The fight for paid sick days (and against the Ontario government) is being led by teenagers

 In the past year, we have all seen the ways that a government can handle a pandemic right (see New Zealand or Thailand) and, arguably, the many more ways in which governments around the world have mishandled it.

From going in and out of a state of emergency, a back and forth on what activities are deemed safe what aren’t and a confusing at best vaccine rollout in the midst of our third wave, in Ontario, it is safe to say that at this point that there is no part of the population that hasn’t felt the consequences of our governments’ mistakes.

Most recently, the too-early reopening of bars and restaurants among the decision to keep schools open during our second wave led to a surge in cases which resulted in yet another lockdown. Despite the fact that studies have shown that bars, restaurants and park gatherings contributed to a very low percentage of community transmission, especially in comparison to the outbreaks at an Amazon and Canada Post which resulted in over 200 people testing positive for COVID-19, our premier Doug Ford (yes the one who’s brother, the former mayor of Toronto, did crack) did not hesitate to blame on the “irresponsibility” of our young population, reprimanding us for seeing our friends at bars, restaurants and parks, the very same activities we had been encouraged to partake in merely a few weeks ago while choosing to keep big box stores and warehouses open.

The clear evidence as well as the statements from many medical officials have indicated that community transmission largely impacts essential workers and those who interact with them. This third lockdown has had devastating impacts on small businesses and minimum wage employees who invested in reopening and are now ordered to stay home for the foreseeable future.

For the past year, and particularly within these past few weeks, there has been a push for paid sick leave among both the opposition party (the NDP) led by Jagmeet Singh and amongst young people, many of whom are essential workers during lockdown. 

So it should come as no surprise that it is teenagers have been the loudest advocates for change, and like with so many other political and social crisis’ that occurred in the last year and a half, they have taken to social media to air their grievances and to fight for what’s right.

One 16-year-old in an Instagram story statement said ,“the reason for outbreaks in less privileged communities isn’t because people in these areas are careless, it’s because they’re forced to choose between taking a couple of days off or being able to pay for their groceries.”

In the weeks since the lockdown, the Ontario PC government has voted against paid sick days 21 times, much to the outrage of many Ontario people. But circulating through social media have been petitions, letter templates to send to politicians and infographics calling for change and educating people of Ontario about local politics and how to fight for change, all created and being spread for the most part by teenagers.

Pages such as @wearenorth99 and The Toronto Harold (A parody news site a-la The Onion) have been particularly popular on social media, both providing accessible information and resources about local politics, even though the latter is meant to be satirizing the news. “It’s both a way to cope and to actually spread information” another Instagram user,19, states.

As of right now the Ontario government has tabled a bill that would allow essential workers three paid sick days, which is a start, but as one Twitter user stated “So we’re giving three paid sick days for an illness that requires ten days of isolation?… seems fair.” Further adding to the public fury is the fact that this bill is being so heavily debated in parliament whilst Premier Ford is in his ninth day of isolation, as in his ninth day of being on paid sick leave.

Many, including members of opposing political parties, have been quick to point out the irony and hypocrisy of the situation. “All we can do for now is continue to advocate for change through signing petitions and contacting our MP’s as well as rely on the politicians in parliament who say that they’re on our side,” one activist says.

And while it might seem like the world of parliament seems rather far from the world of young adult Instagram, this kind of activism has made a real life impact.

In the initial rollout of the vaccine, vaccination rates were higher in areas of Ontario that voted conservative, which were also generally made up of white, upper middle class communities with low rates of transmission.

In comparison to working class communities that are mostly made up of working-class BIPOC, immigrants and essential workers and therefore had higher rates of transmission and were among the least vaccinated groups in Ontario.

Once this information was found out by the general public, there was a massive outcry and thanks to grassroots activists fighting for these communities, Ontario eventually put these “hot spot” communities on the vaccine priority list, meaning adults over 18 are now eligible for the vaccine if they live in areas of high transmission. And as of today, once again thanks to public outcry (and faster shipping) all adults in Ontario will be eligible for the vaccine by the end of May.

In the past year, the entire world has learned the extent to which social media can make impact in real world politics and social issues.

In a time where we are physically unable to take to the streets to air our grievances, we have taken to social media to make our scathing indictments, spread our information and fight for change. And while things right now seem dire (even the weather seems to be in a depressive state) there is a beacon of hope in knowing that people, young people are on the frontlines of change. And not only are they enacting that change on platforms that are thought to be ruining their brains, but we are seeing the results of that fight in real time and feeling their drastic effects.