Issue link: https://takingitglobal.uberflip.com/i/1365931
developmental problem endemic to youth populations, but from government inaction. Finally, why lower the voting age to 16? Why not 14 or lower? The truth is that voting age restrictions will always be arbitrary. As explained below in the Education section of our report, there is evidence to suggest that 16 is around the age where individuals gain a greater sense of emotional and intellectual maturity. But, the process of development is different for everyone. Some may ask, how can we claim to be better upholding democracy if we are not absolute in our principles (i.e. saying that everyone no matter the age should be able to vote)? The answer is that our current democracy is always a compromise. We elect Members of Parliament to represent us instead of having each citizen vote on every government decision. Democracy is a balance of rights. However, when democratic principles do need to be violated, it falls on the government to prove why that violation is essential and not on the citizenry to prove why their rights ought to be upheld. Though changing the voting age to 16 is not a perfect approximation of democracy, it is not our responsibility to prove why the voting age should be 16; it is the government's responsibility to prove why 16 and 17 year olds should be disenfranchised. Whenever a clear-cut democratic principle like voting is to be infringed upon, the government must demonstrate why that transgression is necessary, and why granting that democratic right would be so destructive to Canadian society. In this youth report, a synthesis of the thousands of hours of our learning, blogging, discussion forums, video conferences, and a national youth town hall completed since October 2020, we attempt to prove why there is no justification—whether rooted in democratic principles or pragmatic outcomes—for withholding the right to vote for 16 and 17 year olds. In fact, in our #Vote 16 National Survey reaching over 415 Canadian youth under 18yrs, only 34% of respondents believed that 16-18 year olds should not be allowed to vote.