Yellowknife – (October 3) This year, Elections NWT is giving Northwest Territories youth a colourful introduction to democracy, featuring some familiar Northern characters making their first known foray into politics. Charlene Caribou, Pat Ptarmigan, Bobbie Bear and Frankie Fox are the current contenders running for office in the Kids Vote mock campaign this fall.
“Kids Vote is a way of introducing kids to the mechanics of an election, getting them excited about voting and being a part of the democratic process, giving them an opportunity to fill in a ballot and cast a vote, and perhaps develop the habit of regular voting,” says Stephen Dunbar, the Chief Electoral Officer of the NWT.
The Kids Vote program is loosely based on Elections Canada’s Choosing our Mascot classroom election simulation, adapted to the NWT with mascots based on iconic Northern animals and designed by long-time NWT artist and illustrator Janet Pacey. Aimed at NWT students ranging from kindergarten to Grade 7, the project has been designed to be easy to administrate, and scalable to the size of each participating school. “Our objective is to get kids excited about voting,” says Dunbar.
Participating schools will administer Kids Vote in their schools in the month leading up to the election. Those results will be collected from Elections NWT and released on Election Night.
Any schools who would like to be involved should contact Elections NWT at info@electionsNWT.ca.
For more information contact:
Matthew Mallon
Communications Officer/Chargée de communication
3rd Floor, Yk Centre East/3e étage, Yk Centre Est
#7, 4915-48th Street/#7, 4915-48e Rue
Yellowknife NT X1A 3S4
Ph: 1-867-767-9100 ext. 16050