Rye the only university in Canada with program
Of all the rights afforded to citizens of free countries, voting may be the most mired in confusion. To combat this, Ryerson University earlier this year created the Democratic Engagement Exchange, the only in-house program in Canadian academia built to boost democratic participation.
Heading the DEE is John Beebe, a Johns Hopkins University alumnus and former chief of staff to a United States congressman. Two events early in his career shaped his thinking, propelling him out of political campaigning for the U.S. Democratic Party and into improving voter turnout in Canada: the end of the Cold War, and the election of former president Bill Clinton.
“No one saw the fall of the Berlin Wall coming,” he said. “I realized these ‘experts,’ the people who supposedly knew everything about how the world really works, in fact didn’t know everything. They couldn’t even see this huge historical event coming, even a few months out. It was a powerful reminder of the importance of the voice of regular folks.”
This reminder echoed in Clinton’s first election in 1992, which led to the first inauguration of a Democratic president since Jimmy Carter, in 1977 – a feat largely owed to increased voter turnout, especially among younger people. Regular people, Beebe saw, held all the power. They just needed to harness it.
Moving north with his wife, Beebe first found work as a photographer, then as a program leader for a democratic engagement charity called Samara Canada.
After joining Ryerson, Beebe created the Ryerson VOTES initiative and set up Vote PopUp booths across campus to educate first-time voters.
There is no equivalent to Beebe’s job elsewhere in Canada, which he says speaks to Ryerson’s strength as an institution committed to applied learning. He notes that Canada is also lacking in organizations like Samara, in contrast with the U.S., where many such groups exist.
In addition to giving a hands-on explanation of the mechanics of voting, Vote PopUp booths were intended to connect with people on a deeper level.
“We always start by asking, ‘What matters to you?’” said Beebe. “By starting with that question, we remind people that it’s their voice that’s most important, and that they have something significant to contribute to our democratic decisions.”
Beebe learned that voting insecurity pervades certain communities more than others, such as with new Canadians and younger voters.
Ryerson had about 1,600 international students in the 2017-18 school year, making up nearly five per cent of the total student body. The most recent statistics show that nearly 8,000 Ryerson students are first-years. Beebe says campus voting rose sharply from the last election in 2015 — something he credits Ryerson VOTES volunteers Taylor Deasley and Aysha Anwar with achieving.
“Politics can be intimidating for a lot of people,” Beebe said. “It’s seen as divisive and off-putting. But if you can hold conversations around issues that matter to people and make them fun and inviting, you’re able to bring new folks to the table and give them the confidence to share their voice.”
Ben Cohen was a news editor at the Ryersonian during the fall 2019 semester. You can follow him on Twitter @cenbrohen