Bronze Visioneers Participated in Mock Council Debate in Toronto City Hall

Jodee Fok Wing Tung

With the help of Toronto City Councillor Anthony Perruzza, the Bronze Visioneers visited the Toronto City Hall and participated in a mock council debate activity on 10^th August 2019. Franco Ng, who worked as an assistant of a city councillor, introduced to the Visioneers the history, management structure and daily operation of the City Hall, as well as sharing with them the jobs and responsibilities of a city councillor. Franco believed that it is possible for anybody to make changes in their city. He encouraged the Visioneers to voice out their opinion and raised their enthusiasm in taking part in political events.

Apart from visiting the City Hall, the Visioneers had an experience being a city councillor to give a speech and vote, enhancing their understanding on the decision-making process in the council. The topic for the debate was whether laneway housing scheme should be implemented. The Visioneers were free to choose a stance and developed their own arguments. At the same time, Franco and other counsellors took the role of the mayor and public members. Not only did they ask questions regarding the arguments made by each Visioneer, they also ensured that the council meeting was held solemnly and smoothly. The Visioneers were able to consider the issue from various perspectives, for instance, property price, privacy issues, legal status of laneway housing and possible effects on corresponding neighbourhoods. Also, they were able to answer most of the questions asked by the public members and make an argument backed up with research and statistics.

In this mock council debate, more than 2 hours were spent in discussing the motion. In reality, councillors are facing mounting pressure as they need to deal with different opinions and proposals from the public of 44 districts. It is believed that after experiencing this mock council debate, the Visioneers had a better understanding on the jobs of the council and realized that political participation is one of the major ways to make changes in the community. It is hoped that they will get involved in more political events in the future and bring new blood to the political sector.

Founded in 2001, Vision Youth Leadership Program is a non-profit organization that aims to help youths develop life skills, nurture their social skills, and prepare them for a successful future. Different from the traditional teaching approaches which educate them mainly through academic knowledge, Vision Youth emphasizes on exploring the potential of our participants, enhancing their social skills and organizing outdoor activities which allow them to stay close to nature. Furthermore, Vision Youth provides a good learning experience for the participants, ensuring their communication skills, public speaking skills, leadership skills, interpersonal skills, collaboration skills and self-confidence can be strengthened. It is also our goal that students would understand and love nature better and that their social and political awareness, and personal responsibility can be raised after taking part in our program.

For more information about Vision Youth Leadership Program, please visit our website at  www.visionyouth.ca, or Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/visionyouth/, or email to info@visionyouth.ca, or contact us at 416-800-4040.

For more information about our past activities, feel free to visit our bloghttp://www.visionyouthblog.blogspot.ca/. Blog posts in both Chinese and English version are available for readers. 

展望學員在多倫多市政廰參加模擬市政會議

霍穎彤

在市議員Anthony Perruzza的協助下，展望青年2019的銅章學員於2019年8月10日來到多倫多市政廳，參加了半天的見習體驗活動。曾任市議員助理的吳家健（Franco Ng）向學員們介紹了市議會的結構、職責以及日常運作，亦向他們分享作為市議員的日常工作和責任。他深信任何人都有改變這座城市的可能，並鼓勵學員們勇於表達己見，積極參與政治活動。

除了參觀市政廳外，學員們更體驗了作為議員和地區代表在議會中發言和投票，切身了解議會的決策流程。這次模擬議會的辯論議題是應否實施後巷屋計劃。學員們可以自由選擇其立場，就此提出論點和論據，並輪流發言。而吳家健及一眾展望青年的導師們則扮演主席及公眾代表，根據學員的發言作出提問，同時確保會議嚴謹順利地進行。現場所見，學員們能夠從不同角度分析議題，如後巷屋的價格、私密性、法律問題和對鄰里造成的影響，亦能夠就所搜集的資料及數據解答大部分公眾的提問。

學員們就僅僅一個後巷屋的提案便花了兩個多小時辯論，而現實中的議員們每天都需要面對來自44個選區群眾就不同社會議題作出的各種意見，其中的辛苦和壓力不言而喻。相信體驗了這次模擬議會後，學員們能夠更清楚市議會的工作，並了解參與政治是改變城市社區的重要途徑之一。希望他們今後會更積極主動地參與各式各樣的政治活動，為這座城市的發展出一份力。

展望青年領袖培訓計劃（Vision Youth Leadership Program）於2001年成立。作為一個非營利性組織，其宗旨在於幫助青少年培訓生活技能，並提升他們的社交能力，以便將來更好地融入社會。不同於教育機構的教學模式，「展望青年」摒棄了給孩子灌輸知識的傳統教育方法，重在發展學員的潛能，寓教於樂，在接觸大自然的同時增強社交能力。「展望青年」為學員提供一個良好的環境，加強他們的自信心、領導才能、溝通技巧、公開演講技巧、人際關係和團隊合作能力，並促進他們對個人責任、社會責任、政治和社會問題及大自然的認識。

有關「展望青年領袖培訓計劃」的詳情請參閱「展望」網頁 www.visionyouth.ca 或「展望」的Facebook專頁 https://www.facebook.com/visionyouth/，或電郵至 info@visionyouth.ca或致電416-800-4040跟我們聯絡。

「展望青年」博客網址為http://www.visionyouthblog.blogspot.ca/。讀者可以根據自己喜好閱讀中英版本文章，了解更多「展望青年」的相關資訊。