottawa in January for the next council meeting.

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