Next Gen Insider

Morgan Sharp reports from Toronto on the city's young population and their civic engagement and impact on the local institutions that make democracy function.

Canada's National Observer is a proud participant of the Local Journalism Initiative, which supports the creation of original civic journalism that covers the diverse needs of underserved communities across Canada.

531 Articles

Ontario NDP pitch wage boost for child-care staff

The Ontario NDP proposed a $20 an hour wage floor for child care on Tuesday as political parties looking to unseat Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government in a provincial election this summer focused on the gender pay gap.

Morgan Sharp

April 12th 2022

Canada’s labour force report finds many young men gave up looking for work in March

The Canadian labour market added some 73,000 jobs and hit a record low unemployment rate in March, Statistics Canada said, while noting that fewer young men were either working or looking for work.

Morgan Sharp

April 8th 2022

Budget 2022: From student debt relief to housing help, here’s what young Canadians are hoping to see

Affordability, housing, education, mental health support, climate change. Do youth have anything to hope for in the federal budget out Thursday? A polling expert, youth advocate and student union rep weigh in on what matters.

Morgan Sharp

April 7th 2022

Greenpeace throws Scotiabank a climate action party

The shareholders who show up in person to such events got an early morning dose of dancefloor bass from Greenpeace climate protesters outside Scotiabank’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.

Morgan Sharp

April 6th 2022

Youth target environment minister in fight against Bay du Nord

A small group of student climate activists challenged the federal environment minister to reject the proposed Bay du Nord offshore oil exploration project at an event in Montreal on Friday before joining a larger climate march.

Morgan Sharp

April 1st 2022

‘Our work was about self-love from the start’

From an Instagram series celebrating the women in Sariena Luy’s life back in 2015 has sprung an artist collective and grassroots organizing and social enterprise empowering women, femmes and non-binary folks.

Morgan Sharp

April 1st 2022

Youth-led project aims for a grown-up cannabis conversation with youth

A youth-led project backed by mental health groups offers an online curriculum for young people to explore links between cannabis and mental health and aims to provide engaging health promotion and harm reduction resources.

Morgan Sharp

March 31st 2022

Rising star Eponine Lee talks theatre, music and always being ‘the youngest person in the room’

A 15-year-old from a Toronto theatre family who has already played Juliet in Shakespeare’s tragic love story at the Stratford Festival, Eponine Lee is forging an impressive creative career while balancing the demands of high school.

Morgan Sharp

March 30th 2022

Arts award finalist relies on curiosity and generosity in her work with youth

Young people have less to unlearn than adults and much to contribute, says Erin Brubacher, a theatre director who collaborates often, including in her frequent work with teens, which the Toronto Arts Foundation recognized last week.

Morgan Sharp

March 29th 2022

Toronto climate strikers keep plans low-key in wake of trucker convoy, COVID-19

The young climate activists behind Toronto’s action against fossil fuel financing kept their plans close to their chests this week, in part out of fears that their focus on the impact of climate chaos on marginalized people could be a target for those emboldened by the recent truck occupation.

Morgan Sharp

March 25th 2022

Documenting the unseen work of building food sovereignty for Toronto’s Black community

The movement for Black food sovereignty in Toronto is “a blooming flower” that Hansel Igbavboa and others highlight in an upcoming documentary that also shows the mountain of unseen work behind it.

Morgan Sharp

March 25th 2022

Student-led divestment group turns up heat on McMaster University

The Ontario university has made efforts to partially divest, but campus activists say McMaster remains opaque on how it plans to fully part ways with its fossil fuel investments.

Matteo Cimellaro

March 25th 2022

An ocean away, Canadian teens are helping their Ukrainian peers stay on top of their studies amid war

The students behind HomeworkHub put out a call for their volunteer tutors to help Ukrainian schoolchildren. Dozens have answered the call and more are needed to deal with the demand, its founder says.

Morgan Sharp

March 24th 2022

Fighting for food justice out of Toronto’s Jane and Finch

Rosie Mensah is a young nutritionist and business owner in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto who has created a training course for other food health professionals to help people of diverse experiences access food justice.

Morgan Sharp

March 22nd 2022

League for Green Leaders challenges Toronto students on climate

The League for Green Leaders aims to foster climate awareness among elementary school students with an online competition to grow their appreciation for the natural world and reduce their carbon footprint.

Morgan Sharp

March 21st 2022