A McMaster student and community builder has taken part in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that she describes as “rewarding, insightful and unforgettable.”
Hamilton’s Deanna Allain is one of 338 young women, between the ages of 18 and 23, who were chosen to represent their communities by taking their respective member of Parliament’s (MP) seat in Parliament from Monday through Thursday of this week.
Allain took the seat of Scott Duvall, the New Democratic Party (NDP) MP who represents Hamilton-Mountain.
She was among those who turned their backs to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday, “disheartened” over his decision to expel former cabinet ministers Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott from the Liberal caucus.
She was also one of the Daughters of the Vote delegates who walked out on a speech by Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.
Allain told Global News the experience has been “an opportunity, not for a photo-op, not for a protest, not for tokenizing women, but for engaging young organizers from across the entire country, young people who are ready, who are frustrated with the system.”
LISTEN: Hamilton’s Deanna Allain, a young woman chosen to represent her community, talks to Global News’ Alex Pierson
Allain adds that the biggest message she hopes the prime minister has heard is that “we’re not going anywhere and we are determined to continue addressing these issues.”
She notes that issues important to her coming out of the 2015 federal election but which “still haven’t quite been addressed” include the further development of reconciliation, action on climate change and electoral reform.
Allain says you can now add to that the worries of a young woman “who would want to go into politics potentially, being concerned about what that environment could look like” in light of the expulsions of Wilson-Raybould and Philpott.
The Daughters of the Vote 2019 leadership program is organized by Equal Voice, a national organization dedicated to electing more women to all levels of political office.
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