If you look up the definition of “activist” in the dictionary, you’ll find something to the effect of “a person who believes strongly in political or social change and takes part in activities in an attempt to make this happen.” That will give you an idea of how Aleksi T. has spent his time over the past few years.

Reflecting on his early and abiding interest in political action, Aleksi explains, “There’s a lot more to politics than just dinner table conversations or voting once you’re old enough. Politics is about the doing, the fighting for a better world. I think the best questions politically engaged people can ask themselves are ‘Who are we?’ and ‘Who do we want to be?’”

A 2021 high school graduate, Aleksi’s natural leadership abilities emerged early. Already in elementary school, he was the co-founder of the school’s newspaper, culminating in the receipt of a Principal’s Leadership Award in grade 6. Then, while attending junior high school, Aleksi and two classmates persuaded the school’s principal to allow them to develop and deliver a workshop on mental health to the grade 7 and 8 students. “These things, as small as they might seem, are political acts – they involve questioning the ways the system is set up and finding places to make it better,” Aleksi observes.

“By the time I reached high school, I was learning to expand my understanding of the institutions I am a part of and my role within them,” Aleksi elaborates. “At the beginning of grade 10, I organized my school’s walkout in protest of the provincial government’s planned changes to the sex education, LGBTQ+ and Indigenous curricula. As it turned out, 100,000 students from across Ontario walking out of their classes had an impact – the government tempered its plans.”

But that was just the beginning for Aleksi. “Following that, I started attending more rallies and events about education, climate change and homelessness. Being involved with my high school’s newspaper, I even had the opportunity to attend a small gathering of young journalists hosted by Ronan Farrow,” Aleksi shares.

During the summer of 2019, Aleksi decided to turn his thoughts and opinions into essays, all centred around the power of youth. “In writing the first drafts, I discovered there was a central theme to my thoughts and opinions about why so many issues that affect youth – like climate change, education, mental health – tend to fall by the wayside: a lot of young people can’t vote,” Aleksi comments. “The rest of that summer, I planned what I could do about the fact that politicians can so easily ignore a significant portion of the population. Ultimately, I determined that lowering the provincial voting age to 16 would be the most appropriate end goal.”

By the fall of 2019, Aleksi had recruited various students at his school to join his newly founded Association for the Youth Vote. By passing out flyers, seeking petition signatures and meeting with parliamentarians, his group began to build momentum. There was talk of a private member’s bill. And then the pandemic hit … and the MPPs’ offices got overrun by more immediate issues.

Aleksi turned inward, back to his writing and research. “Then, in a serendipitous turn of events, I discovered that Senator Marilou McPhedran of the federal Senate had introduced a bill to lower the voting age across the country. I immediately sent an email to the senator explaining what I had been doing and how I thought I could help her team, the Canadian Council of Young Feminists.” Aleksi pauses and then adds, “I have been volunteering with the Vote 16 Steering Committee as a youth advisor for a year now. Bill S-209 has gained multi-partisan support in both the House of Commons and the Senate, and reached the Committee stage, but of course the recent election means that we need to start the process over again.”

Aside from his ongoing political involvement, Aleksi has always been a busy individual. Between a focus on scholastic achievement, music lessons, Finnish and German language lessons and karate, he has been used to balancing many activities. Aleksi earned his brown belt in karate before the pandemic restrictions ended the twice weekly training at his dojo. During his grade 12 year, he was Vice-President of his high school’s Student Affairs Council, where he chaired the school’s Senate and spearheaded the updating of the Council’s constitution. For this activity and his academic achievements, he received numerous awards and scholarships upon graduation.

In his spare time, Aleksi enjoys playing piano for fun and relaxation. He also reads voraciously – anything from poetry to classic literature to social and political discourse. And creative writing is another of his pastimes: one of his poems was selected by the Toronto Public Library for its “Young Voices” publication in 2019.

Aleksi and his family have also travelled extensively throughout Canada, Europe, the United States, and the Caribbean/Latin America. Of course, no travelling has been possible since March 2020, so the family spent extra time at the cottage during the summers of 2020 and 2021. Aleksi also volunteered at the St. Felix Homeless Shelter throughout the past summer.

At this juncture, Aleksi has just started his studies at the University of Toronto, where he is planning to pursue a double major in politics and some aspect of law. With his 18^th birthday falling in early October, he concludes ruefully, “It’s a sad irony that I missed voting in the recent federal election by exactly two weeks – all the more reason to pursue my goal of lowering the voting age to 16!”

Photo credit (header photo): Sue B.

NOTE: An edited version of this article, written by Marina, was originally published in a local print magazine.