TORONTO -- On election night, CTV National News is checking in with a group of young Canadians who will be sharing their thoughts on the federal leaders, their promises, their campaigns, and what issues they feel were ignored over the past 36 days.
Anne-Marie Mediwake of CTV's Your Morning is hosting CTV's Voters' Viewpoint panel as part of CTV News' special election coverage. The panelists’ conversations will be chronicled on this live blog, with other discussions continuing on Facebook, Twitter Spaces, Instagram, and TikTok.
Related election live blogs:
- Live updates: Election 2021 results and analysis
- Live updates: Tracking instances of election night voting irregularities and misinformation
- Live election map results
THE PANELISTS
Sarah Barzak
Mediwake will be joined by Sarah Barzak, executive director of the London School of Racialized Leaders. Barzak, who is of Malay-Palestinian descent, was inspired to create the initiative following the Islamophobic attacks against the Afzaal family in London, Ont. earlier this summer.
Chief Brent Bissaillion
Also taking centre stage will be Chief Brent Bissaillion of Serpent River First Nation in Ontario, who began his two-year term in 2019, only a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic began. The cis Two-Spirit Anishinabe leader is also a board member of PASAN, a community-based prisoner health and harm reduction organization.
- For more on the panelists, read: 'Really frustrating': Racialized people feel ignored in federal election campaign
Danièle-Jocelyne Otou
Taking the third spot on the panel is Danièle-Jocelyne Otou, the director of communications and strategic engagement at Apathy Is Boring, a national non-profit charity that endeavours to engage Canadian youth in all levels of democracy. She has years of experience enacting social change for underrepresented communities and dealing with issues regarding policies’ social impact.
Samanta Krishnapillai
Rounding out the panel is Samanta Krishnapillai, the founder, executive director and editor-in-chief of On Canada Project, an Instagram account that shares information targeted towards Canada’s millennial and Generation Z populations. She also has a Masters of Health Information Science from Western University and hosts a podcast called “Wait, What’s Happening.”
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