In upcoming issues, our Spotlight will showcase ELN members working to address major issues facing our city region — including trust, affordability, and prosperity. This month, we’re highlighting the work of Victoria Kuketz, Director of Corporate Engagement at Catalyst Inc., host of the Democracy Dialogues at Toronto Metropolitan University, and a CivicAction DiverseCity Fellows Alumni.
Democracy and democratic engagement have been crucial to Victoria Kuketz’s work since she began her career supporting elections-focused grassroots outreach in marginalized communities.
As a Digital Democracy Fellow at the Public Policy Forum (PPF), Victoria is leading a national study focusing on the manifestation of polarization in Canada. This seven-segment project is taking a systemic approach, involving more than 1,600 young adults, eight researchers and writers, five community organizations, two think tanks, and one investigative journalist, all studying, documenting, and reporting on the issue of Canadian polarization and its ongoing threat to a healthy democracy.
At the center of this project are six community roundtables, with PPF partnering with community organizations to engage young adults in discussions around the impact of polarization on their lives and the issues that mattered to them. At the core of all of this was listening to them with intent to create pathways for authentic engagement.
The study uncovered that the stereotype of “apathetic” young people is inaccurate – and in fact, youth want to participate in our democratic election processes, such as voting, campaigning, and advocacy, but do not feel included or supported enough to engage meaningfully. This sentiment has only increased in the wake of the pandemic, the impact of which is still being felt by underserved communities who are finding it increasingly challenging to access the basic services they need. Engaging in politics is much more difficult when people are hungry, tired, isolated, or unhoused.
The study uncovered the general disconnect youth are feeling with traditional ways of engaging in the democratic process. For example, voting, typically regarded as the primary method of practicing democracy of exercising democracy, is increasingly seen as ineffective because of polarization across parties and platforms. Social pressures arising from polarization are also impacting young people in particular.
Though voter turnout across Toronto has declined in recent years, people are still eager to have conversations about issues and challenges impacting their lives. While this is vital to engaging in democracy, there are fewer safe spaces where these conversations can happen as people’s views on the issues facing us grow increasingly polarized and tolerance for opinions other than their own diminishes.
In this research study, trust was identified as a vital component in combatting polarization and increasing democratic engagement. To have “hard” conversations, people need to practice building trust with each other that is built on reliability, honesty, and confidence in others’ abilities to grapple with healthy tension and diverse viewpoints. Building trust, combatting polarization, and encouraging participation in democracy will also require communication centered around inclusivity, psychological safety, and collective well-being.
Victoria and her work with the Public Policy Forum will continue to focus on understanding how polarization impacts communities on a national scale, and on ways to make day-to-day democratic practices more inclusive. The full report will be released in August.