Eight members of the Brantford Youth Council (BYC) presented some of their 2024-2025 accomplishments to the City of Brantford Council during the most recent Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, October 7, 2025.
Formed nearly 20 years ago, the BYC is made up of high school aged (13 to 28) community volunteers who are passionate about making Brantford a community where young people can thrive.
“I am excited to be here today to talk about what Brantford Youth Council has accomplished in the last year, and all the things we are looking forward to as we begin our 2025 to 2026 term,” said Emily Mcknight Emily, leader of the Brantford Youth Council Communications and Marketing Subcommittee. “Our new term has started off on a really exciting note, with over 20 new youth registering to join the council and we have representation from St John’s, North Park, BCI, PJ and Assumption High Schools.”
The BYC provides guidance and input on a range of youth-related topics, and works collaboratively with City staff, elected officials and community partners to plan and implement activities, special events and community impact projects throughout the year.
The group’s overall mission is to amplify the voices of youth in Brantford and to contribute to positive change.
Liam MacDermott, BYC vice-president, said that after the Empowering Youth Strategy was updated last year, he and the rest of the group took the time to reflect on the aspects of the community that align with their “interests, concerns and curiosities.”
“This process led us to establishing eight key priorities to explore. In no particular order, our priorities are: employment; we know that youth in Branford are looking for work and thinking about our future careers,” said MacDermott. “Food; many youth in Brantford don’t have daily access to food and many of us are curious about food sustainability and food access in our community. Getting around; youth are concerned about access to transportation, the walkability of our community, improving transit, and safe, environmentally sustainable ways to get around in Brantford. Participation; youth like to say there’s nowhere to go and nothing to do here, we’d like to prove this idea wrong.”
The other four BYC priorities were surrounding leadership, mental health and substance use, shelter and safety and belonging.
Members of the group later spoke about a few of the things they accomplished over the last year including:
- Promoting the Youth Healthy Relationships Campaign across platforms, such as TikTok, Snapchat, Spotify, YouTube and Instagram. BYC’s campaign generated over 48,000 clicks to the City’s Intimate Partner Violence webpage.
- Hosting the Youth Mental Health Resource Fair, which was funded by the Budding Projects Micro-grant: The event brought 13 mental health community partners together to share their resources with youth.
- Partaking in the Inaugural Brantford City Council – Brantford Youth Council Collaboration Meeting: The meeting provided an opportunity for the BYC to share their favourite community programs with Brantford City Council and explored the current issues BYC members are passionate about.
- Hosting activities during Brantford Youth Week 2025:Not only did the group bring speeches to Youth Week flag raising in Harmony Square, but they also launched a Youth Little Free Library in Rotary Waterworks Park, hosted a city-wide scavenger hunt to showcase points of interest and local businesses, and hosted the 2025 Brantford Youth Excellence Awards.
BYC also helped shape several key projects by contributing their perspectives and consulting with youth across the city.
Looking ahead, members of the group said a few of their upcoming initiatives include:
- Recruiting youth members to represent each City of Brantford wards (at least two), as well as each local high school
- Improving the Little Free Library at Woodman Park Community Centre
- Having a meet-and-greet with Brantford Fire Services to discuss and promote their opportunities for youth
- Establishing new community partnerships
- Preparing for Brantford Youth Week 2026 and arranging the fourth Annual Brantford Youth Excellence Awards.
Speaking to the Empowering Youth Strategy update, which was on the table for discussion, Councillor Mandy Samwell later said that it highlighted a range of opportunities being created for the young people.
“I want to start by thanking the Brantford Youth Council,” she said. “Your leadership ensures that youth voices are at the heart of the strategy. …From the Indigenous Youth Hub and the YES program to the Youth Fusion program …it’s clear that when the City, the community partners and youth work together, we can really, truly meet the needs of the youth in our community, and I’m excited to see this grow over the years to come.”
Councillor Richard Carpenter also added that he was proud of the members in the BYC, noting they were the city’s future leaders.
“These will be future members of council, they’ll be future teachers, future members of parliament, and members of provincial parliament. They will be the ones that build our community going forward,” he said. “…They’re talking about our community wherever they go and they’re talking to other youth, and they’re empowering them as well; that’s really important. The positiveness that they bring forward is exciting and it really warms my heart to know that they’re doing that.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
