Jayden Paul is the Membertou youth chief and he wants the community to know he’s there for them.
“As long as they’re there and as long as there is a need, we will be there for them,” said the 17-year-old.
The high school senior was elected in November and works alongside eight councillors and two liaisons. Their team is busy trying to provide a voice for the young people in their community.
“I think it's important so that the youth know that we’re there for them and we see the same things that they see,” said Paul.
He said while elders are caring, they may not fully understand issues from a young person’s perspective. A role he takes on himself.
Paul and his staff meet with adults to voice concerns young people may not be comfortable bringing up themselves.
“That’s why we’re here, we see what they see, we’re their voice,” said Paul.
One issue the team recently tackled was the poverty faced by some students. After meeting with the Mi’kmaq education services worker at Sydney Academy, they devised a plan to help feed students facing hunger issues.
Once a month, the youth council provided $100 in pizza gift cards so the service worker could distribute them among the students in need.
“We’ve seen kids come to school happier, they want to come to school because they know if they can’t get a meal at home, they can get a meal at school,” said Paul.
He’s also working with the Membertou Men’s Society to help deliver food boxes to community members while social distancing measures are in place due to COVID-19 restrictions. Paul said because of the measures in place to battle the pandemic, he and his council staff can’t meet and he also misses the Love — Leave Out Violence Everywhere — group meetings. But he understands the precautionary measures.
He wanted to remind community members to wash their hands and refrain from touching people and things, and practise social distancing. Paul said youth can reach out to him if they're feeling stressed or they could call the health centre or 811 with any concerns.
“We’re always there for you,” said Paul.
One of the concerns he’s heard repeatedly from young community members is the uncertainty around this year's prom and graduation. Currently, schools are closed for an extra two weeks after March break but after Nova Scotia declared a state of emergency students are expressing an uneasiness.
He feels that uneasiness himself, but he’s trying to focus on being helpful.
Paul has been relaying students' concerns to the school principals because he knows how hard students worked to celebrate prom and their graduation.
“Walking across that stage is a big thing for us,” said Paul.
He also works at Lanes at Membertou and was working with his Aboriginal entrepreneurship class to develop an Indigenous languages app. For now, he’s doing what he can to help community members and try to stave off boredom.
“Really that’s all we can do,” said Paul.
Oscar Baker III is a local journalism initiative reporter, a position being funded by the federal government. He lives in Sydney.
